It was always going to come back. Maybe part of it is this time of year, when haunted houses and zombies creep into the collective consciousness for a little while. But even though Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott had insisted for months that he had put his 2020 injury well behind him, moved on completely, “buried it,” to use his exact phrase, everyone knew it was going to come back to life in some way this week.
Of course, the media led the resurrection effort, hooking up jumper cables, Dr. Frankenstein-style, in the days of hype leading up to the Week 5 game. The story was too good to pass up: the Giants once again, back at AT&T Stadium, one day shy of the one-year anniversary of the star quarterback’s leg snapping on live TV. And even though Prescott had tried to maintain that he hadn’t given much thought to that eerie sense of deja vu, he admitted after the team’s 44-20 blowout win that the ghosts briefly reappeared.
“I think I have,” Prescott told reporters afterward when asked if he had reflected on his journey since the gruesome season-ending leg injury he suffered on October 11 of last year. “During this week, as much as I have tried to put it off, as much as I’ve tried to not think about it, I think it just naturally does. It’s in the back of your head, unconsciously or not.”
The afternoon got off to a scary start for Prescott, who had a pass tipped and intercepted on the Cowboys’ very first possession. Later in the quarter, a shotgun snap got away from him and was recovered by New York just as the team seemed poised to score their first touchdown of the contest.
“Kind of rushed the whole snap-to-handoff mechanics and threw the ball away right there, and just definitely can’t do that. Especially not in the red zone. That’s just situational; it’s not good any time, but down there when you’re guaranteed some points, that’s a big swing.”
And that’s when the ghosts really started rattling their chains.
On the Giants’ next play, running back Saquon Barkley rolled an ankle. For the second straight year, a hush fell over the Giants-Cowboys meeting as a superstar lay on the turf in Arlington. Barkley ended up being carted into the tunnel, just as Prescott had been 364 days earlier.
“When I saw the cart, it definitely came in my head. ‘Get that thing out of here.’ But flipped the page quick; I’ve got a short memory. I thought about it for that moment,” Prescott said, also noting the injury suffered later by Giants passer Daniel Jones that required him to be driven off the field as well. “My thoughts went for him. Hope he’s okay, hope that Saquon, hope that all of those guys [are okay]. You never want to see anybody get hurt. It’s a physical game, and we know this game can take a toll on your body, but you never want to see anybody get taken out where they can’t come back in… But it was about turning the page and staying focused on what my job was.”
It didn’t take long. On the next offensive series, Prescott hooked up with wideout CeeDee Lamb for a 49-yard touchdown reception. He would add another scoring strike to Amari Cooper just before halftime. And then another to running back Ezekiel Elliott with the first drive of the third quarter. Prescott would end up going 22-of-32 for 302 passing yards and those three touchdowns in the rout, tallying a quarterback rating of 116.9.
And it all started with that deep ball to Lamb.
“Once I actually had that touchdown to CeeDee was kind of when I started rolling and got into the groove,” Prescott said.
The day may have gotten off to a dicey start, but head coach Mike McCarthy was confident that Prescott would exorcise any demons that last season’s memories tried to dredge up during this year’s rematch.
“Never blinked,” McCarthy said of his quarterback during his postgame press conference. “He’s so dang focused in everything he does. His disposition never changes, his attitude, his energy. I think that 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.”
But quickly getting over an unfortunate moment is becoming one of Prescott’s calling cards. Perhaps even more so than the accuracy, the gaudy statistics, the unwavering leadership, the unquestionable grit and toughness, Prescott’s knack for bouncing back from adversity may well be his greatest trait of all.
“The past is the past,” Prescott said to start his postgame address. “I think it’s about living in the present, not getting too infatuated with the future, either. Just living in this moment, enjoying this win here. And we’ll turn the page tomorrow and focus on the New England Patriots. It’s about the growth.”
And it’s the growth that Prescott zeroes in on when he talks about the last 365 days. Not content with just a comeback to the level he was at when he went down, Prescott is most proud now of going beyond.
“The way that I’ve grown,” he explained. “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.”
All indications are that Prescott is better than he was 365 days ago. And not just as an elite NFL quarterback, although that alone would be an impressive feat. He’s stared down every ghost that’s arisen since his home stadium turned into a personal house of horror last October. Now that injury can finally be laid to rest for good, never to see the light of day again.
“I said that in the locker room. I hugged [Cowboys director of rehabilitation] Britt Brown right there at the end and he said, ‘I know what this meant.’ I told him thank you and I said, ‘I’m glad it’s behind us.’ I said, ‘I don’t know why I was in a slow mental fog I felt early. But when it passed…’ Yeah, I’m glad it’s over with it, and I’m glad I’m past that, and I think this was the final shovel in burying this thing.”
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