FRISCO, Texas — Dak Prescott wants you to know he’s not in the middle of some hot streak that will eventually end.
What you see right now — he’s completed 72 percent of his passes for 338.5 yards per game with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions the past four games — isn’t going to stop against Carolina on Sunday, Washington on Thanksgiving Day, or any other game the Dallas Cowboys play this season.
Prescott understands the offense isn’t going to produce more than 600 yards or score 49 points as it did in a 32-point win over the New York Giants on Sunday. But he believes the Cowboys have finally unlocked how to maximize Mike McCarthy’s scheme. The Cowboys essentially fired play-caller Kellen Moore after the season, and McCarthy took over the play-calling.
McCarthy estimates he changed about 30 percent of the offense, adding elements of the West Coast offense. The offense struggled some during the season’s first four games, but it was overshadowed by the Cowboys’ dominant defense.
All the flaws were exposed in their 42-10 loss to San Francisco.
“I just think after the tough loss out there and getting back together on that Monday night and then going into the bye week, we had a great sample size of this is what we’re doing well; these are the things we need to build off of,” Prescott said Thursday. “Obviously, I love the motions. I love, love, being, I don’t want to say necessarily in the shotgun, but the ball in my hands, being able to spread it out, being able to throw it to guys, get it to these guys in space, allow them to go make players miss.
“It’s been fun, honestly. Obviously, I’ve talked about it before: my feet just being in sync with the reads and the guys understanding the footwork. Everything is just really coming together.”
How Dak Prescott’s improved play impacted Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have won three of four games and positioned itself to win the NFC East because Prescott is playing at an elite level.
Against the Giants, Prescott completed 26 of 35 passes for 404 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. CeeDee Lamb caught 11 passes for 151 yards, and Brandin Cooks added nine for 173, the second most productive of his career.
Just so you know, he hadn’t had a game with more than four catches of 49 yards in the first eight games. Quietly, Cooks has scored in three of the past four games.
“I’m interested in what they’ll do. Are you going to leave CeeDee (Lamb) one on one then?,” Prescott said. “In this league, you understand that people are always trying to take away what you do best. But when those guys go out and perform like they did, I don’t know what a defense does.
“You have to leave one on one somewhere. And (Michael Gallup) is going to go make those plays. (Brandin Cooks) is going to go make those plays. (Jake Ferguson) is going to go make them. You want to play soft? We’ll get the run game going even more. Sure. Interested to see how it goes.”
All of this started, when McCarthy said he decided to cut Prescott loose. What he means is that he stopped handcuffing Prescott by trying to establish the run as he did on the first series against Philadelphia, which resulted in a three-and-out.
The Eagles drove for a touchdown, and the Cowboys spent the first portion of the game playing from behind.
Prescott entered the league as a dual-threat quarterback, but he hasn’t run nearly as much since breaking his ankle in 2020 and missing the last 11 games.
He scored on a 10-yard run against the Giants, but he’s also doing a better job of extending plays and creating big plays from chaos.
“He’s really seeing the field well. He’s going through his progressions, he’s being decisive, he’s not putting the ball in harm’s way very often,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “He’s just in total command.”
He’s playing so well team owner Jerry Jones considers Prescott an MVP candidate?
“I do. I certainly do. He’s put together a series of games that are the best of his career,” Jones said on his weekly local radio show in Dallas. “It’s the fact that he’s doing them back to back. Boy, is he really in a position where it’s not only physical but it’s mental.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor is the NFL Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter. He’s the author of Coach Prime: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men.