Dak Prescott on Cowboys camp, getting to know Mike McCarthy, throwing to CeeDee Lamb
There could be several reasons why Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is looking rather settled in an unsettling year.
It could be that his long-running contract negations are (for the moment) over. It could be that rookie wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is looking even better than many thought he would be. It could be he and his new coach Mike McCarthy appear to have hit it off.
Or it could be that, despite holding out, Prescott has been privately working out on a field in his back yard.
”Not having to go somewhere else and trying to find a field and knowing people could be there filming and watching,” is what Prescott said spurred the idea of the field. “I’m a guy that kind of likes to work in the dark, I guess you could say. Just gives me a sense of privacy, a sense of peace I can have the guys over there and get a lot of work in, still doing what I need to do.”
Prescott spoke after Thursday’s training camp practice at The Star in Frisco and touched on many different topics, including building trust in Lamb, using Ezekiel Elliott as a receiving option, his impressions of McCarthy’s coaching style and what he thinks of defensive end Aldon Smith.
What strikes you most about [rookie receiver] CeeDee Lamb? He’s a smart kid, a smart individual. He’s been picking it all up, whether it’s adjustments from the formations and plays, that hasn’t slowed him down or slowed his game down any bit at all. I mean, he’s just an athletic player. Very, very gifted. Good hands. Has a great feel for the game. I think that’s probably the most impressive thing, to be a young rookie playing in the slot and just have a feel for the game and know where to be. I think that’s going to go a long way and serve him really well in this league.
How long does it take you to trust a wide receiver? Not too long … when a guy is going out there and lining up in the right place, he’s running the right routes, he’s doing the right things. I think that trust picks up and that trust happens fast. I think you saw it with Amari Cooper a few years ago. Great players have a way of getting open and that always makes that level of trust speed up even faster. These guys are smart individuals and they care about the game of football. It’s been easy and it’s been fun.
What’s your impression of Mike McCarthy and his coaching style? He’s great. He demands excellence. He demands your effort and he’s a very genuine guy. He talks about his past, talks about what he learned as a coach, how it’s going to serve us and the way he’s going to handle things now. I think when you’re genuine with your players as much as he is and the whole staff, it goes a long way. Guys want to go out there and practice for him, guys want to give their all every chance that we get. He’s a player’s coach and he’s done really well gaining the love and the trust of the players here in the locker room. I know we’re excited and fortunate to have him.
How have practices been different under McCarthy so far? It’s different, but it’s great. As I said before, different is great … he’s emphasizing the tempo, he’s emphasizing the finish, so they kind of happen fast, but it’s getting us game ready, especially without the preseason and us just having to adapt fast to one another to the plays and just what the coaches are expecting of us. I think his practice is set up just for that and set up for the players. It’s set up for us to stay healthy, set up for us to peak when we need to peak. So we’re all taking advantage of it.
What are your thoughts on [defensive end] Aldon Smith? He’s a man. He’s a monster. Damn sure doesn’t look like he hasn’t played in five years. Doesn’t play like it. Energy would never tell you that. Very fortunate to have him. Very fortunate to have him on my team and not rushing me. He’s going to make all of us better. He’s a great player.
Adjusting to an offense without retired center Travis Frederick? Travis was one of those brilliant, brilliant guys that I don’t want to say he hindered some of us, but he was so smart that he allowed a lot of us to just play the game of football and not think, not worry about this, not worry about that. In the same sense, now that he’s retired, it’s put more responsibility on myself and I love it. I’m accepting it, I want to make those calls. It’s not like I didn’t know those calls in the past but you could go up there and it was one less thing I needed to do.
On Ezekiel Elliott being used as a receiving option out? That’s just something Zeke wants to do. Me being a part of it is just telling him you played out of the backfield your whole career, you made a lot of catches from back there … He wants his game to evolve to that; he wants to be able to move all the way around and I think that creates a new dynamic for our offense … when you can put Zeke out there and don’t know whether he’s going to run a route from there or motion back into the backfield and it be a run or play action. It just allows our game to be unlimited. So he’s done a great job at it and I’ve just seen him evolve just with his knowledge and his knowledge within a route more than, ‘Oh I’m just running an out route.’ But why the ball is coming out there and why he needs to get his shoulders around and he’s done a great job at it and I’m excited to see him evolve more and more throughout camp and as we get into the season.
Have you learned much about McCarthy’s history with quarterbacks? Yeah, definitely. We’ve even had some film at the quarterback school whether it was [Joe] Montana, [Brett] Favre, whether it was [Aaron Rodgers]. We’ve talked about his history. We had a conversation the first time in person, meeting over lunch and it was about that, where he comes from. It’s something he’s very open about and talks about what he knows and what he’s learned — good or bad — from the past and how that’s going to benefit us as a team. That’s just one of those things that’s so genuine about him. He’s a guy’s guy. We’re very fortunate to have him and excited about where he’s going to take us.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 2:55 PM.
