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By Jon Machota Oct 10, 2021
ARLINGTON, Texas — Dak Prescott didn’t feel like himself to start Sunday’s game. The Cowboys quarterback acknowledged that he wasn’t as energetic as usual. He described it as being in a mental fog.
On the seventh play of the Cowboys’ opening drive against the New York Giants, Prescott threw a short pass to his left toward running back Ezekiel Elliott. The ball was tipped near the line of scrimmage and intercepted by linebacker Lorenzo Carter.
Two series later, Prescott lost a fumbled shotgun snap with Dallas 5 yards away from scoring its first touchdown.
As much as he wanted to downplay it all week, Prescott had something on his mind. Sunday was one day short of the one-year anniversary of his season-ending ankle injury, which occurred against the same team, inside the same stadium.
“It’s in the back of your head,” Prescott said, “unconsciously or not.”
Fortunately for Prescott and the Cowboys, their opponent never took advantage of the turnovers. Dallas held a 3-0 lead after one quarter. Prescott extended it to 10-0 after he connected with wide receiver CeeDee Lamb on the Cowboys’ next possession.
Prescott said that 49-yard touchdown strike with 11:59 left in the second quarter is what got him in a groove, and Dallas went on to dominate its division rival, 44-20. After completing only 3 of 8 passes for 20 yards and an interception in the first quarter, Prescott was 19 of 24 for 282 yards, three touchdowns and a 155.2 passer rating in the final three quarters.
Prescott said in the locker room after the game that he hugged associate athletic trainer Britt Brown and thanked him.
“I’m glad it’s over with,” Prescott said. “I’m glad I’m past that. I think this was the final shovel to bury this thing.”
Beyond the slow start of the game, Prescott had multiple reminders of his injury as the Giants lost star running back Saquon Barkley to an ankle injury and starting quarterback Daniel Jones to a concussion. Like Prescott a year ago, both were carted off the field.
“Yeah, when I saw the cart, it definitely came in my head,” Prescott said. “I was like, get that thing out of here.”
The date, team and venue were things Prescott had to get beyond mentally, but it was clear from the season opener that his surgically repaired ankle is fully healed. The shots he took from Ndamukong Suh and other Tampa Bay defenders proved more physically demanding than anything Prescott faced Sunday against the Giants. He mentioned after the game that once the whistle blows, he doesn’t think about the consequences of a player hitting him or his ankle.
“He’s so dang focused in everything he does,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “His disposition never changes, his attitude, his energy. I think it clearly was evident in how he finished the game, the numbers that he put up. I thought he played very well, particularly after those two giveaways.”
The Cowboys didn’t play anything close to a perfect game Sunday. But they continued to show great balance on offense, totaling 515 yards. They recorded two more takeaways, including a league-leading sixth interception by Trevon Diggs, and continued to see different defenders step up at different times. Most important, they improved to 4-1, at least two games up on every other team in the NFC East.
With the injury behind him, Prescott can completely focus on what appears to be the start of a special season in Dallas.
What is he most proud of as he looks back over the past year?
“The way that I’ve grown,” Prescott said. “Honestly, my growth. Personally, just off the field and on the field. I learned a lot about myself, tested myself, I think everything I do now is very intentional and purposeful to what I want and what I want to accomplish. Just to be able to do that and to know that everything that you’re taking in is for the good and you’re trying to exert that as well.
“Exert nothing but good energy and positive energy and support. I’m blessed and anything that I go through I’m thankful for because I usually come out a better person as I did this.”
Near the end of Sunday’s game, former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman said on the Fox broadcast that Dallas “has the makings of doing something really special.”
The three-time Super Bowl champion then added that the key to it all will be their franchise quarterback.
“I think the guy that makes this happen is Dak Prescott,” Aikman said. “I think he’s such a great leader and such an unselfish leader. He just wants to win. I think he’s the biggest reason why this team, if they achieve what I think they’re capable of achieving, a large part of that is going to be because of No. 4 here and the way that he leads this team and the respect that he demands and commands in that locker room.”
Before leaving the field to head back into the locker room after pregame warmups, the Cowboys huddle as a team. One player generally shares a message with the group. This season, that player had been linebacker Jaylon Smith. Now that Smith is no longer on the roster, Prescott handled those duties Sunday.
“Just (told them), come out here and let’s play hard,” Prescott said. “Let’s start fast and finish. I said there is a lot of love in this group and let it show today by the way that we play. And I think we did that.”
