After gift-wrapping a first-quarter interception for Josh Sweat, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott admitted that he felt a sense of deja vu as he chased the Eagles defensive end all the way to the end zone.
“Yeah, I was chasing him down, and I go, ‘Is this really happening?'” Prescott told reporters Saturday night.
Prescott shook off that early pick-six and led the Cowboys back from not one but two ten-point deficits to hand their division rivals from Philadelphia just their second loss of the season. But the Christmas Eve contest started off with Prescott getting a hauntingly familiar visit from the Ghost of Interceptions Past.
It was just six days prior that a Prescott pick was returned by the Jacksonville Jaguars for a stunning walkoff win in overtime. And after a week of rumblings in the media wondering what’s wrong with Dak, the veteran found himself once again chasing down a defender… this time on just the offense’s fifth snap of the game.
JOSH SWEAT PICK-6 👀 @SweatyJ_9
📺: #PHIvsDAL on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/Gd75wO7QMX pic.twitter.com/9gft9EEE0i— NFL (@NFL) December 24, 2022
“He’s a long guy,” Prescott explained of the Eagles’ 6-foot-5-inch starter. “Big, obviously, tall arms. I guess I just misjudged his length. And he made a great catch. I don’t know if he’s had an easier interception and return than that one. As I said, as I was chasing him down, I was like, ‘Is this happening again?’ Oh well, boom, they scored. Let me get back on the field and lets’ just get this thing back rolling.”
And roll Prescott did. Of his 18 first-half passes, only one other didn’t find its intended target. He eventually ended the day with three touchdowns and a season-high 347 passing yards to take his career record against NFC East teams to 27-6.
“I don’t know if you can respond any better,” said Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy in his postgame press conference.
“I don’t know how else to say it: that’s who he is. Adversity is something that he eats for lunch. He doesn’t blink.”
Not blinking when confronted with a challenge is a common theme for the Cowboys under McCarthy, a trait he expressly seeks in all his players. And it’s something Prescott says he’s been doing his whole life.
“That comes from, I guess, [being] a kid. When you are a younger brother, you get beat up and you take a lot of losses, and the only way to keep going is by responding. It is by showing whatever happened last play really doesn’t matter, it’s all about the next play. That’s who I am. We have Chad [Bohling, Cowboys mental conditioning coach]… who talks about just staying neutral [through] the good, the bad, whatever it is. Thinking about the next and controlling the next. That’s all you can really do.”
Prescott said that after the pick-six that put the team down by 10 less than six minutes into the game, he forced himself to remember that dwelling on the mistake wouldn’t change it. So he came right back onto the field and led the team 75 yards on a touchdown drive.
McCarthy credits the team’s response in moments like that to his quarterback’s even-keeled demeanor.
“That’s such a huge part- I think it’s a huge part- to be successful in group dynamics. When you work with people in a large setting like this and you have a bunch of guys that are up and down based on the day, that’s very difficult. This guy? Dak’s the same person every day: in the fire, at practice, in the class[room]. I just think it speaks volumes to his approach. Puts in a tremendous amount of extra time. He believes in himself; he believes in this team. And he wears it on his sleeve.”
“I’m never worried about Dak,” running back Ezekiel Elliott told media members after the win. “When it comes down to crunch time, he’s going to go make that play.”
He made several, actually, as did the playmakers around him, on both offense and defense. And while the script felt like it could have been setting up as the latest sequel in a series of blown leads and games not closed out, Prescott and the Cowboys managed to hold on for a critical win that keeps hope alive for a division crown.
“As we’ve talked about all year long,” Prescott said, “that is our manta: resiliency. I think tonight was a great example of that. Down 10 in the first half, able to respond. Down 10 in the second half, able to respond. They score, we score, just back and forth. Defense gets a turnover, allows us to finally take the lead late in the game. Then they go out there again and get another turnover and then finish the game off. This is a bunch of guys that are focused as hell, taking it one play at a time.”
And even though the Week 16 win doesn’t qualify as a true Christmas miracle, the lessons learned may end up being the gift that keeps giving as Prescott and the team continues building toward their own reason for the season.
[lawrence-newsletter]