For the first time since the 2019 season, the voice in Dak Prescott’s head will be different.
And this one speaks with a distinct Pittsburgh accent.
“It’s different,” the Cowboys quarterback joked with reporters about head coach Mike McCarthy’s new play-calling responsibilities for 2023. “I tell you, you hear that accent a little bit more when he’s calling these plays. He called one out there today, and I looked back, and I go, ‘Was it the right one?’ Yeah, it was, it’s just that his accent was tough to hear. No, it’s been fun.”
Prescott and McCarthy have been together for over three years. But this offseason, it’s like they’re just now getting to know each other.
Kellen Moore was the Dallas offensive coordinator for the past four seasons. He served as the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2018. And he was Prescott’s teammate for the two years prior to that.
This is Prescott’s first NFL offseason without Moore to lean on, but the Cowboys 2023 offense will still be built off the foundation they laid.
“As far as the installation, obviously there are some adds, some things taken out,” Prescott said Thursday. “I think you just get the overall feel that maybe the game is going to be called a little different.
“It’s not like we’re going to throw away our playbook and try to start over, anything like that. Obviously, we’ve had some success. There is good there. We had to take that and detail the hell out of it. Everything we’re doing. Plays we’ve already had, new plays in, just understanding the purpose and just making sure everyone knows the why and what the purpose is in their play and in their roles. Just detailing it all and, I think, will make us play faster and be better.”
Purpose is a word McCarthy is using a lot these days, too. It’s clearly a point of emphasis as he and his quarterback feel each other out in their new working relationship.
“We’ve got a thing called PCP, really just the purpose of the play-call. Play-call purpose: PCP,” the coach explained in his Thursday press conference. “It’s one thing to learn the play and the intricacies of the play, but when you continue to know and anticipate when and where it’s going to be called, I think that’s just stronger communication and connection that a quarterback and play-caller need to have.”
Both men hope that having a better understanding of the purpose of a particular play call in a given situation will reduce the number of sloppy mistakes that helped contribute to a career-high interception total last season for Prescott.
“That’s the detail and the accountability and discipline within a play that all 11 guys have to have,” Prescott offered, “understanding their role and understanding if they’re a clear-out or they’re really eating up a window or eating up a guy to open up that space and for that guy to understand to not kill his window, to open it up and… Yeah, some things I guess some of these young guys may not have heard, and you see it click and you see them understanding early on. It’s just been good. You can see it and feel it and understand everybody is locked in, everyone is buying in to the purpose of it and the purpose of their role, which overall allows us to play faster and play cleaner.”
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And interestingly enough, more communication now on things like play-call purpose means Prescott will actually hear less of McCarthy’s voice in his head on game day: just the play call, no extra reminders of the details of a play.
“No, no, no, leave me alone,” Prescott said of his in-helmet preferences. “Because the time we spend throughout the week. He shouldn’t have to give me a reminder, and I think he would say the same. It’s because we’re going to be talking all week long about the communication, the play, what its purpose is, the situation of the game, down and distance. Therefore, when that play is called, that conversation should have been held a couple of days ago, I know what he’s thinking, why it’s called, where we are in particular with that situation, and how to execute.”
That kind of fine-tuned deep dive of the Cowboys playbook has forced the two to go back through the entire playbook to more closely examine what has worked for the offense of late… and what maybe hasn’t.
“As we broke [Thursday’s practice],” Prescott explained, “[Coach McCarthy] said, ‘You know what? Go look at everything we put in, and make sure we’re running the things you like and the things we’re good at. If it’s something you’re a little iffy about, let’s get it out. Let’s master what we’re great at.’ Just having that clear communication and being able to work with him day in and day out, it’s new, it’s refreshing, it’s fun for both of us.”
The beginning stages of a new relationship are supposed to be refreshing and fun. Cowboys Nation is about to see whether Prescott and McCarthy are destined to make it past this honeymoon phase and be a happily-ever-after kind of couple, complete with shiny new jewelry.
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