The Cowboys had to find their fight after Dak Prescott’s injury. That may be the theme of the season as they move forward with Andy Dalton.
Dak Prescott’s devastating injury took all of the air, the emotion, and the optimism out of AT&T Stadium on Sunday. It was up to coach Mike McCarthy to make sure it didn’t also take the fight out of the players left standing.
The Cowboys were down by one point to the rival Giants when the injury occurred. There were 21 minutes left to play. Dallas had gone into the Week 5 divisional matchup feeling like the game would be a make-or-break moment for the 2020 season. They had no idea how right they would end up being in that assessment, as the team now faces the 11 games left on their regular season schedule without their unquestionable leader.
“Really, the message was, ‘Our fight is our flight,'” coach Mike McCarthy said he told the team after the 37-34 last-second win. “If you look at the five games we’ve played, we’ve had some rough moments. Every game has come down to the end. The composure, the communication on the sidelines: I thought we were much better than we were this time last week. But we have a lot of work to do. There’s still some things we can sync up better, and I think it allows everybody to perform at a faster level. We got better, we improved today, and the most important thing is we won the game. But we’re going to have to make some adjustments moving forward.”
Obviously, the biggest adjustment will be at the quarterback position. With Prescott lost for the season, ten-year veteran Andy Dalton will presumably be commanding the Cowboys’ high-powered offense for the duration of the 2020 campaign.
Dalton made the most of his relief appearance Sunday, finishing off the possession Prescott had started with an Ezekiel Elliot rushing touchdown, and leading two three-point drives in the final nine minutes to get the win. The former TCU star coughed up the ball on one snap exchange, but he then went 7-for-8 on those last two possessions, including back-to-back deep throws to wideout Michael Gallup- one for 19 yards, and the next for 38 yards to set up the game-winning kick.
“Andy came in and made the key throw there at the end,” McCarthy told reporters in his postgame remarks. “I can’t say enough about the connection between him and Michael at the most important part of the game. That’s big-time football. You’ve got to make big plays in key moments to win games in this league. That’ll never change. Andy did a heck of a job.”
The injury to Prescott- who had been off to a blistering start to the season- had many wondering in the immediate aftermath if the club might pursue a younger, higher-profile passer to step in and take the reins in Dallas. But McCarthy downplayed that notion with a reminder that Dalton’s considerable experience is why the team chose to sign him as Prescott’s backup to begin with.
“We have great confidence in Andy,” McCarthy stated plainly. “We’ve all been working together since training camp. Andy’s got a lot of pelts on the wall. He’s been a great addition to the quarterback room; it’s a very healthy quarterback room. I’d expect Andy to keep our offense moving forward, and hopefully we can improve. The one thing we haven’t nipped in the bud yet is the turnovers. But yeah, we have great confidence in Andy.”
The rest of the team echoed that sentiment.
“He’s very calm and composed, like he’s been there before,” noted rookie receiver CeeDee Lamb. “Just having him as the next man up, there’s no better feeling. He has you feeling confident, he’s going in smiling on the last drive. It’s an energy-booster.”
Jaylon Smith may not be in the offensive huddle with Dalton, but the linebacker knows that the three-time Pro Bowler can lead the team; he’s seen him do it before. “Just [from] being a fan of football and seeing what Andy has already accomplished,” Smith explained. “Now he’s on a bigger stage to be able to do it. And he’s going to have everyone behind him.”
Running back Ezekiel Elliott maintains that the offensive gameplan likely won’t even have to be re-invented with the personnel change.
“I don’t think it’ll really change much,” Elliott said after Sunday’s win. “We probably won’t have any quarterback runs, but other than that, we probably won’t change much.”
That may be overstating things. It will no doubt be a different Cowboys offense game plan with “the Red Rifle” calling the shots under center, but McCarthy believes his backup is well-equipped to step into the starting role and build off the momentum from Sunday’s emotional win.
“Andy’s steady. There’s no doubt about it; you could see that from Day One. He’s very calm. He’s the same guy every day. That’s exactly how he practices. It was no surprise just to see him just pick up and keep going.”
Pick up and keep going may as well be the mantra for this Cowboys team, now faced with the prospect of moving forward in 2020 without their fallen field general.
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