Prescott breaks Romo's single-season franchise record for TD passes as Cowboys rout Eagles

Dak Prescot ran into Dallas' locker room with a message for any NFC team he'll play next week in the playoffs.

It starts with finding out the Cowboys' wild-card opponent, and Prescott will be like millions of football fans every Sunday and watch the scoreboard with their playoff fate at stake.

The Cowboys still had seeding to play for against an Eagles team that rested Jalen Hurts and other key starters ahead of an NFC wild-card game next week.

The NFC East champion Cowboys (12-5) need losses Sunday by reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay against last-place Carolina and also for the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals to lose to earn the No. 2 seed. There also is a path to the No. 3 seed for Dallas.

The Cowboys can't finish worse than the fourth seed. The Eagles (9-8) could still be the sixth seed.

Prescott stayed in the game until the fourth quarter, the lead increasing seemingly with each throw and so, perhaps, the risk of injury for a QB nearly 15 months removed from the gruesome compound fracture of his right ankle that ended his 2020 season.

Prescott did his best to get an offence that routinely produced at least 400 yards during a 6-1 start back on track headed into the playoffs following a two-year absence. He was 21 of 27 for 295 yards and no interceptions.

He came out unscathed — and with the Cowboys' record for touchdown passes in a season with 37. Tony Romo threw 36 in 2007. Prescott threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Corey Clement early in the fourth quarter to make it 37-20 and set the mark and, mercifully for the Eagles, get him out of the game.

His teammates knew Prescott set the TD mark. Prescott needed a reminder of his record.

Of course, Prescott got his record in the 17th game this season.

But, like the team records on both sides that kept falling, the win comes with a bit of a shrug. With nothing to play for, the Eagles treated the game like a preseason finale. Hurts, with 3,144 yards passing and a team-high 784 yards rushing, got the night off. So did tackle Lane Johnson, cornerback Darius Slay and 11 more players on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Gardner Minshew started for Hurts and — for a drive, at least — it was Minshew Mania again when he threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tyree Jackson on the opening drive. It was the first catch of Jackson's career.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni defended his decision to rest Hurts, who missed a game this year with a sprained left ankle, ahead of the playoffs.

Prescott sucked the energy out of the stadium early. He hit Wilson for TD receptions of 14 and 24 yards in the first half and then connected with Schultz twice over the final 1:45 of the half for a 30-17 lead. Schultz became only the fifth player since 2000 to catch two touchdown passes inside the final 2 minutes of the first half.

Fumble return TD lifts Kansas City over Broncos

Linebacker Nick Bolton's 86-yard fumble return after Melvin Ingram III darted into Denver's backfield untouched and stripped Melvin Gordon powered Kansas City to a 28-24 victory over the Denver Broncos on Saturday.

They need Houston to upset Tennessee on Sunday to get the pole position; otherwise, they're the second seed and will host a wild-card game next weekend in their quest to reach a third consecutive Super Bowl.

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill could surely use the week off that goes to the top seed in each conference. He injured a heel in pregame warmups and was held to one catch for 2 yards.

With Hill hurt, Mecole Hardman stepped up with eight catches for 103 yards.

The Broncos (7-10) were ahead 21-20 and driving for another touchdown when Ingram sped past tight end Noah Fant and blew up the play just as Drew Lock handed the ball to Gordon.

Bolton scooped up the loose ball and rumbled 86 yards to give Kansas City its biggest lead, and Mahomes' keeper on the 2-point conversion made it 28-21.

Lock and the Broncos quickly got into scoring position again, but coach Vic Fangio, who fell to 19-30 as Denver's head coach, decided on a field goal on fourth-and-9 from the 13 as the crowd relentlessly booed the decision.

Fangio explained that kicking the field goal with 4:37 left gave his team a chance to get a stop and get the ball back. Even if they gave up a field goal, they'd be down a touchdown and could tie it: "I understand the second-guessing there and going for it. But fourth-and-9, your chances are not great."Brandon

Brandon McManus nailed the 31-yarder, but the Broncos still trailed by four and would need a touchdown if they were able to stop Mahomes.

On third-and-8 from the Denver 17, Mahomes found Travis Kelce for an 11-yard gain at the two-minute warning, with the Broncos having burned all their timeouts.

Kansas City lined up in victory formation as the clock ticked down and the crowd of 61,441 — there were nearly 15,000 empty seats — streamed for the exits, a fifth straight losing season in the books and their playoff drought now stretched to six years.