I try to define the difference in Dak Prescott this season, and I keep coming back to one word: confidence. Sometimes, he sets up to throw and lets one fly and it looks like a bad decision … and it rarely is.
Prescott made such a tight-window throw midway through the fourth quarter Sunday night to Michael Gallup. Dallas led 30-13, and it was third-and-five from the Dallas 17-. Move the chains. End this thing. But Mike McCarthy wanted to take a deep shot—if it was there. Michael Gallup on a go-route down the left sideline, blanketed by rookie corner Kelee Ringo. Right end Josh Sweat steamed in on Prescott, seemingly affecting his arm angle as Prescott loaded up to aim for Gallup.
Why try this throw? It didn’t make sense to me, with a three-score lead, needing to simply drain the clock instead of taking this big shot and likely having to punt on the next play.
Likely, I said.
“It all starts with my confidence,” Prescott said from Texas 70 minutes after the game. “Where does the confidence come from? I credit for one the footwork of Mike McCarthy, the way that he’s been consistent in the footwork. I hit that back foot, and I’ve got the confidence to let it go because of the work we’ve put in in QB school going back to the offseason. Those [receivers] understand that I’m going to give them opportunities. On go balls, for instance, I’m putting the ball in the air and trusting them. It’s their job to run underneath and go make the catch. That’s what we did here.”
Precisely. Slightly affected by the speed-rush of Sweat, Prescott gave Gallup a shot on a high-arcing ball he threw 46 yards in the air. Gallup laid out just past Ringo, parallel to the ground, and caught the ball near the sideline. Gain of 39. Another deep vertical for Prescott, who’s killing them this year. On deep posts and go routes, he had six TDs and six picks last year; this year it’s 11 TDs and one interception, per Next Gen Stats.
The 33-13 win Sunday night tied Dallas with Philadelphia at 10-3 atop the NFC East, and the whole night felt to be a changing of the guard in the division. Philly’s lost to the best two teams in the conference by 23 (Niners) and 20 in the last two weeks. Dallas has won five straight. Seems crazy, but it’s actually the Eagles that have the inside track to the division title. Four games left, and the Eagles have a big schedule edge.
Philadelphia: at Seattle, Giants, Arizona, at Giants. Combined record of foes: 17-33.
Dallas: at Buffalo, at Miami, Detroit, at Washington. Combined record of foes: 29-22.
At Buffalo. At Miami. Yikes.
“That’s okay,” Prescott said. “That’s good. That’s what you ask for this time of year. You want the big games in December. We’re not sitting here celebrating because we won one game.
“That’s our standard. That’s our expectation. When you finish a game like this, you look up and you’ve got to go to Buffalo, a team that just won a tough one out there. They’re ready to play, too. It’s a hell of a matchup. We’ll be ready.”
Prescott (22 TDs, two picks in the last six weeks) certainly will. He’s come a long way since one of the most embarrassing days of his career in week five: Niners 42, Cowboys 10.
***
That 32-point loss in Santa Clara in October left three lingering scars:
- Dallas can’t win the big one.
- Prescott can’t win the big one.
- The Niners have Dallas’ number.
“I went into that game thinking that I was gonna have a huge game,” Prescott said. “They beat us the last two playoff games that were close, and this time I really thought we’d kick their ass. The exact opposite happened. What bothered me more than anything was the lack of fight that we showed as a team, honestly. Me and Mike talked about it. Pissed us off more than anything. After that game, I said if we lose another game, I promise you it won’t look like this. I promise you we won’t allow a team to bully us or knock us around.”
Dallas won seven of the next eight coming into Sunday’s game, none against premier teams. So there was the nagging doubt—if not inside the team, certainly surrounding it. “Since that 49er game, we’ve come out with a different demeanor and mindset every game. We fight,” Prescott said.
Dallas had the ball nine times Sunday and Prescott led seven scoring drives: three touchdowns, four field goals from Mr. Perfect, Brandon Aubrey, the NFL rookie who’s made his first 30 field-goal tries. The best thing about the game, from the Cowboys’ perspective, is they didn’t let Philadelphia breathe. They got good pressure on Jalen Hurts, gave up only six offensive points and held the ball for nearly 37 minutes on offense.
Prescott was John Stockton Sunday night, a distributor with no fear. Twelve of his 39 passes were tight-window throws (defined by Next Gen Stats as having a cover player within a yard of the receiver), and his 99 yards gained on such throws was an NFL season-high. “That’s what it means to play free,” he said. “I miss a throw, they know I’m coming back to them. We’ve put in too much work, built too much trust, to play any different now.”
I asked Prescott if winning the MVP means something to him. His candidacy is pretty good. He leads the NFL with 28 touchdown passes, his 107.5 rating is second-best to Brock Purdy, and his 3,505 passing yards is third. The numbers are there. Will the winning be? As I wrote last week, the last 10 MVPs have been quarterbacks on one of the top two playoff seeds in either conference.
“It’d be great,” he said. “Every now and then, that thought crosses your mind. It’d be cool. An award like that would be great for Cowboy fans and the people that doubted me more than anything. But my main goal has always been the Super Bowl.”
Great … for the people that doubted me. Behind the friendliest exterior in the NFL, Dak Prescott hears the skepticism. At Buffalo, at Miami, Detroit at home—those are the things that will determine this team’s fate this season. And Prescott’s.
Read more in Peter King’s full Football Morning in America column.
