The Dallas Cowboys won a Thanksgiving Day thriller over the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-28, to truly vault themselves into the NFC playoff picture. 

Dallas needed a win heading into the short week, as they are now 6-5-1 on the season. They have now beaten the reigning conference champions, as they took down the Philadelphia Eagles this past Sunday. 

Meanwhile, after a massive home victory for the Chiefs last week against the Indianapolis Colts, they are back to .500 at 6-6. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

It was an inauspicious start by Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ offense as the veteran signal caller threw an interception on the third play of the game. Jaylen Watson jumped the route of George Pickens, as Prescott’s throw was altered from a perfect blitz by Kansas City.

Just two plays later, Rashee Rice, who has fit well into the Chiefs’ offense since returning to the offense following an early-season suspension, had a convoy of blockers when he got a Mahomes screen and took it 27 yards into the end zone for an early 7-0 lead.

The Cowboys, though, were quick to respond with Prescott bouncing back on the ensuing drive. He went 12 plays and 75 yards, finding his trusty receiver CeeDee Lamb for a 15-yard strike in the back right of the end zone to tie the game at seven apiece.

DAK PRESCOTT PREDICTS ‘HUGE GAME’ FOR CEEDEE LAMB IN COWBOYS' THANKSGIVING GAME AFTER RECENT DROPS

But, as CBS broadcaster and former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo called, this was going to be a shootout between two of the top offenses in the league.

Patrick Mahomes and company responded with a 12-play touchdown drive for the Chiefs, and it was a crucial play on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line after Kareem Hunt was stuffed on third-and-goal. Travis Kelce made an acrobatic catch with great coverage from the Cowboys on him, but the 36-year-old tight end gave his team the lead back.

After a Brandon Aubrey field goal cut into the Chiefs’ lead, the Cowboys got their first lead of the game thanks to running back Malik Davis finding a seam and making it hurt Kansas City. He burst through the defense for a 43-yard touchdown run to make it a 17-14 game.

The offensive fireworks subsided in the third quarter, but the Chiefs saw yet another key fourth-and-goal play that resulted in seven points. It was Rice getting in for his second touchdown of the game, as Mahomes trust his receiver to go up and win at the ball’s highest point in the end zone.

It was a 21-20 game in favor of the Chiefs when Prescott and the Cowboys took over, and though he was quiet most of the game, George Pickens started to cook at the perfect time.

Pickens provided 50 yards on the 68-yard touchdown drive for Dallas, with Prescott scrambling and finding running back Javonte Williams for the three-yard touchdown pass. Pickens, though, would convert a two-point try to make it a 28-21 game.

The Cowboys were able to force a three-and-out on the Chiefs, and after a huge play to Lamb, Dallas found themselves close to the goal line again. But a massive play occurred when Pickens caught a short pass on third-and-8 from the Kansas City 12-yard line, as he fumbled, and it appeared the Chiefs were going to get the ball back. But KaVontae Turpin came flying in and recovered the ball, which allowed another Aubrey field goal instead of a pivotal turnover.

Turpin’s heroic recovery was even more important after Mahomes went seven plays and 67 yards to find Hollywood Brown for a touchdown to make it a 31-28 game.

The Cowboys held their own destiny on ensuing drive, knowing they need a couple first downs to let the clock run to zero.

Prescott delivered on third-and-2 just before the two-minute warning, as he fired a pass to Pickens for 13 yards, and he picked up the first down needed to head into victory formation.

Looking at the box score, Prescott was 27-for-39 for 320 yards with two touchdown passes, while Lamb finished with a game-high 112 yards on seven receptions. Pickens had six catches for 88 yards, while Williams added 59 yards on 17 carries as well as 21 yards on three catches.

For the Chiefs, Mahomes was 23-for-34 for 261 yards with four touchdown passes, while Rice finished with 92 yards on eight catches.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

When President Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday, little did he know he was spelling the beginning of the end to the prominence of the original patriotic celebration held during the last week of November: Evacuation Day.

In November 1863, Lincoln issued an order thanking God for harvest blessings, and by the 1940s, Congress had declared the 11th month of the calendar year's fourth Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day.

That commemoration, though, combined with the gradual move toward détente with what is now the U.S.' strongest ally – Great Britain – displaced the day Americans celebrated the last of the Redcoats fleeing their land.

Following the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776, New York City — just 99 miles to the northeast — remained a British stronghold until the end of the Revolutionary War.

Captured Continentals were held aboard prison ships in New York Harbor and British political activity in the West was anchored in the Big Apple, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SACRED TRADITION

However, that all came crashing down on the crown after the Treaty of Paris was signed, and new "Americans" eagerly saw the British out of their hard-won home on Nov. 25, 1783. 

In their haste to flee the U.S., the British took time to grease flagpoles that still flew the Union Jack. One prominent post was at Bennett Park – on present-day West 183 Street near the northern tip of Manhattan.

Undeterred, Sgt. John van Arsdale, a Revolution veteran, cobbled together cleats that allowed him to climb the slick pole and tear down the then-enemy flag. Van Arsdale replaced it with the Stars and Stripes – and without today's skyscrapers in the way, the change of colors at the island's highest point could be seen farther downtown.

In the harbor, a final blast from a British warship aimed for Staten Island, but missed a crowd that had assembled to watch the 6,000-man military begin its journey back across the Atlantic to King George III.

SYLVESTER STALLONE CALLS TRUMP ‘THE SECOND GEORGE WASHINGTON’

Later that day, future President George Washington and New York Gov. George Clinton – who had negotiated "evacuation" with England's Canadian Gov. Sir Guy Carleton – led a military march down Broadway through throngs of revelers to what would today be the Wall Street financial district at the other end of Manhattan.

Clinton hosted Washington for dinner and a "Farewell Toast" at nearby Fraunces' Tavern, which houses a museum dedicated to the original U.S. holiday. Samuel Fraunces, who owned the watering hole, provided food and reportedly intelligence to the Continental Army.

Washington convened at Fraunces' just over a week later to announce his leave from the Army, surrounded by Clinton and other top Revolutionary figures like German-born Gen. Friedrich von Steuben – whom New York's Oktoberfest-styled parade officially honors, but who is often supplanted by beer themes elsewhere.

AMERICA'S OLDEST INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE MARKS 240 YEARS OF PATRIOTIC TRADITION

"With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable," Washington said.

Before Lincoln – and later Congress – normalized Thanksgiving as the mass family affair it has become, Evacuation Day was more prominent than both its successor and Independence Day, according to several sources, including Untapped New York.

November 25 was a school holiday in the 19th century and people re-created van Arsdale's climb up the Bennett Park flagpole. Formal dinners were held at the Plaza Hotel and other upscale institutions for many years, according to the outlet.

The New York Public Library reportedly holds a Delmonico's Steakhouse menu from the Evacuation Day centennial celebration in 1783; with celebrants dining on fish, pheasant and turkey, according to Eurasia Review.

An official parade reminiscent of today's Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was held every year in New York until the 1910s.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

As diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom warmed heading into the 20th century and the U.S. alliance with London during the World Wars proved crucial, celebrating Evacuation Day became less and less prominent.

Into the 2010s, however, commemorative flag-raisings have been sporadically held at Bowling Green, the southern endpoint of Broadway. 

For the 242nd anniversary of Evacuation Day in 2025, the Lower Manhattan Historical Association reportedly held a procession on Saturday from Fraunces' to Evacuation Day Plaza – where in present-day, the Wall Street "bull" is found.

A flag-raising then took place across the street at Bowling Green, according to DowntownNY. The historic greenspace is the oldest public park in the city and was a regular gathering place in British-Colonial New York.

On the original Evacuation Day, Washington's dinner at Fraunces Tavern was preceded by the new U.S. Army marching down the iconic avenue to formally take back New York.

Thirteen toasts – marking the number of United States – were raised at Fraunces, each one spelling out the new government's hope for the new nation or giving thanks to those who helped it come to be.

An aide to Washington wrote them down for posterity, and the Sons of the American Revolution recite them at an annual dinner, according to the tavern's museum site.

"To the United States of America," the first toast went. The second honored King Louis XVI, whose French Army was crucial in America's victory.

"To the vindicators of the rights of mankind in every quarter of the globe," read another. "May a close union of the states guard the temple they have erected to liberty."

The 13th toast offered a warning to any other country that might ever seek to invade the new U.S.:

"May the remembrance of this day be a lesson to princes."