Dak Prescott knows Dallas Cowboys ‘need him,’ piling up small daily victories in rehab
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott still has a long road ahead in his rehab and recovery from a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle he sustained in a game eight weeks ago.
Team vice president Stephen Jones has said that Prescott is ahead of schedule but that’s a relative term, considering that his prognosis is four to six months. He still has long way to go.
Prescott offered his own take on his situation during the NFL Media’s Pepsi Rookie Roundtable.
In true Prescott fashion, he first offered advice on how to be ready and take advantage of opportunities as he did while he was a rookie in 2016 when he was thrust into the Cowboys’ starting role because of injuries to Tony Romo and Kellen Moore.
“Don’t take anything that you’re doing for granted,” Prescott said. “No matter how big or how small it is, don’t take it for granted because it’s a blessing. I’ve been able to play every level of my career because the guy in front of me has gotten injured, so I know what it means to be ready and to stay ready in case a guy gets injured in front of you.”
Prescott then brought the conversation to his present situation and talked about how he was dealing with his rehab and the struggles of not being on the field with his team.
Prescott, whose tumultuous year has included the death his brother, an admission that he had battles with depression last spring, months of questions about his contract status — all before his injury — explained how he gets through each day.
“But now to be that guy that’s injured for the first time in my career, missing the rest of the season, it’s different,” Prescott said. “It’s tough. But for me, it’s about making and creating small victories. So each and every day when I wake up and I go in for rehab, it’s about, for me, seeing my leg or seeing my body do something that it didn’t do the day before or creating a feeling that I didn’t have before so I know that I’m continuing to get better.”
Prescott, who had not missed a start since his rookie season, was leading the league with 1,856 passing yards when he sustained his season-ending injury against the New York Giants on Oct. 11. Prescott’s 2020 also included him becoming the first NFL player to ever have three straight games passing for 450 yards or more.
The Cowboys (3-8) have gone 1-5 without him, and travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.
Prescott, who played in 2020 on the franchise tag, will be a free agent in March.
The Cowboys have said Prescott remains their quarterback of the future. And he didn’t sound like someone who plans on going anywhere.
“And at the end of the day, I know my team needs me,” Prescott said. “And I know they need me now for support, but they’ll need me again later. So it’s about helping them whichever way that I can and however I can. But it’s about being right mentally and then counting those small victories.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
