Dak Reacts: Prescott on Dallas Cowboys loss to Browns, setting records, Ezekiel Elliott
It should be a celebrated regular-season zenith in Dak Prescott’s Dallas Cowboys career.
Instead, the fifth-year quarterback is forced (and totally believably, too) to disregard another massive passing day after his team lost to the Cleveland Browns 49-38 Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
Prescott threw for a career-high 502 yards and set numerous NFL and franchise records with a third consecutive game of gaudy statistics.
But Prescott isn’t interested in talking about his numbers, for good reason. After Sunday’s loss, he dismissed them, as you’d expect, and discussed the issues plaguing the 1-3 Cowboys so far in 2020, including turnovers and a shoddy defense. He also talked about CeeDee Lamb’s performance, Ezekiel Elliott being a non-factor after the Browns took a big lead, the team lacking confidence and putting four quarters of clean football together.
Here’s an edited transcript of Prescott’s post-game press conference:
Prescott on the Cowboys’ patterns through a 1-3 start, including 10 turnovers
We’re just making mistakes over and over again. We keep hurting ourselves on offense and putting our defense in a bad spot and not starting fast enough. That’s what has been killing us over the past few games and that’s what hurt us tonight. It’s definitely frustrating making the same mistakes over and over.
Prescott on right tackle Terence Steele’s performance
Those guys are gonna go in there and battle their tails off. Let’s get this right, Myles Garrett is a hell of a player and one of the best pass rushers in this game. He was fighting and giving it his all. Myles did a good job of getting to me. We were setting up a little double move there [the fumble] and Myles got to me and the ball. As I said, we can’t continue to turn the ball over. We have to be better somehow and help that tackle out; move around and get off my spot. We just got to continue to work on these little things that are hurting us.
Does throwing for 450-plus yards and setting records mean anything to you?
No, not at all. I’d give all those yards back for a different record. I care about one stat, and that’s to win. When we don’t do that, no other stats matter.
How difficult it is to compete when down so much in a game?
Well, we’re going to continue to fight. No matter what happens in the game, we’re never going to give up. This team is always going to be resilient; we’re going to stay at it and that’s the only thing we know. Whether it’s throwing the ball or whatever we have to do to keep ourselves in the game or give us a chance, we’re going to do that. That just comes with the game and putting ourselves in the hole that we did. We have to find a way not to put ourselves in a hole and just play our game from quarter one to the fourth quarter. Then we can pick and choose what we want to do and when we want to do it; not just slinging the ball across the yard.
Prescott’s assessment of CeeDee Lamb’s performance
Continue to grow and continue to get better. I’ve raved about CeeDee since training camp, so it’s really no surprise that he had the game he did. He shows up and is always talking to me and telling me, ‘Hey lead us. Keep fighting.’ And that’s what he does. He just gives it his all each and every play, but whether he’s asked to block or whether it’s a play we need him to get the first down, CeeDee is going to do what he needs to do. He knows how I feel about him, and he’ll continue to grow and continue to get better and be a great part of this team.
Does falling behind minimize the impact Ezekiel Elliott has on the game?
Yeah, that’s obvious. If we stay up in the game and we get the game in our hands, we’re going to feed Zeke. We’re going to allow him to run the ball and do what he does best and show that he’s one of the best backs in the NFL. But when you get down, you’ve got to work against the time, and that usually calls for you to throw the ball. With the receivers and playmakers we have, it just takes the ball out of his hands. As I said, we’ve got to find a way to clean it up early and start better in all three phases of the game. We can’t turn the ball over on offense and put our other units in a compromising situation.
What gives you confidence the Cowboys will turn it around?
The men that we have. The men that we have on this team and the coaches. We’ve got great leaders, and that starts with Coach [Mike] McCarthy. He’s one of those coaches that it hurts when you lose a game like this. It hurts that you let him down. You’re more hurt that you disappoint him, and you’d rather him be mad at you. He comes in each and every day and leads the right way, and we have to be better executing on the field for him and the rest of the coaches. Just taking and translating what we do throughout the week onto the field on Sunday. As I said, each and every man on this team and the resiliency of this team together will show as we keep moving forward this season.
Has a lack of confidence translated to the early season miscues?
I think it’s confidence as a whole team, and we have to come out knowing that we’re going to get the win. That starts with warmups, our preparation throughout the week and all that will translate over to when the whistle blows and the game starts. We can most definitely play with more confidence and trust in one another more and know that we’re going to get the job done, no matter what it takes.
Does the defense struggling make the offense feel as if it must be perfect?
No, I mean we can’t press. I think I may have done that personally a little bit earlier in the third quarter, but you can’t press. When you get down in games, we’ve showed that we can continue to come back. It’s something that we have to avoid trying to do, such as trying to press and trying to be perfect. We just have to know that it will all click if we just … I always tell the offense that if we all take care of our job individually, it’ll work well together. We just have to focus doing our job, handling our side of the ball and giving our team the best chance to win.
What does the Cowboys’ 1-3 record say about them?
That we haven’t played complementary football, and that we haven’t put all four quarters together. Simple as that. We’ve given ourselves a chance and fought back in each and every one of these games, even when we won, but we haven’t put a full four quarters together as a full team. Offense, defense and special teams. We can’t get behind early in games and figure out a way. As coach said, just play with more confidence and come out faster and just know we’re going to dominate the game for all four quarters.
What’s going through your head when you’re pressing and how do you shake that?
You’re trying to make every throw and trying to make the perfect throw. When it doesn’t work for a drive or so, that’s usually the time for me to snap back out of it and realize that’s why I was trying to make those throws. Those aren’t throws I normally make if I just allow the offense to come to me and read the defense the correct way. It’s easy for me to snap back out of it, but it’s something I have to avoid all together.
How does two consecutive turnovers affect the team mentally?
We just can’t do that. Simple as that. We get two back-to-back possessions, and we turn the ball over. As I said before, we put our defense in a compromising situation. That’s just unacceptable, and that’s not complementary football. It eventually hurts you and gets you down in the game, and then we’re forced to play outside of the way we want to play. We’ve got to play better complementary football and help our defense out.
How surprised are you that the Cowboys aren’t playing complementary football right now?
I’m surprised. I’ve got all the confidence in this team, each unit that we have. I’ve seen the way that we prepare throughout the week, so it just doesn’t make sense and doesn’t add up right now. But I believe in the men that we have; the great leaders and coaches that we have. We’ll have it fixed.
