The Cowboys gained 510 yards Sunday, with Dak Prescott completing 41 of 60 passes for 403 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Numbers are deceiving.
The Cowboys trailed 41-16 heading into the fourth quarter and gained 216 yards, including 210 of Prescott’s passing yards and two passing touchdowns, in garbage time.
“I sucked tonight. That was it,” Prescott said. “We got it going a little bit late, but none of that mattered at that point. Fought. That’s all I really know how to do. But it’s about winning, and it’s about winning in the playoffs and getting to the last game and winning that as well. Yeah, tough.”
The Cowboys gave up the most points in the franchise’s postseason history, losing 48-32 to the Packers. It was a “stunning” result, which is the word owner Jerry Jones used multiple times in his 10-minute postgame media availability.
It also has coach Mike McCarthy’s future in doubt.
McCarthy has one year remaining on his contract, but Sunday’s embarrassing loss might outweigh the three consecutive 12-win regular seasons he has had. Jones said he has nothing scheduled with McCarthy yet.
“There’s nothing set on that,” Jones said. “What I had planned to do was be with him tomorrow going over how we played today and getting ready for the coming week. That’s what was on the agenda. Tomorrow, my agenda will be to dismiss the team.”
For what it’s worth, Prescott gave McCarthy a vote of confidence.
“He’s been amazing,” Prescott said. “I don’t know [McCarthy’s future] can be [in doubt], but I understand the business. In that case, it should be about me as well, honestly. That guy, I’ve had the season I’ve had because of him. This team has had the success they’ve had because of him. I understand it’s about winning the Super Bowl, and that’s the standard of the league and damn sure should be the standard of this place. I get it, but add me to the list in that case.”
Prescott’s future after next season is in doubt.
He has a $59.455 million cap hit next season, so he will be the Cowboys’ quarterback in 2024. But what about his future beyond that? Are the Cowboys willing to commit more than $50 million a season on a long-term deal for him?
Prescott put together an MVP-type season, with a league-leading 36 touchdowns and nine interceptions. But he is 2-5 in the postseason in his eight seasons, with nothing better than a trip to the divisional round.
Jones was asked whether Prescott’s performance Sunday would change his mind about a long-term commitment to his quarterback.
“I really haven’t thought about this at all. So, I won’t comment on it since I haven’t thought about it,” Jones said. “My complete thought for the last several weeks have totally been around anticipating and planning on advancing from this game to another game here at the stadium since we found out we were going to have this home field. So I’m going to back to the complete bottom of my thought process to think about anything other than next week’s game here.”
