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Dak Prescott's one-word trick to avoid throwing picks
By SportsDayDFW.com
Teams waited and waited for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to make his first big mistake during his rookie season.
And it took an NFL-record 177 pass attempts before Prescott finally gave up his first career interception. And he's only have three more on the year.
So what was his secret behind avoiding the biggest oops behind center? Prescott revealed it in an interview with SiriusXM's Talk of Fame Network. And it's as simple as one word.
"Prepare," Prescott said.
"And I think that's the greatest thing I can do and continue to get better at. By just knowing what the defense is going to give me, knowing my plays in and out, knowing where my checkdowns are, being able to get through my progressions fast all falls back on the preparation. And knowing when to take your chances -- knowing when the reward is worth the risk. And I give credit to [Mississippi State] coach Dan Mullen on teaching me that.
"And also kind of my mom putting that in the back in my head how much she hated interceptions. That allowed me to kind of be smart with the ball."
In explaining how he experienced very few hiccups in his first season in the NFL, Prescott again credited Mullen for preparing him.
"I give credit every chance I get to my college coach Dan Mullen for getting me prepared for the NFL mentally and teaching me the game of football," he said. "Not just teaching me spread offense, but teaching me defenses, teaching me all sorts of offenses so when I had the chance to put it on display here in the NFL that I knew a bunch of things. And I think that's something people may have missed in the draft, my knowledge of the game.
And he says the benefit of great coaching has continued in the pros.
"I had great coaches [with the Cowboys]: Coach [Jason] Garrett, Coach [Scott] Linehan and Coach [Wade] Wilson. Mark Sanchez, Tony [Romo], Kellen Moore, they all did a great job of preparing me week in week out of what I'm going to see and throughout the game as well as things came up. That allowed me just to play smooth and trust in my preparation."
So with all the great preparation Dak came in with, what was the hardest part of adjusting to the NFL?
"I'd say just the terminology," Prescott said. "For Mississippi State, for the most part -- my two years anyway -- we were spread, no-huddle. So I had to go back to my freshman and sophomore years when we huddled up when I got here. To me that was the biggest thing of being able to take those long plays and then spit them out to the team, to my huddle. And I just had again great coaching that allowed me to get the script and get the whole gameplan Monday and Tuesday, so I had plenty of time to practice where Sunday plays, you give me the personnel and the plays just roll off my tongue. But it was tough at first."
By SportsDayDFW.com
Teams waited and waited for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to make his first big mistake during his rookie season.
And it took an NFL-record 177 pass attempts before Prescott finally gave up his first career interception. And he's only have three more on the year.
So what was his secret behind avoiding the biggest oops behind center? Prescott revealed it in an interview with SiriusXM's Talk of Fame Network. And it's as simple as one word.
"Prepare," Prescott said.
"And I think that's the greatest thing I can do and continue to get better at. By just knowing what the defense is going to give me, knowing my plays in and out, knowing where my checkdowns are, being able to get through my progressions fast all falls back on the preparation. And knowing when to take your chances -- knowing when the reward is worth the risk. And I give credit to [Mississippi State] coach Dan Mullen on teaching me that.
"And also kind of my mom putting that in the back in my head how much she hated interceptions. That allowed me to kind of be smart with the ball."
In explaining how he experienced very few hiccups in his first season in the NFL, Prescott again credited Mullen for preparing him.
"I give credit every chance I get to my college coach Dan Mullen for getting me prepared for the NFL mentally and teaching me the game of football," he said. "Not just teaching me spread offense, but teaching me defenses, teaching me all sorts of offenses so when I had the chance to put it on display here in the NFL that I knew a bunch of things. And I think that's something people may have missed in the draft, my knowledge of the game.
And he says the benefit of great coaching has continued in the pros.
"I had great coaches [with the Cowboys]: Coach [Jason] Garrett, Coach [Scott] Linehan and Coach [Wade] Wilson. Mark Sanchez, Tony [Romo], Kellen Moore, they all did a great job of preparing me week in week out of what I'm going to see and throughout the game as well as things came up. That allowed me just to play smooth and trust in my preparation."
So with all the great preparation Dak came in with, what was the hardest part of adjusting to the NFL?
"I'd say just the terminology," Prescott said. "For Mississippi State, for the most part -- my two years anyway -- we were spread, no-huddle. So I had to go back to my freshman and sophomore years when we huddled up when I got here. To me that was the biggest thing of being able to take those long plays and then spit them out to the team, to my huddle. And I just had again great coaching that allowed me to get the script and get the whole gameplan Monday and Tuesday, so I had plenty of time to practice where Sunday plays, you give me the personnel and the plays just roll off my tongue. But it was tough at first."
