It’s fair to be somewhat skeptical about the Dallas Cowboys. After years of disappointing endings to promising seasons, it’s hard for the media, their rivals, and even the fans to convince themselves that this might as well be their year.
Then again, Mike McCarthy’s team has steamrolled past the opposition more often than not this season, sitting on an 8-3 record and almost taking down the league-leading Philadelphia Eagles.
Ironically, a lot of that has had to do with Dak Prescott, who entered the season under a lot of pressure and was deemed one of the team’s weakest links. He’s responded by having arguably the best season of his career, turning back the clock, making plays with his feet and putting up MVP-caliber numbers.
Prescott vowed to take better care of the football, and he’s delivered. His connection with CeeDee Lamb ranks among the best in the league, and his confidence is clearly back. When asked about that, he credited his soon-to-be-born baby girl.
Prescott Credits ‘Dad Strength’ For Impressive Play
“It’s the dad strength,” Prescott said, “that’s why I’m playing that way.”
All jokes aside, Dak has been on a tear this season. He’s completing 70.0% of his passes and has thrown for 2,935 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions, leading the Cowboys to a 5-1 record over the past six weeks. Those numbers have been enough to make him the fourth-leading MVP candidate this season at +800. Even so, he’s not too focused on that right now:
“It means I’m playing well,” Prescott said. “Simple as that. Not really (that important). I’m about one goal and it’s a big team goal and I know if my name’s in there that means we’re playing well, so that’s great. But at the end of the day we’re just trying to build. I mean being eight years into this thing, it’s about building and building and making sure we’re getting better and better each and every week and getting hot right when we need to be.”
Cowboys Need To Prove Themselves
Even so, it’s worth noting that two of the Cowboys’ three losses have come against NFC elite. They couldn’t compete with the San Francisco 49ers, and they almost took down the Philadelphia Eagles, but fell short in the end.
However, that’s nothing that worries Dak or the Cowboys. They believe all teams always want to beat the Cowboys regardless of their record, which is why they need to stay ready and locked in for when it matters the most:
“The teams we’ve played, the records haven’t been great,” Prescott admitted. “But I can promise you everybody that we play, we do get their best shot. Not to say that I think everybody else does that, but when you play the Dallas Cowboys, I can promise you the other teams, it’s a little bit bigger than some of the games that they play, that comes from people around the league. They always talk about it. Free agents that come in, they mention it. So we’re getting people’s best shots,” Dak explained.“Now, as we move forward with teams with better records, we’re still going to get their best shots.”
Through 12 weeks, the Cowboys are 1st in scoring offense (31.5 PPG), 2nd in third-down completion percentage (47.7%), 5th in total yards (392.5), 2nd in total yards allowed (297.8), 4th in points allowed (16.8 PPG), and 2nd in third-down completion percentage allowed (34.3), so perhaps it’s time people start taking them more seriously.