Rookie Smith Powers Cowboy Ground Game Past Redskins, 27-17 : Pro football: Former Florida standout rushes for 132 yards, scores two touchdowns in the second half.

Never on Thanksgiving for the Washington Redskins. Some Dallas Cowboy always has a career game against them on the holiday.

Thursday, it was rookie Emmitt Smith, who carried 23 times for 132 yards and scored two second-half touchdowns as the Cowboys defeated Washington, 27-17, for their first back-to-back victories since 1987. They beat the Rams on Sunday.

Dallas improved to 5-7, the team’s best mark since it won seven times three years ago. Washington, which has lost all four of its Thanksgiving games against the Cowboys, dropped to 6-5.

The Redskins couldn’t stop Smith, who criticized Coach Jimmy Johnson two weeks ago for not using him enough.

“What can you say about Emmitt Smith?” Johnson said. “He’s going to be a great player in the NFL.”

Smith said he was happy to become a key component of the Dallas offense.

“I got the ball in my hands enough today and I’m satisfied,” he said. “I know this, winning two in a row is really going to help the confidence of this team. It’s the first time in a long time.”

Washington Coach Joe Gibbs said Smith, a former star at Florida who missed all of training camp because of a contract holdout, “is a very, very good back. We also missed some tackles, too. That helped him out.”

The victory ended a four-game losing streak on Thanksgiving Day for the Cowboys, who are 15-7-1 on the holiday.

After Ken Willis’ 41-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter put the Cowboys ahead to stay, Smith broke a 48-yard scoring run with 3:10 to play to put the game away.

“I just broke a couple of tackles and away I went,” Smith said. “We were really moving them off the ball.”

Smith scored on a one-yard run to make the score 17-17 with 2:27 left in the third quarter. The touchdown was set up by a 24-yard pass from Troy Aikman to Jay Novacek.

It was Smith’s best rushing effort for Dallas. He gained 121 yards against Tampa Bay on Oct. 7 for his other 100-yard rushing game as a pro.

“Smith is phenomenal, no question,” Aikman said. “He doesn’t have great speed, but he’s tremendously quick.”

Washington came back from a 10-0 deficit and took a 17-10 lead on Mark Rypien’s six-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Sanders in the third quarter. The go-ahead score followed Wilbur Marshall’s interception of Aikman at the Dallas 20.

Issiac Holt’s blocked punt helped the Cowboys to a 10-7 halftime lead.

Holt blocked Ralf Mojsiejenko’s punt and Dave Howard recovered at the Washington 12. On the next play, Aikman passed to Michael Irvin for a touchdown over cornerback Darrell Green for a 10-0 Dallas lead.

James Dixon’s 18-yard run on a reverse set up Willis’ 49-yard field goal that gave the Cowboys a 3-0 lead in the first quarter.

Rypien, who completed 26 of 54 passes for 267 yards, awakened the Washington offense with a 78-yard drive late in the first half. He completed five passes for 55 yards before Earnest Byner scored from the five.

Washington was held to 36 yards rushing.