What we learned about the Dallas Cowboys on the first episode of ‘Hard Knocks’
Let’s be honest.
The Dallas Cowboys’ dull preseason opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday wet your lips for football but the expletive-filled “Hard Knocks,” as only HBO can do with its award-winning formula, got you thirsting for the return of football even more.
Unquenchable.
The debut of the 2021 version of HBO’s “Hard Knocks, The Dallas Cowboys Comeback Season,” was all that Tuesday night.
First-round pick Micah Parsons is going to be a star on the field, and a darling of the “Hard Knocks” cameras.
The former Penn State linebacker simply has it.
But the focus of Episode 1, and possibly the Cowboys season, was quarterback Dak Prescott and coach Mike McCarthy.
The show predictably opened with Prescott talking about his tough 2020 season that began with him losing his brother to suicide, and ended with him suffering a gruesome ankle injury in Week 5 and missing the final 11 games.
The injury is still hard to watch.
Prescott said he had two surgeries — the second one they tried to keep secret — resulting in a wishbone-like scar on his ankle.
“From a season of adversity to a season of triumph,” Prescott says in the beginning.
Highlighting Prescott’s return from a fractured ankle, especially after getting a $160 million contract to lead the downtrodden franchise back to glory, is one of the main reasons HBO wanted to feature the Cowboys on “Hard Knocks” for a third time.
Determination, competitiveness and work ethic are what makes Prescott the player he is and it was foreshadowed early in the show that they might have also been the genesis of a shoulder injury that sideline him one week into camp.
On the first day of practice, McCarthy noted that Prescott was doing too much in practice, so they decided to lessen his reps.
He was not happy.
“I’m not coming out of this [bleep],” Prescott said. “I sat last year enough. I’ll let y’all know if I’m sore or if something is bothering me. [Bleep], I’ve been out long enough.”
He snapped at backup quarterback Garrett Gilbert, “I ain’t never asked you to get in.”
Of course, a few moments later they showed Prescott being pulled out of practice because of a sore throwing shoulder.
“He says he can’t follow through with full force,” trainer Jim Maurer told McCarthy.
An exasperated McCarthy: “My God.”
Prescott acknowledged to the media that he didn’t stretch properly, though he said it could be an overuse injury due to throwing too much before camp.
McCarthy would later get on the trainers for leaving Prescott on the field and not taking him in to get the injury diagnosed and begin treatment.
Maurer revealed that he talked to the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees about Prescott’s arm. Both told them to rest the injury.
A key moment came when McCarthy was joking with Prescott about not being able to practice. The quarterback didn’t take it well.
The Cowboys comeback season is nothing to joke about, especially with questions about Prescott’s health.
The Cowboys went 6-10 in McCarthy’s first season in 2020. Injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic were blamed.
But the sense of urgency for improvement in 2021 was not lost on McCarthy in a speech to the team.
“It’s hard not to reflect on what we went through last year,” McCarthy said. “[Bleep] last year. Charlie [bleep]-around? He don’t work here. High school Harry? Get his [butt] out the [bleeping] door. This is about winning.
“This is about winning a world championship. Period. Going to the playoffs ain’t good enough.”
There were funny moments, including running back Ezekiel Elliott stealing Prescott’s bike and using a video tutorial to learn how to wrap a birthday present for his quarterback and best friend.
Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was obsessed with being hit in the man region and special teams coach John Fassel shocked his charges with a story about about getting a vasectomy.
Again, Parsons is going to be a star.
Consider this exchange with linebacker Leighton Vander Esch during the Steelers game: “You’re trying to make all the plays. You’re trying to make every play. You got to know when it’s your play to make.”
Parsons: “I’m still young. I be thinking all plays are my plays.”
And that’s why they drafted him 12th overall.
But Episode 1 was about Prescott and McCarthy. The same goes for the Cowboys’ hopes this season.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
