Dallas Cowboys mulling how Dak Prescott’s status for Vikings impacts a Super Bowl run
Operation Los Angeles is in full effect for the Dallas Cowboys.
Every decision made by the team from here on out is about getting to Super Bowl 56, set for SoFi Stadium in Southern California on Feb. 13.
And that’s the overriding factor in the decision whether to play quarterback Dak Prescott Sunday night against the host Minnesota Vikings or not.
If he plays, it’s because Prescott is healthy enough to go, despite straining his right calf on the final play of their last game, a 35-29 overtime victory against the New England Patriots on Oct. 17.
The Cowboys (5-1), who are riding a five-game winning streak, are one of five just teams in the NFL with one loss. In fact, the other four — the Arizona Cardinals (7-1), Green Bay Packers (7-1), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-1), Los Angeles Rams (6-1) — are NFC squads, and the expectation is that the Cowboys will likely have to beat at least one of them just to reach the Super Bowl.
“We’re definitely a contender,” Prescott said. “I think everybody on this team and in this building would be pissed off if anybody thought any differently. “I felt that way coming into camp, feel that way after six games, feel that way today.”
And thanks to the NFL’s new playoff format, only each conference’s top seed will emerge from the 17-game regular season with home-field advantage and the coveted bye for the first round of the postseason. So while each game is vitally important, there’s also the matter of maintaining their perspective on the overall mission.
So if Prescott doesn’t play against the Vikings, it’s because the Cowboys understand where they fit in the league’s current hierarchy and they don’t want to jeopardize the possibility of late-season success by shifting an emphasis to short-term decision making, potentially preventing Prescott’s leg from additional healing time. The last thing anyone with the team wants is for this issue to become a weekly problem as they progress deeper into the season.
A three-game lead in the lowly NFC East means that a playoff berth is all but certainand that gives the team the opportunity to weigh their options.
“It’s more than just one game,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “We’re obviously in our seventh game, so there is a ton of football left to play.”
Prescott was sore on Friday after pushing it in practice on Thursday but he remains undeterred in trying to play Sunday night. A final decision is now not expected until game time — 7:20 p.m. — but the Cowboys have expressed confidence that he’ll play, but they’re also keeping their fingers crossed for good measure.
“We will need to see come Sunday,” said team owner Jerry Jones. “We’ll have to take a good look at it at that time. But he’s prepared to play, and he’ll be prepared to play. He’s doing really well. You get into, ‘Well, is he doing well enough to go out there and try it and see how it goes?’ Probably.”
The Cowboys feel good about backup quarterback Cooper Rush being ready to step in, if needed, in what would be his first career start.
It’s an option the teams hopes it won’t have to use. The decision of who starts is magnified because of the Cowboys are a a legitimate title contender for the first time since their last Super Bowl championship following the 1995 season
“This is a long season and it’s a journey and I want to be playing in that last game,” Prescott said.
And there lies the conundrum facing the Cowboys and Prescott, who believes they would have been contenders last season if not for a fractured ankle that sidelined for the final 11 games of 2020.
“Yeah, I want to play just because I want to be out there and help my team and obviously missing the time that I did last year, that’s no fun. But knowing that we’re a contender and knowing that we can grow, that’s why I can understand the big picture. I know that this is a journey. This is more than one game.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 4:32 PM.
