Prescott recounts Cowboys’ last-gasp pass play: ‘I want the ball in my hands’

The Dallas QB breaks down the fateful play that started with a near-sack and ended with a game-sealing interception for Seattle.

The Cowboys made more than their fair share of mistakes over the course of Sunday’s Week 3 contest in Seattle. Thanks to those errors- spread across offense, defense, and special teams- they found themselves, for the second week in a row, down by 15 points in the second half of a football game.

And, also for the second week in a row, the Cowboys clawed their way back and put themselves in a position for a miracle finish. That hope fizzled out, though, when quarterback Dak Prescott’s desperation throw with under ten seconds to play found its way into the arms of a Seahawks defender in the end zone.

“Right there, guys were in the end zone,” Prescott told the media after the game. “Obviously, I didn’t think the guy was going to necessarily get an interception, but I was going to throw it up and give ourselves a chance to make a catch. If it goes incomplete, then we’d have another chance. I’m not going to be upset at the decision I made there.”

The fact that Prescott was able to get the pass off at all was remarkable. The Cowboys’ pass protection broke down on the fateful third-and-14 play.  Up to that point, the drive had consisted of ten consecutive shotgun snaps as Dallas needed to move the ball 75 yards in the final 1:47 of regulation.

Rushing just three defenders, Seattle nearly had Prescott on the turf when end (and former Cowboy) Benson Mayowa wrapped up Prescott on the Seahawks 35-line. Prescott twisted free and performed some nifty acrobatics to stay upright and break free.

“They were playing pure zone coverage and really just trying to get it done with the pass rush,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said of the last-gasp pass play. “Obviously, the beginning of the drive, we were able to get down there cleanly. Protection-wise, Dak had to move his feet on a couple plays there, and he made a tremendous play staying on his feet for the last play to get the ball thrown into the end zone.”

The table was set for the kind of how-did-he-do-that moment of magic that Prescott’s predecessor turned into a career trademark.

While Cowboys receivers Michael Gallup and Noah Brown were in the vicinity, along with running back Ezekiel Elliott, so were four Seattle Seahawks. Prescott’s hurried throw made on the run was caught by safety Ryan Neal, who the team signed from their practice squad just this week.

 

 

“Obviously, it wasn’t as nice a spiral as I wanted to [throw],” Prescott said afterward. “I’m pretty sure it slipped a little, didn’t have my feet underneath me, obviously, wish I maybe could have bought a couple more seconds. But once again, I’ve got to go back and check on film. Maybe I could have set my feet, who knows. I’ve got to go look at it.”

That the ball was intercepted was unfortunate indeed. Had it fallen incomplete, the Cowboys would have had time for a fourth-down attempt. Maybe that play would have been successful.

But Prescott practically carried the team on his back all afternoon long just to get them to that point. With only 34 rushing yards from Elliott and behind a cobbled-together offensive line, Prescott still managed to tally 472 passing yards on a whopping 57 attempts. He came within eight yards of equaling his star back for rushing stats.

The quarterback didn’t muff a kickoff and pin the offense on its own 1. Nor was he responsible for two missed extra point attempts. And he certainly played no role in allowing Russell Wilson to connect on five touchdown passes.

The point is, it’s easy to look at Prescott’s wobbly duck of an end zone throw and call it the difference in the 38-31 loss. But without No. 4’s heroics for most of the day, Cowboys Nation is talking Monday about how catastrophically they got blown out of the water on Sunday.

And like all heroes, Prescott wants to be the one who gets the call in do-or-die situations.

“For sure, I want the ball in my hands. Never going to shy away from the moment of having the ball in my hands, having a chance to win the game. I want to make those throws, and I want to have that opportunity. We’ve just got to be better, starting with myself, converting those and making more of these games- one-score games- wins for us.”

And like all successful leaders, he’s confident that this setback will provide learning opportunities. Prescott believes the team will capitalize and then be in an even better position to come out on top when the next critical moment comes.

“I know we will. We’ll just go back this week and have some tough practices, get back on it, pay attention to the details, and we’ll change this thing around. We’ve got a long way to go; we’re just 1-2.”

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