OXNARD, Calif. — Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott doesn’t know what all the fuss is all about, when it comes to cornerback Trevon Diggs’ talking trash to him at practice earlier this week.
After breaking up a pass, Diggs told the quarterback, “Shut your b___ ass up.” The quarterback tossed the ball at Diggs’ head as he jogged back to the huddle.
The incident went viral. National pundits weighed in throughout the country and sports talk radio was on fire.
“Is Dak a leader?” “Do the players respect Dak?” “Do players talk to other star quarterbacks like that?”
And so on. Prescott took the blame, sort of.
He claimed he starts a lot of the trash-talking in the locker room to ensure his teammates are mentally-ready to practice. Plus, Prescott said he grew up with a pair of older brothers who verbally-crushed him frequently.
“I might honestly talk the most,” Prescott said. “I start a lot of it. … I open the door and make people feel comfortable.”
“It’s honestly one of those things you realize a lot of people haven’t been in heated competitions. …I feel bad for people who haven’t been in those moments.”
Diggs, who signed a five-year, $97-million deal last week, offered a similar sentiment.
“Stay out of our business. People don’t need to worry about what we got going on, our relationship, my relationship with my brother. Dak is the leader of our team,” Diggs said after practice Thursday. “He’s going to go out there and have a great year. I have the utmost respect for Dak.
“I feel like it makes practice fun. At the end of the day, that’s my brother. I love Dak to death. There’s nothing behind it. It’s just competitiveness, it’s just football.”
What trash talking means to Dak Prescott
Prescott, the Cowboys’ quarterback the past seven seasons, is entering the third year of a four-year, $140-million contract. He has the fourth-longest tenure on team.
He’s a well-respected veteran leader, according to his teammates and coach. Prescott said he views trash talk as an indication his teammates view him as one of the guys.
It’s not an accident.
Prescott said part of his leadership style is understanding what motivates his teammates. Some, he said, practice better when they’ve been challenged.
Diggs is one of those guys.
That’s a guy that I spend a lot of time with,” Prescott said. “We’re always going back and forth and when you’re competing at a high level, when you’re competing and you believe your side’s better than the other side, that’s mutual and that’s iron sharpening iron. Words are words.”
Coach Mike McCarthy said trash-talking has been part of the game forever, and he coached a player who excelled at it.
“Aaron Rodgers,” he said. “was pretty good.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor is an NFL Insider for Sportsnaut and the author of the upcoming book “Coach Prime“, with Deion Sanders. Follow him on Twitter.