Coaches, teammates say Dak Prescott poised for big sophomore season
Dak Prescott is showing no signs of a looming sophomore slump. Instead, teammates and coaches expect Prescott to take another step forward in Year 2.
There’s no reason to bet against Prescott, either. He turned in another impressive performance Saturday, completing 11 of 14 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown in the Dallas Cowboys’ 24-20 victory over the Oakland Raiders in a preseason contest.
Prescott won’t take the field again until the regular-season opener Sept. 10 vs. the New York Giants.
“The guy is special,” said veteran tight end Jason Witten, who caught a 10-yard TD from Prescott. “To come into training camp and really the entire offseason and approach it like he has, really building off what he did last year – his communication, his calls, his accuracy – I mean, he’s made big throws not just tonight and last week, but throughout the entire training camp.
“When you see a guy at that position approach it the way he has, the sky’s the limit for what he can accomplish in our offense. The best thing he does is just move forward to the next day. I think that says a lot about his approach, his relationship with [offensive coordinator Scott] Linehan, so I think that’s a good sign for us moving forward.”
Prescott is coming off arguably the best season by a rookie quarterback in NFL history. He led the Cowboys to the NFC East title, going 13-3 with 3,667 passing yards with 23 touchdowns and four interceptions.
He completed 67.8 percent of his passes and had a 104.9 passer rating in a season that earned him NFL rookie of the year honors.
Prescott has continued to shine in training camp and the preseason. He had a perfect passer rating in his first action against the Indianapolis Colts last week, and had a 124.1 passer rating Saturday.
“Dak’s taken his game to another level,” Linehan said. “We’re really not approaching this season any different than we did [last year]. We just kind of pick up where we left off and work to improve on some things we weren’t good enough at last year.”
Prescott declared himself ready for the regular season earlier this week and he backed it up with his play on the field. He reiterated that once again afterward.
“We’re ready to go,” Prescott said. “I think that was a good half for us offensively. There’s things that we stopped ourselves on [with penalties], but for the most part, when we got rolling, when we got in a rhythm, we felt good.
“We’re ready to go.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2017 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Coaches, teammates say Dak Prescott poised for big sophomore season."