Cowboys' TD record: I caught a TD pass from Dak Prescott

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          Is this 2025 all over again? (0:49)

          • Todd ArcherSep 16, 2026, 06:00 AM ET
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              Todd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010.
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          FRISCO, Texas -- Sometime soon, perhaps as soon as Sunday against the Washington Commanders, Dak Prescott will set another Dallas Cowboys record: most touchdown passes in team history.

          He has 245, leaving him three shy of the 248 Tony Romo threw from 2006 to 2016.

          "I might remember every single one of them," Prescott said.

          His first?

          "Slant to Dez in the fourth quarter against Chicago," Prescott said.

          True. Prescott's first touchdown pass was a 17-yarder to receiver Dez Bryant in the third game of his rookie season after being selected in Round 4 of the 2016 draft. The Cowboys beat the Chicago Bears, giving Prescott his first career victory at AT&T Stadium.

          His favorite?

          "I don't think I have a true favorite, one that stands out," Prescott said. "Any of them that have been a game winner or some big-time, fourth-quarter touchdowns, those are the ones that stick out in my mind."

          Needing four touchdown passes against the Commanders in the Cowboys' home opener at AT&T Stadium on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox) might seem daunting, but Prescott has already reached that mark four times against Washington, the last coming in a 38-10 win in Week 18 of the 2023 season.

          Prescott has thrown touchdowns to 39 different players, including nine current teammates. CeeDee Lamb has the most with 35. Eleven have caught one.

          Instead of Prescott's favorite touchdown passes, ESPN asked nine current and former teammates to describe their favorite scoring receptions from the quarterback, including Lamb and right tackle Terence Steele, whose only career catch is a TD from Prescott.

          CeeDee Lamb, WR

          Situation: Week 17, 2023, vs. Detroit Lions, first quarter, third-and-13 from Cowboys' 8

          Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes should have sacked Prescott, but somehow he escaped at the goal line, drifted to his right and let go of a deep ball toward Lamb. Before he caught the pass, cornerback Kindle Vildor fell. Lamb caught the ball at midfield and was able to jog into the end zone for a 92-yard score.

          "Dak did a great job of beating the blitz. I did a good job of expanding on the scramble drill," Lamb said. "We preach extending drives and extending plays and that was a big part of that. That was one of the longest plays of my career. For sure, my most favorite."

          It was the longest completion of Prescott's career, the longest catch of Lamb's and the second-longest completion in team history. It was also Lamb's 111th catch of the season, which tied him for Michael Irvin's team record for most in a season, which he later broke.

          Has he ever run that far without being chased?

          "Nah, I don't think I'll ever get that close to it again. Great time," Lamb said. "I enjoyed it. As you could tell, I trotted in the end zone. It was fire."

          Jason Witten, TE

          Situation: Week 8, 2016 vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, overtime, second-and-goal from Eagles' 5

          The Cowboys trailed 23-13 early in the fourth quarter, but Prescott forced overtime with a touchdown pass to Dez Bryant with 3:04 to play. In overtime, the Cowboys never gave the Eagles a chance to win it.

          Pressured on the play, Prescott went into scramble mode, first cheating up toward the line of scrimmage as some Eagles defenders converged and then sliding to his left. As chaos ensued, Witten just stopped in the end zone, leading to a wide open throw and a 29-23 win.

          "I was running away from the guy and I just kind of stepped back and so it kind of went against the grain if you will and stepped back instead of keeping on scrambling and mirroring him," Witten said. "He immediately saw it and immediately threw it. It was almost like he saw it at the same time I saw it -- and didn't even flinch ... it was at a critical time but that's my favorite one just because it was the Eagles and it was fairly early on in our time together.

          "For him to have seen that and anticipate what I was doing at the same time, because if he's a half second late, I don't know if we complete it. Mike Jenkins was the guy covering me. He was a crafty veteran guy and I just kind of did that move and Dak saw it at the same time."

          It was Prescott's first touchdown pass to Witten on a night when Witten set the Cowboys' record for most career starts and tied linebacker Lee Roy Jordan's team mark for most consecutive starts.

          Terence Steele, OT

          Situation: Week 16, 2021 vs. Washington Commanders, third-and-goal from Commanders' 1

          Steele was in his second year but wise enough to know if he dropped a pass in practice, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore would be unlikely to call the play in a game.

          "It'll sway the coach to not run it, but every time we ran it in practice, I caught it," Steele said, "so I think that gave him a lot of confidence to call it."

          It helped the Cowboys were already leading 28-7 in the second quarter against the Commanders, but when Steele heard Prescott say, "Red Raider report," a nod to Steele's Texas Tech days, the play was on.

          Steele started at left tackle that day but moved to jumbo tight end next to right tackle La'el Collins and dutifully told the referee he was reporting as an eligible receiver.

          "I'm supposed to slowly lose [his block] and let him beat me up the field and then I get in the end zone," Steele said. "And Dak throws me a perfect ball. Right between the hands."

          So excited, Steele spiked the ball so ferociously that it ended up in one of the field suites. Ezekiel Elliott was able to track the ball and make sure Steele had it.

          "I got it framed," Steele said. "They got it all painted up for me. It sits in my office right now."

          Steele became the first Cowboys offensive lineman since the 1970 merger to catch a touchdown. Prescott finished with four touchdown passes in a 56-14 win.

          George Pickens, WR

          Situation: Week 16, 2025 vs. Los Angeles Chargers, second-and-2 from Chargers' 38

          Pickens had nine touchdown catches from Prescott in his first season with the Cowboys.

          His first choice for the favorite was a 34-yard catch-and-run on a slant at the Carolina Panthers in Week 6.

          "Just running away from all the guys," he said.

          But then he remembered the go ball from Prescott against the Chargers.

          Using an outside release against Chargers cornerback Cam Hart, Pickens gained separation with a little stop-and-go. But then he noticed Prescott's pass was a little deeper than he thought.

          "Just definitely looking at the ball and changing my speed on how I should catch that ball," Pickens said. "It was a led ball, so I kind of knew, pick up the speed, but if it was a high ball or a ball that's kind of going to sit over his head, I would've made it fine."

          It wasn't the first time he and Prescott connected on that type of pass.

          "Definitely, practice," he said. "Tons of practice reps."

          Jake Ferguson, TE

          Situation: Week 4, 2025 vs. Green Bay Packers. Second-and-6 from Packers' 8

          Ferguson might not have forgotten what it felt like to score a touchdown, but for him it felt like an eternity. He had gone 22 games since scoring against the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 30, 2023. Part of his drought had to do with Prescott missing nine games in 2024 with avulsion of a hamstring.

          But it stretched through the first three weeks of the 2025 season.

          "It was a while," Ferguson said. "I remember, and the media didn't let me live it down."

          Lined up initially as a wing, Ferguson shifted a few yards to his left before the snap, putting cornerback Nate Hobbs in coverage. Ferguson was able to get inside of Hobbs at the goal line, using his body to shield the smaller corner and give Prescott an easy throw that gave the Cowboys a third-quarter lead.

          "When I caught it, it was like a huge weight off my shoulders," Ferguson said. "And I remember the guys coming up to me and [Prescott] came up to me very calm and was like, 'Welcome back,'" Ferguson said. "I was like, 'Thank you.' All I could say was, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.'"

          Ferguson went on to set a career high with eight touchdown catches in 2025.

          Brandin Cooks, WR

          Situation: Week 12, 2023 vs. Commanders, first-and-10 from Commanders' 31

          Cooks had an idea during the week of practice. Because he had run so many corner routes from the slot leading up to that game, he came up with the idea of breaking off the corner route and cutting back across the field.

          "I remember talking and thinking it might be time," Cooks said. "We put enough corners on film that they'd definitely go for it if it looked like I was running another one."

          Prescott did a short roll to his right, as Cooks went from his spot to the slot and took a quick bend to a corner route before adjusting. Safety Percy Butler jumped to the corner and Cooks ran away from cornerback Benjamin St-Juste to come down with a 31-yard touchdown catch.

          "All I had to do was stick my foot in the ground, put him in the spin cycle and it was wide open," Cooks said. "It was good because Dak threw it early because he was under a little pressure, but he was like, 'I'm going to let this go and B is going to kill his guy.' I remember catching it right in the breadbasket."

          Brevyn Spann-Ford, TE

          Situation: Week 12, 2025 vs. Eagles, first-and-goal from Eagles' 4

          Prescott faked a handoff to running back Javonte Williams and started rolling right. The first look was to Lamb, but he was covered by two defenders. His second look was to Spann-Ford running from the backside of the play.

          But before Spann-Ford could get into his route, he collided with Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba.

          "The safety fell over, which I wasn't anticipating," Spann-Ford said. "I was anticipating him to stay up and he fell over, and it kind threw me off my balance. Luckily, I was able to keep my feet."

          It took Spann-Ford six steps to regain his balance. By that time Prescott was near the sideline, almost out of room.

          "I came to the sideline, and I remember Dak being like, 'Just waiting for you to get your head up,'" Spann-Ford said. "In my head, I was like that's how I felt, I was just waiting for me to get my own head up so I could catch this ball."

          It helped kick-start a comeback against the Eagles, who saw a 21-0 second-quarter lead devolve into a 24-21 loss. The next day in the locker room, Spann-Ford went up to Prescott.

          "I don't think he knew it was my first [touchdown]. I had the ball and I'm going to put it in a case or something so I might as well have Dak sign it. Brought it to him and he didn't know what it was at first," Spann-Ford said. "I said, 'This is my first touchdown ball.' He's like, 'Maaaaaaan,' and gave me a big hug.

          "That's just the kind of guy he is for real. May seem like a small thing to him -- he's thrown so many touchdown passes -- but he still took the time to make it feel important to me."

          Javonte Williams, RB

          Situation: Week 13, 2025 vs. Kansas City Chiefs, third-and-goal from Chiefs' 3

          The next week, Prescott was forced to create once again, this time facing pressure from the Chiefs. As he looked to potentially run for the score, two Chiefs defenders converged on him, and at the last second he was able to flip a quick pass to Williams for the score.

          "I was moving with him, and it's just the chemistry," Williams said. "He's a playmaker. He's going to do whatever he's got to do to score a touchdown. I was just working with him."

          Williams said there was eye contract.

          "A little head motion," he said.

          Despite the short pass, Williams had time to think.

          "Even though it was such an easy touchdown, I was like, 'Please don't drop it,'" he said. "We were losing at the time. I think it was like 21-20. That put us up."

          Up for good, as the Cowboys beat the 2024 Super Bowl participants (Eagles-Chiefs) in back-to-back weeks.

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          0:21
          Luepke hauls in 3-yard TD pass

          Hunter Luepke, FB

          Situation: Week 6, 2025 at Carolina Panthers, fourth-and-1 from Panthers' 3

          Luepke can play a variety of positions. Fullback. Tight end. Halfback. On this play, he lined up as a wing in 22 personnel and went in motion, veering ever so slightly to make it seem like he would be blocking for Williams.

          Instead, Luepke went out to the flat.

          "Goal-line play, they call a pass play, you always get excited as a fullback since defense drops guys that they aren't really looking at in the pass game," Luepke said. "It was just a little bluff flat route to the right side and [receiver Jalen Tolbert] made a pick for me. I had like a little spot route and ... just all three of them ran into each other really.

          "I mean if you look back at the play, Dak could've threw it to four people and we would've scored a touchdown, but I was the lucky one to catch that ball."

          Prescott's pass wasn't perfect. It was a little wobbly and low, but Luepke made the adjustment and was able to fall into the end zone. Even though it was a 3-yard pass, Luepke felt like the ball took hours to get to him.

          "Felt like, 'Please, I'm wide open,'" he said. "Those are always the worst ones when you're wide open, nobody's around you because you get extra time to think about it. Yeah, just thinking to myself, 'Please, don't drop the ball.'"

          With the first receiving touchdown of his career, Luepke let loose with a big left-handed spike.

          "Totally blanked that I could keep it and Dak was the first one to go pick it up for me and he handed it to me on the sideline," Luepke said. "So, I mean, thankful for that. I still have that one. Hopefully a lot more from him."

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