Even with a 3-4 record, it’s far from a lost season for the Dallas Cowboys.
After a failed comeback attempt in the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers, players in the locker room communicated confidence in the team’s ability to win the rest of its five remaining division games to put themselves in a position to squeak into the playoffs at the end of the season.
A lot would need to be fixed.
Fortunately for Dallas, not a lot of those problems are very complex. Run the ball better. Show a pulse in stopping the run with consistency. Have better offensive line play. Start winning the turnover margin. The list goes on.
But arguably the most fixable problem starts with the man at the front, Dak Prescott.
Coming off his first three-game stretch in his career in which he has thrown multiple interceptions in each contest, the freshly minted highest-paid player in NFL history has not lived up to his billing so far this season after a 2023 campaign that saw him finish as the league’s MVP runner-up.
“I’m personally frustrated,” Prescott said after the loss to San Francisco. “Frustrated with myself about my play…Frustration is very high, but it’s a long season. A lot of division games and a lot is still ahead of us. Frustrated, that’s the best way that I can put it.”
Not all of Prescott’s on-field issues can be attributed to solely himself.
One of his two interceptions against the 49ers saw him be forced to get the ball out quicker than he needed on a deep shot to KaVontae Turpin only for it to fall short. An interception against the Saints saw Prescott put a pass to Jalen Brooks through a tight window only for the second-year receiver to slip and have it fall in the hands of a lurking safety behind him.
In addition, there hasn’t been a running game (last in NFL with 519 rushing yards) that has allowed Prescott to work as freely as he has worked in the play action during his nine-year career.
All in all, things are working against Prescott. But when looking at what is ahead for the Cowboys’ salary cap restrictions past 2024 when Prescott’s four-year, $240 million extension and CeeDee Lamb’s four-year, $136 million extension kicks in among other sizable contracts on the horizon, Prescott’s new reality is having to do more with less. His first entrance into that reality has not shown that he is up to the challenge.
Through seven games, Prescott has eight interceptions – just one shy of his total from the entirety of last season. According to Pro Football Focus, Prescott has had 16 turnover-worthy plays, just six off his career-high for an entire season back in 2019. He has failed to get any receiver not named CeeDee Lamb involved – only Jalen Tolbert (334) and Jake Ferguson (263) have more than 200 yards on the season. As an offense, Prescott has manufactured a group that ranks 22nd in the NFL with 21.4 points per game.
“I don’t have to be perfect, but I sure can’t be having the turnovers,” Prescott said. “Look at the end of the score, touchdowns is the difference. Once again, we put ourselves behind in the turnover battle and that’s on me. [We] can’t have that if you’re planning to win games. I’ve got to clean that up, period.”
The accountability will always be there for Prescott. For a guy that has always drawn rave reviews from those that work closely with him every day, there won’t be a guy in the building that looks in the mirror first, win or lose.
“I’ve got to make throws, pressure or not, and I’m capable of doing it,” Prescott said. “So, I’ve got to do it.”
It’s a reason why head coach Mike McCarthy has stated that he’s “damn excited and glad he’s our quarterback” and Jerry Jones has put faith in him being the quarterback through at least 2028.
However, if the Cowboys want to right the ship, Prescott jst work through all of the problems he’s facing and still find production while keeping the ball clean.
“We know what it takes in this league,” Prescott said. “You get hot and you can get rolling and that’s all you’re looking to do. But nobody is giving up…We just got to take it one [game] at a time. As I said, everything’s still in our control. We have lost four, but we can get hot and that’s the plan. We just got to keep building, whether this was a win or a loss. That’s how this league works. You have got to build.”