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[h=1]By David Moore[/h]
8:56 PM on Sep 12, 2019
FRISCO -- The dilemma facing Dak Prescott is more existential than it is grounded in the day to day reality of the NFL.
Once you've obtained perfection, once the formula used to determine a quarterback's performance declares you've scaled the pinnacle, what do you do for an encore? How can Prescott possibly be better against Washington than he was against the New York Giants?
What's a quarterback with a pristine rating of 158.3 to do?
"You move forward," Prescott said Thursday. "Simple as that. You move forward. You get back to what you know. Get back to ...
"The work is in the dirt, as they say."
Prescott completed just under 80 percent of his passes for 405 yards with four touchdowns in the opener. He didn't come close to throwing an interception. He wasn't sacked.
Rare? You have a better chance of Jerry Jones refusing to speak to the media for a year.
Prescott is only the third player in NFL history to record a perfect quarterback rating with more than 30 pass attempts. Jared Goff and Ken O'Brien are the others.
If Prescott is suddenly blinded by his brilliance, it doesn't show.
"Definitely wasn't a perfect day," Prescott said. "I don't ever honestly even look at the rating. There's a lot of other things I guess I could say I look at.
"Timing. Was I in the right spot, were my eyes in the right spot, what's the anticipation, things of that matter that a rating doesn't justify. More so decisions than any results.
"Whether it's yards, rating or any statistic, it's about just being in the right spot, knowing where I want to be mentally.''
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who would be drenched in anointing oil after one game if former coach Bill Parcells hadn't taken it with him when he left the Cowboys 12 years ago, takes the same tact.
"It was a really good game," Moore said. "Not perfect."
An offense that scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions scraped together just 25 yards on 13 plays in the final period. The Cowboys did not finish the way head coach Jason Garrett or the players wanted.
But let's be more specific.
There were seven passes that fell incomplete. What throw or sequence does Prescott point to that he'd like back?
"Uhhhh, I mean, I don't know," he said.
He's not helping the argument that he wasn't perfect.
Prescott maintains he would have been quick to pinpoint his flaws in the immediate aftermath of the game. He would provide examples. The problem with doing that now is that he's turned his full attention to this weekend's matchup with Washington.
"I'm so on to the Redskins at this point," he said.
Press him, and Prescott will say he's not even sure that Sunday was his best game with the Cowboys from start to finish. But here is something he did against the Giants.
"We talk about aggressively taking what they give us," Moore said. "I think that was his mentality. He was really decisive, very convicted in what he was doing, took charge of it.
"When they gave him shots, he took them. When they didn't, he found some checkdowns and some things to keep us moving."
Prescott has mentioned on several occasions since the start of training camp that things began to click for him in the second half of last season. He began to see defenses and the game differently.
He has thrown for more than 400 yards only twice in his career with the Cowboys. Both have come in the last five regular-season games.
"He is one of the more coachable guys we have ever been around," Garrett said. "He wants to know what you have to say to help him improve. He listens to it intently and he is very purposeful in trying to get it done whether its footwork, whether it's throwing motion, decision making or understanding a play or understanding a defense.
"He is a conscientious guy, a very focused guy. He is very purposeful and deliberate in his approach every day. That is why you see him improve so much in all parts of his game."
Will Prescott be perfect against Washington? No. He hasn't in the first six games against the Redskins .
But he hasn't thrown an interception against them, either.
"You can't sit back and hang your hat on something like that or hang your hat on one game,'' Prescott said. "It was a good performance for us to go out and do that in the passing game, obviously win that game the way that we did, but it's about turning the page."
8:56 PM on Sep 12, 2019
FRISCO -- The dilemma facing Dak Prescott is more existential than it is grounded in the day to day reality of the NFL.
Once you've obtained perfection, once the formula used to determine a quarterback's performance declares you've scaled the pinnacle, what do you do for an encore? How can Prescott possibly be better against Washington than he was against the New York Giants?
What's a quarterback with a pristine rating of 158.3 to do?
"You move forward," Prescott said Thursday. "Simple as that. You move forward. You get back to what you know. Get back to ...
"The work is in the dirt, as they say."
Prescott completed just under 80 percent of his passes for 405 yards with four touchdowns in the opener. He didn't come close to throwing an interception. He wasn't sacked.
Rare? You have a better chance of Jerry Jones refusing to speak to the media for a year.
Prescott is only the third player in NFL history to record a perfect quarterback rating with more than 30 pass attempts. Jared Goff and Ken O'Brien are the others.
If Prescott is suddenly blinded by his brilliance, it doesn't show.
"Definitely wasn't a perfect day," Prescott said. "I don't ever honestly even look at the rating. There's a lot of other things I guess I could say I look at.
"Timing. Was I in the right spot, were my eyes in the right spot, what's the anticipation, things of that matter that a rating doesn't justify. More so decisions than any results.
"Whether it's yards, rating or any statistic, it's about just being in the right spot, knowing where I want to be mentally.''
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who would be drenched in anointing oil after one game if former coach Bill Parcells hadn't taken it with him when he left the Cowboys 12 years ago, takes the same tact.
"It was a really good game," Moore said. "Not perfect."
An offense that scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions scraped together just 25 yards on 13 plays in the final period. The Cowboys did not finish the way head coach Jason Garrett or the players wanted.
But let's be more specific.
There were seven passes that fell incomplete. What throw or sequence does Prescott point to that he'd like back?
"Uhhhh, I mean, I don't know," he said.
He's not helping the argument that he wasn't perfect.
Prescott maintains he would have been quick to pinpoint his flaws in the immediate aftermath of the game. He would provide examples. The problem with doing that now is that he's turned his full attention to this weekend's matchup with Washington.
"I'm so on to the Redskins at this point," he said.
Press him, and Prescott will say he's not even sure that Sunday was his best game with the Cowboys from start to finish. But here is something he did against the Giants.
"We talk about aggressively taking what they give us," Moore said. "I think that was his mentality. He was really decisive, very convicted in what he was doing, took charge of it.
"When they gave him shots, he took them. When they didn't, he found some checkdowns and some things to keep us moving."
Prescott has mentioned on several occasions since the start of training camp that things began to click for him in the second half of last season. He began to see defenses and the game differently.
He has thrown for more than 400 yards only twice in his career with the Cowboys. Both have come in the last five regular-season games.
"He is one of the more coachable guys we have ever been around," Garrett said. "He wants to know what you have to say to help him improve. He listens to it intently and he is very purposeful in trying to get it done whether its footwork, whether it's throwing motion, decision making or understanding a play or understanding a defense.
"He is a conscientious guy, a very focused guy. He is very purposeful and deliberate in his approach every day. That is why you see him improve so much in all parts of his game."
Will Prescott be perfect against Washington? No. He hasn't in the first six games against the Redskins .
But he hasn't thrown an interception against them, either.
"You can't sit back and hang your hat on something like that or hang your hat on one game,'' Prescott said. "It was a good performance for us to go out and do that in the passing game, obviously win that game the way that we did, but it's about turning the page."
