White Leads Cowboys to 35-17 Win : He Throws 4 Scoring Passes as Dallas Lifts Record to 9-4

Danny White’s four touchdown passes, including two to wide receiver Tony Hill, carved up the Dallas Cowboys’ favorite Thanksgiving Day turkeys, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Thursday’s 35-17 victory put Dallas a half-game ahead of the New York Giants in the National Conference East.

Dallas Coach Tom Landry said it was one of the Cowboys’ better offensive performances.

“We had a good game,” he said. “The Cardinals are always tough for us. They played us a tough first half.”

Landry said he pulled some trick plays out of his playbook for the Cardinals.

“We were scrambling up to the last minute trying to get some plays into the game the Cardinals hadn’t seen before,” Landry said. “I feel good because we are in position to win the NFC East now if we play good the rest of the way.”

The Cowboys, who lost to the Cardinals, 21-10, on Nov. 4, used White’s unerring marksmanship and a Hill pass on a trick play to subdue the Cardinals and clinch a National Football League-record 20th consecutive winning season.

White’s fourth scoring pass was a 53-yarder to Hill in the third period. On Dallas’ next possession, Hill threw a pass for only the second time in his career. On a reverse, Hill hit tight end Doug Cosbie on a 42-yard play to set up Tony Dorset’s three-yard scoring run.

White’s three touchdown passes in the first half carried 18 yards to Mike Renfro, 19 yards to Cosbie and 16 yards to Hill.

White, who completed 14 of 26 passes for 235 yards, has seven touchdown passes in the last two games.

Dallas is 9-4; St. Louis is 4-9.

The Cowboys are 14-3-1 in Thanksgiving Day games, including a 4-0 record against the Cardinals.