Dak Prescott threw three touchdown passes as the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants 37-18 on Monday to remain an NFL division leader.

The Cowboys improved to 5-3 to stay ahead of Philadelphia (5-4) atop the NFC East division with the Giants a distant third at 2-7.

It was the sixth consecutive victory by Dallas in the rivalry against the Giants, although the Cowboys led only 13-12 at half-time.

"It just shows the character of the team to be able to overcome adversity," Prescott said. "Another slow start, but we got the run game going, and that opened up the passing game.

"We had no doubt we were going to finish this game off. We went out and executed plays, and that's what we did in the fourth quarter."

Prescott completed 22-of-35 passes for 257 yards with only one interception while Ezekiel Elliott carried 23 times for 139 yards for the Cowboys.

Prescott tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Michael Gallup, who made an acrobatic move along the sideline to reach the end zone, as the Cowboys stretched their lead to 23-15 early in the fourth quarter.

After the ensuing kickoff, New York's Saquon Barkley rambled 65 yards on the longest pass reception of his career to set up Aldrick Rosas's fourth field goal, a 29-yarder, to trim the Giants' deficit to five points with 11:50 remaining.

Prescott answered with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper, who caught the ball at the 25-yard line and continued his crossing pattern all the way into the end zone as Dallas surged ahead 30-18.

Cowboys defender Jourdan Lewis scored the final touchdown on a 63-yard fumble recovery return with six seconds remaining.

Giants quarterback Daniel Jones lost his NFL-high eighth fumble of the season to set up the score.

Jones lost his seventh fumble to set up a 28-yard field goal by Brett Maher to give Dallas a 16-12 lead late in the third quarter.

Rosas answered for the Giants with a 26-yard field goal to pull New York within 16-15 before Prescott's fourth-quarter heroics.

Prescott had flipped a short pass to Blake Jarwin, who raced 42 yards for a touchdown with 52 seconds remaining in the second quarter to pull the Cowboys within 12-10.

On the next possession, Cowboys defender Xavier Woods intercepted New York's Daniel Jones to set up Maher's 52-yard field goal that lifted Dallas ahead 13-12 at half-time.

A black cat running across the field delayed the game with 5:32 remaining in the second quarter, eluding police for several minutes before running out a tunnel behind an end zone.

Shortly after that disturbance, the Giants seized a 12-3 lead on a 25-yard Rosas field goal.

Jones flipped a one-yard touchdown pass to Cody Latimer early in the second quarter to give the Giants a 9-3 lead, but Rosas missed the conversion kick.

The teams traded field goals in the first quarter, Rosas connecting from 21 yards and Maher equalizing from 35 yards.