Dak Prescott didn’t play his best game in Week 3. But he hopes his refusal to lie down, even trailing by 22 points with 10 minutes to play, can serve as something for the Cowboys offense to build on moving forward.
He told his teammates as much in the middle of their furious comeback bid that saw them score 19 unanswered points and have a legitimate chance at stealing an unlikely win over a Ravens team that had dominated them for the previous three quarters-plus.
“I said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get something going [in terms of] momentum,” the Cowboys quarterback told reporters after Sunday’s 28-25 loss. “I don’t care how this game ends. It’s about getting something going.”
Now it’s about keeping it going, using that late-game rally as a springboard to a more complete effort and- hopefully- a divisional win on Thursday night.
“The way that we finished on offense is vital for us to be able to build on, Prescott said, with the team headed to New York on a short prep week to face the Giants, fresh off their first win of the season.
“It’s a long-ass season,” Prescott said after closing out the game with three straight touchdown drives (two through the air, one with his legs). The Dallas offense netted 211 yards on those final three possessions, nearly equaling the 217 from their first eight drives. “It’s important to continue to roll that over into this short week.”
How Prescott’s teammates respond to Sunday’s letdown remain to be seen, but last year’s MVP runner-up remarked on a few things he hopes to see.
“Us as players, we’ve got to be more professional and understand our jobs, understand where we’re supposed to be, and do that time and time again, and keep our focus,” he explained.
Asked what he meant by being more professional, he elaborated.
“Knowing where you’re supposed to be, knowing your reads, knowing where you’re supposed to line up, knowing your routes, knowing your route adjustments versus certain coverages,” Prescott continued. “It’s doing your job and being prepared for every part of the job, however it may come. Time away from the building to being in the building, understanding that you can only get so many practice reps but you can watch the film, you can do all these other things that will help make up for it.”
Many have taken those comments to be directed largely at CeeDee Lamb.
CeeDee Lamb yelling at Dak Prescott 😳 pic.twitter.com/RIpbxzEWS8
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) September 22, 2024
The superstar receiver was credited with four receptions for 67 yards, but his afternoon was primarily marked by visible frustration after a red-zone fumble early in the second quarter. Cameras spotted Lamb having a heated exchange with teammates and coaches on the Cowboys sideline, and he was never much of a factor after his turnover.
Prescott downplayed the significance of Lamb’s physical cues while the game was in progress. But it was certainly reminiscent of last year’s meeting with the 49ers, when Lamb sulked away from the rest of his teammates during a humbling loss in which he was not at all in sync with his quarterback.
“Reading body language, I’m not really into it,” offered Prescott. “I’m just into making sure that he doesn’t get down on himself. The body language, whether it’s good [or] it’s bad, it’s irrelevant. It’s where his mind is.”
Lamb, notably, did not make himself available to the press following Sunday’s game.
CeeDee Lamb’s first half redzone fumble loomed large in a three-point loss. His body language afterward was noticeably poor. He was seen on the sideline exchanging passionate words with Dak Prescott and Zack Martin.
After the game, he was a no-show in the locker room for media.
— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) September 23, 2024
He has 218 receiving yards through three games, good for 11th place leaguewide, but his completion percentage is just 54.1%- lower than any of the ten pass-catchers in front of him, and far below last year’s mark of 74.6%.
Prescott couldn’t say exactly why there’s been something of a disconnect between the two (“Not really sure. If I had an answer, we’d be in a rhythm.”), but he wasn’t shy about laying at least some of the blame on Lamb’s summer-long holdout over a new contract extension.
“Obviously, when you miss some time, you’re going to have that. You wish you didn’t, but you are.”
So for now, all Prescott can do is keep at it. He spoke repeatedly during his postgame press conference of sticking to the process.
But admittedly, the process will have to speed up exponentially this week. Prescott explained that by the time he hit the facility on Monday morning, it would actually be like a Thursday in the team’s normal game-prep schedule.
And he hopes he can convince his teammates to similarly leave Sunday’s latest embarrassment in the rearview and use their fourth-quarter success to plot a new way forward from here on.
“‘Don’t dwell. You don’t have time to dwell,'” Prescott added. “You look at the way that game ended, and I feel like if we don’t dwell in different places on offense, it’s a different game… Things happen fast in this league, and you always have an opportunity. You always have a chance.”
The Cowboys still have 14 chances, in fact, in the 2024 regular season. Plenty of time to, in Prescott’s words, get something going.
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