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How Dak Prescott put Cowboys on his back for first road playoff win in 30 years
By Jon Machota
6h ago
TAMPA, Fla. — Dak Prescott showed up to Raymond James Stadium on Monday evening expecting to have a bounce-back performance. It would’ve been difficult to play any worse than he did the previous Sunday in the Cowboys’ regular-season finale at Washington.
Facing a much better opponent, one led by the greatest player in NFL history, the pressure was on Dallas’ franchise quarterback. If he didn’t play well, the Cowboys were likely headed home with another disappointing end to their season. Questions about whether or not Prescott is still the right person for the position would likely follow.
But he silenced any of that talk with one of the greatest playoff performances by a quarterback in franchise history, leading the Cowboys to a dominant 31-14 wild-card win over Tom Brady and the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Prescott threw for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth score, something that had never been done. Not by Roger Staubach. Not by Troy Aikman.
“(He was) as good as I’ve seen,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “I thought he played extremely well, stayed aggressive, and took the checkdowns. I thought he had great command of the offense and excellent presence in the pocket. Frankly, I anticipate Dak to play like this almost every week because of how much he puts into it. It’s like anything in this game, it’s always the little things. You talk about who’s the first guy to work, who’s the last guy to work. Anytime you take a lap down into the workout area or training area (at The Star) around 7 or 8 o’clock at night, he’s still there.
“He puts the time in. He does all of the extra stuff and all the little things that are needed to be a highly-successful quarterback in this league. So, I’m not surprised at all that he responded.”
Most importantly, Prescott never turned the ball over, snapping a seven-game streak with at least one interception, which included throwing three pick sixes in the past four games. The Cowboys are now 5-0 this season when they don’t commit a turnover.
“I’ve had confidence all along,” Prescott said. “I had no doubt that we were going to have a game like this, that we could be clean with the ball and I could be clean with the ball, obviously.”
The start looked similar to the 26-6 Week 18 loss at Washington. Three-and-outs on the first two series weren’t exactly a great sign that Prescott was about to have one of the greatest games of his career.
“I got away from the way that I play this game,” Prescott said of his play last week. “I got greedy. I tried to force some throws. I tried to take the big ones. And that’s not who I’ve been throughout my career, obviously taking what they give me, waiting on the big shot. I think it was uncharacteristic. It was a way for me to dial back in.
“I knew what this game meant. I knew how important it was for us.”
Fortunately for Prescott, Micah Parsons and Dallas’ defense set the tone from the first snap, forcing the Buccaneers to go three-and-out on their first two possessions.
Prescott settled in on his third series. On second-and-5 from the Dallas 25, Prescott went play-action, faking the handoff to Tony Pollard and throwing to Michael Gallup near the Cowboys sideline for a 15-yard gain. It was a great grab on a ball that was thrown high. First completion. First first down. And it was just what Prescott needed.
Aided by a much-improved run game and a roughing the passer call, Dallas was all of a sudden at the Tampa Bay 22-yard line and Prescott was about to look for tight end Dalton Schultz down the right seam. But before doing so, he looked off the deep safety to give Schultz enough room to get separation. Seven plays and 80 yards later, Dallas was up 6-0 after Brett Maher’s first of four missed extra points.
Dak Prescott scores on a fourth-down run in the second quarter to give Dallas a 12-0 lead. (Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)
Brady and the Buccaneers looked like they would answer with a long TD drive of their own, only to have Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse come away with a highly uncharacteristic interception of Brady in the red zone. Prescott was a perfect 5 of 5 passing on the following series, getting Dallas down to the Tampa Bay 1-yard line midway through the second quarter. When most in the stadium thought Prescott would hand to Ezekiel Elliott on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Prescott executed a perfect fake and kept the ball running to his left for the untouched rushing score. Prescott’s emotional celebration as he crossed the goal line was a good indication of how much this game meant to him.
“Great play call by (offensive coordinator Kellen Moore),” Prescott said. “I could’ve thrown it to Schultz, but he already had one, so I figured I’d (keep it). He spooked me a little bit when he pointed at the guy coming after me.”
Again, the defense came up big, allowing only one first down before getting the ball right back to Prescott and the offense for one more scoring drive before halftime. This one went 91 yards in 11 plays, the highlight being Prescott’s scramble to his left on second-and-4 from the Tampa Bay 11-yard line. Before going out of bounds, Prescott threw back across his body to Schultz in the end zone.
“Great job by him seeing the coverage the same way I saw it,” Prescott said. “I wanted to get it to him early but (the defender) was doing a good job of playing between him and (Pollard) in the flat. He gave me a little point to where he was going. I was able to make the throw, but credit to him for keeping that play alive and giving me somewhere to go with the ball.”
Maher then missed his third consecutive extra point, making the score 18-0. When the ESPN TV coverage came back from commercial break, they showed Prescott on the sideline slamming his helmet and mouthing the words, “Go for f—— two!” He was obviously frustrated with points being left off the scoreboard. Prescott said after the game that he spoke with Maher individually.
“Told him, let that go, we’re going to need him,” Prescott said. “I just played like s— a week ago. That happens. I have no doubt in Brett and what he’s capable of doing.”
The Buccaneers started the second half with the ball, but were forced to go three-and-out for a third time. Dallas then answered with an 86-yard drive over the next four minutes that was capped with another exceptional throw from Prescott to Gallup in the back of the end zone. Maher missed his fourth extra point, but Dallas was in an excellent spot up 24-0.
Prescott added his fourth TD pass when he found a wide-open CeeDee Lamb on a blown defensive assignment on fourth-and-4 from the Tampa Bay 18 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
“Dak showed that he’s a warrior,” Lamb said. “He’s a baller, and he came out slinging it off the rip. I feel like it was a statement game for him.”
CeeDee Lamb hauls in his 18-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter on Monday. (Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)
Prescott finished 25 of 33 passing for 305 yards and a 143.3 passer rating. His 75.8 completion percentage is the second-highest in postseason team history, trailing only Aikman’s 76.7 percent against Green Bay in the 1994 playoffs. At one point in the first half, Prescott completed 11 passes in a row, the most consecutive completions in a playoff game in Cowboys history.
“It may be the best game of his career,” Aikman said of Prescott while calling the game on ESPN. “I’ve never seen him play better.”
To compare, Brady completed 35 of 66 passes for 351 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 72.2 passer rating in his first career loss to the Cowboys in eight games.
Brady and Prescott met near midfield for a few seconds immediately after the Cowboys kneeled out the clock Monday night.
“He just said that I played well,” Prescott said. “I told him good job, he told me good job. I just shook his hand. He’s obviously a guy that I have the ultimate respect for. He’s won more than anyone has in this league. He’s been the epitome of how to play this game for years and how to take care of your body. So much respect for him. But that’s about (our) defense. The way they went out there and took care of business. This isn’t some Dak versus Tom Brady matchup. That was Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Our defense played their asses off and gave us an opportunity to score more points than they did.”
Former Cowboys cornerback and current Colorado football coach Deion Sanders joined ESPN2’s “Manning Cast” in the first half. At one point, Sanders discussed how important these playoffs are for Prescott.
“This is the year he’s got to step up,” Sanders said. “Quarterbacks, when you get a big check, the expectation is broader. Everyone expects you to do what you got to do. It’s not the running back, it’s not the (offensive) line, they don’t give a darn who you got in front of you. Get the job done. This is the year that Dak has to get the job done.”
It’s difficult to envision the Cowboys winning next Sunday at San Francisco and making a deep playoff run without outstanding play from Prescott. The good news for them is that his confidence should be high coming off that performance. As expected, Prescott was in good spirits as he left his postgame news conference, grabbing some food before making his way to the team bus. He briefly explained to some reporters why he was wearing a white sweatshirt with blue writing that said LTTG. It stands for Loyal To The Game. His friend owns the clothing company and recently pointed out how the Cowboys have done well when their QB sports his gear, something he will likely continue next weekend.
“He probably gets talked about more than any football player there is right now,” Cowboys right guard Zack Martin said of Prescott. “You can’t get him down. He’s going to keep swinging, and that’s what he did tonight. The guy has been through a lot of stuff in his life and he’s persevered through it. Playing football is nothing to him.
“Playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is certainly a position that everyone likes to comment on. What that guy is made of, you couldn’t ask for a better makeup for that position than that guy.”
“We all expect it,” Parsons said of Prescott’s play Monday night. “Sometimes it’s unfair, unjust because of who we play for and the standard that we have. But he holds it well. He steps up when he has to. Kudos to him for the game he had.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he told Prescott before the game to “be aggressive.”
Did Jones learn anything about his quarterback Monday night?
“He has showed in the right setting,” Jones said, “and the right circumstances, he showed me he’s maybe the top — certainly the NFC — quarterback. … (Beating Brady) is a nice badge to have. You say, ‘Well, it’s not about badges, it’s about your performance,’ but the fact that in light of the kind of pressure, how important this game was to us as a franchise, and he was well aware of the criticism, whether he had a lot to do with it or not, us not winning playoff games for the last umpteen years, but still it was there.
“I think just in the face of it, he took it right on, Brady and all of it, and just said, ‘Here, I’m going to show you.’”
By Jon Machota
6h ago
TAMPA, Fla. — Dak Prescott showed up to Raymond James Stadium on Monday evening expecting to have a bounce-back performance. It would’ve been difficult to play any worse than he did the previous Sunday in the Cowboys’ regular-season finale at Washington.
Facing a much better opponent, one led by the greatest player in NFL history, the pressure was on Dallas’ franchise quarterback. If he didn’t play well, the Cowboys were likely headed home with another disappointing end to their season. Questions about whether or not Prescott is still the right person for the position would likely follow.
But he silenced any of that talk with one of the greatest playoff performances by a quarterback in franchise history, leading the Cowboys to a dominant 31-14 wild-card win over Tom Brady and the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Prescott threw for four touchdowns and ran for a fifth score, something that had never been done. Not by Roger Staubach. Not by Troy Aikman.
“(He was) as good as I’ve seen,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “I thought he played extremely well, stayed aggressive, and took the checkdowns. I thought he had great command of the offense and excellent presence in the pocket. Frankly, I anticipate Dak to play like this almost every week because of how much he puts into it. It’s like anything in this game, it’s always the little things. You talk about who’s the first guy to work, who’s the last guy to work. Anytime you take a lap down into the workout area or training area (at The Star) around 7 or 8 o’clock at night, he’s still there.
“He puts the time in. He does all of the extra stuff and all the little things that are needed to be a highly-successful quarterback in this league. So, I’m not surprised at all that he responded.”
Most importantly, Prescott never turned the ball over, snapping a seven-game streak with at least one interception, which included throwing three pick sixes in the past four games. The Cowboys are now 5-0 this season when they don’t commit a turnover.
“I’ve had confidence all along,” Prescott said. “I had no doubt that we were going to have a game like this, that we could be clean with the ball and I could be clean with the ball, obviously.”
The start looked similar to the 26-6 Week 18 loss at Washington. Three-and-outs on the first two series weren’t exactly a great sign that Prescott was about to have one of the greatest games of his career.
“I got away from the way that I play this game,” Prescott said of his play last week. “I got greedy. I tried to force some throws. I tried to take the big ones. And that’s not who I’ve been throughout my career, obviously taking what they give me, waiting on the big shot. I think it was uncharacteristic. It was a way for me to dial back in.
“I knew what this game meant. I knew how important it was for us.”
Fortunately for Prescott, Micah Parsons and Dallas’ defense set the tone from the first snap, forcing the Buccaneers to go three-and-out on their first two possessions.
Prescott settled in on his third series. On second-and-5 from the Dallas 25, Prescott went play-action, faking the handoff to Tony Pollard and throwing to Michael Gallup near the Cowboys sideline for a 15-yard gain. It was a great grab on a ball that was thrown high. First completion. First first down. And it was just what Prescott needed.
Aided by a much-improved run game and a roughing the passer call, Dallas was all of a sudden at the Tampa Bay 22-yard line and Prescott was about to look for tight end Dalton Schultz down the right seam. But before doing so, he looked off the deep safety to give Schultz enough room to get separation. Seven plays and 80 yards later, Dallas was up 6-0 after Brett Maher’s first of four missed extra points.
Dak Prescott scores on a fourth-down run in the second quarter to give Dallas a 12-0 lead. (Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)
Brady and the Buccaneers looked like they would answer with a long TD drive of their own, only to have Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse come away with a highly uncharacteristic interception of Brady in the red zone. Prescott was a perfect 5 of 5 passing on the following series, getting Dallas down to the Tampa Bay 1-yard line midway through the second quarter. When most in the stadium thought Prescott would hand to Ezekiel Elliott on fourth-and-goal from the 1, Prescott executed a perfect fake and kept the ball running to his left for the untouched rushing score. Prescott’s emotional celebration as he crossed the goal line was a good indication of how much this game meant to him.
“Great play call by (offensive coordinator Kellen Moore),” Prescott said. “I could’ve thrown it to Schultz, but he already had one, so I figured I’d (keep it). He spooked me a little bit when he pointed at the guy coming after me.”
Again, the defense came up big, allowing only one first down before getting the ball right back to Prescott and the offense for one more scoring drive before halftime. This one went 91 yards in 11 plays, the highlight being Prescott’s scramble to his left on second-and-4 from the Tampa Bay 11-yard line. Before going out of bounds, Prescott threw back across his body to Schultz in the end zone.
“Great job by him seeing the coverage the same way I saw it,” Prescott said. “I wanted to get it to him early but (the defender) was doing a good job of playing between him and (Pollard) in the flat. He gave me a little point to where he was going. I was able to make the throw, but credit to him for keeping that play alive and giving me somewhere to go with the ball.”
Maher then missed his third consecutive extra point, making the score 18-0. When the ESPN TV coverage came back from commercial break, they showed Prescott on the sideline slamming his helmet and mouthing the words, “Go for f—— two!” He was obviously frustrated with points being left off the scoreboard. Prescott said after the game that he spoke with Maher individually.
“Told him, let that go, we’re going to need him,” Prescott said. “I just played like s— a week ago. That happens. I have no doubt in Brett and what he’s capable of doing.”
The Buccaneers started the second half with the ball, but were forced to go three-and-out for a third time. Dallas then answered with an 86-yard drive over the next four minutes that was capped with another exceptional throw from Prescott to Gallup in the back of the end zone. Maher missed his fourth extra point, but Dallas was in an excellent spot up 24-0.
Prescott added his fourth TD pass when he found a wide-open CeeDee Lamb on a blown defensive assignment on fourth-and-4 from the Tampa Bay 18 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
“Dak showed that he’s a warrior,” Lamb said. “He’s a baller, and he came out slinging it off the rip. I feel like it was a statement game for him.”
CeeDee Lamb hauls in his 18-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter on Monday. (Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today)
Prescott finished 25 of 33 passing for 305 yards and a 143.3 passer rating. His 75.8 completion percentage is the second-highest in postseason team history, trailing only Aikman’s 76.7 percent against Green Bay in the 1994 playoffs. At one point in the first half, Prescott completed 11 passes in a row, the most consecutive completions in a playoff game in Cowboys history.
“It may be the best game of his career,” Aikman said of Prescott while calling the game on ESPN. “I’ve never seen him play better.”
To compare, Brady completed 35 of 66 passes for 351 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 72.2 passer rating in his first career loss to the Cowboys in eight games.
Brady and Prescott met near midfield for a few seconds immediately after the Cowboys kneeled out the clock Monday night.
“He just said that I played well,” Prescott said. “I told him good job, he told me good job. I just shook his hand. He’s obviously a guy that I have the ultimate respect for. He’s won more than anyone has in this league. He’s been the epitome of how to play this game for years and how to take care of your body. So much respect for him. But that’s about (our) defense. The way they went out there and took care of business. This isn’t some Dak versus Tom Brady matchup. That was Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Our defense played their asses off and gave us an opportunity to score more points than they did.”
Former Cowboys cornerback and current Colorado football coach Deion Sanders joined ESPN2’s “Manning Cast” in the first half. At one point, Sanders discussed how important these playoffs are for Prescott.
“This is the year he’s got to step up,” Sanders said. “Quarterbacks, when you get a big check, the expectation is broader. Everyone expects you to do what you got to do. It’s not the running back, it’s not the (offensive) line, they don’t give a darn who you got in front of you. Get the job done. This is the year that Dak has to get the job done.”
It’s difficult to envision the Cowboys winning next Sunday at San Francisco and making a deep playoff run without outstanding play from Prescott. The good news for them is that his confidence should be high coming off that performance. As expected, Prescott was in good spirits as he left his postgame news conference, grabbing some food before making his way to the team bus. He briefly explained to some reporters why he was wearing a white sweatshirt with blue writing that said LTTG. It stands for Loyal To The Game. His friend owns the clothing company and recently pointed out how the Cowboys have done well when their QB sports his gear, something he will likely continue next weekend.
“He probably gets talked about more than any football player there is right now,” Cowboys right guard Zack Martin said of Prescott. “You can’t get him down. He’s going to keep swinging, and that’s what he did tonight. The guy has been through a lot of stuff in his life and he’s persevered through it. Playing football is nothing to him.
“Playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is certainly a position that everyone likes to comment on. What that guy is made of, you couldn’t ask for a better makeup for that position than that guy.”
“We all expect it,” Parsons said of Prescott’s play Monday night. “Sometimes it’s unfair, unjust because of who we play for and the standard that we have. But he holds it well. He steps up when he has to. Kudos to him for the game he had.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he told Prescott before the game to “be aggressive.”
Did Jones learn anything about his quarterback Monday night?
“He has showed in the right setting,” Jones said, “and the right circumstances, he showed me he’s maybe the top — certainly the NFC — quarterback. … (Beating Brady) is a nice badge to have. You say, ‘Well, it’s not about badges, it’s about your performance,’ but the fact that in light of the kind of pressure, how important this game was to us as a franchise, and he was well aware of the criticism, whether he had a lot to do with it or not, us not winning playoff games for the last umpteen years, but still it was there.
“I think just in the face of it, he took it right on, Brady and all of it, and just said, ‘Here, I’m going to show you.’”
