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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Many people, including CBS Sports Lead NFL Analyst Tony Romo, thought 11-time Grammy Award-winning musician Dolly Parton looked as good as ever during halftime show, but in the eyes of Pro Football Focus, that was also the case for Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in his team's 45-10 dismantling of the Washington Commanders on Thanksgiving Day. 

Prescott completed 22 of of his 32 passes for 331 yards and four passing touchdowns, with two of them traveling over 30 yards: a second quarter touchdown to wide receiver Brandin Cooks of 31 yards and a fourth-quarter scoring strike to wide receiver KaVontae Turpin, which kickstarted an on-field, turkey leg-eating celebration. 

That production, including his effectiveness throwing on vertical routes -- spelled out by the NFL's Next Gen Stats below -- led to Prescott earning a 97.0 grade from Pro Football Focus, giving him the highest-graded game by any quarterback in 2023 and the highest single-game grade by a quarterback since 2007. 

"I think the situational football really, really stood out," Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said postgame on Thursday. "The clutch throws, particularly attacking the endzone. We just got to keep chugging, you know keep pounding away, [in] the run game. So that's something that you always look at and want to improve on, but I think that the benefits of moving him [Prescott via scrambles to set up passes] and particularly the red zone, on the gold zone and some of the situational calls. I thought he was incredible." 

Prescott, who hasn't been sacked in each of the Cowboys' last three games against the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders, credited his offensive line and his trust in McCarthy's system, which the team is implementing for the first time this season after having Kellen Moore as the team's offensive coordinator from 2019-2022, for his high-level performance of late.

"We know what we want to do," Prescott said postgame Thursday. "We know how we want to attack. We know how we want to go at these different teams. We're running plays that we've ran since the spring. Dressing them up different ways, giving them a different approach. Comfortable. Honestly credit the offensive line. That's where it starts. The way that they're protecting, giving me time to take shots down the field. Allowing me to extend plays whether it be using my feet, make plays down the field again after breaking the pocket. Guys are running, guys are running to win, and he's [McCarthy] flying them off the all sheet, and it feels good."

Prescott's 0.32 expected points added/play (EPA/play) has skyrocketed and leads all qualified QBs since Week 6, the week after the Cowboys were thumped 42-10 by the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5, by a wide margin. The next-closest quarterbacks are Lamar Jackson (0.18), C.J. Stroud (0.12) and Jalen Hurts (0.11). For context, 2022 NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes led the NFL at 0.25. Prescott currently has +900 odds to be the 2023 NFL MVP, according to Vegas Insider, tied for the fifth-best odds in the league at the moment.   

Dak Prescott since Week 6

PrescottStatsNFL QB RANK

Completion Pct

70.5%

4th

Pass Yards/Att

8.9

2nd

Pass TD

18

1st

TD-INT

18-2

2nd

Passer Rating

122.6

1st

Expected Points Added/Play0.321st

"He's played at a high level, there's no question," McCarthy said of Prescott's performance since Week 6. "You know the San Francisco game for all of us, and I know for me, especially, you know when you have your leadup and you go into the game, and you try to play a game certain ways. ... A big part of our successes really, we don't talk about our offensive line enough. I think our pass protection, the last touchdown, the pass protection was excellent for that particular play in the defense that they played too. 

"I think it's just our defense, we talked about this, our defense was further ahead of the offense coming out of camp. I was honest about that. We've played that way. I think the complementary football is coming together and you're going to need it. If you want to be a good team in this league, in my opinion, you have to have it. If you want to win a championship, that's the only way you can get there." 

Prescott, who in the past has called himself a big "reps guy" when it comes to practicing and getting comfortable with routes and concepts, has hit the portion of the season where his reps number has crossed the plane into the confidence zone. 

"It goes to the prep that we put into this thing," Prescott said. "We feel good about what we got. We feel good about the players that we have and it goes to the preparation we put into this thing. We've had the preparation, credit the game plan from these coaches week in and week out. They're dialing things up and putting playmakers in the best position, and yeah, it's confidence. Simple as that. We understand we're going to be in there. 

"It's not like we had them [turkey legs] in just that end zone, we had them in every bucket. DaRon [Bland] could have got himself one himself when he jumped in the other one [after his pick-six]. He was probably stepping on them, but you have a plan to be there. I think that says a lot about your plan. You plan to be there. That says a lot too, though. It's a mindset, I think it's important for us to have those expectations of getting in the end zone and understand we'll get back in there"

Getting the degree of difficulty of getting back to the end zone is about to crank up across the next five weeks as they'll face five teams with winning records: the 6-5 Seattle Seahawks (Week 13), the 9-1 Philadelphia Eagles (Week 14), at the 6-5 Buffalo Bills (Week 15),  at the 7-3 Miami Dolphins (Week 16) and the 8-3 Detroit Lions. However, if Prescott keeps playing like the NFL's best quarterback, which he has since Week 6, it may not matter which team is across from him and the Cowboys offense at the line of scrimmage.