Dallas Cowboys

Dak Prescott and starters will remain in for Cowboys even if playoff hopes die

As the Dallas Cowboys cling to the smallest of playoff hopes (less than 1 percent odds after Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings), head coach Brian Schottenheimer is not planning on making any major changes to the lineup with three games left in the season.

While some teams tend to lean into personnel changes to evaluate the full roster when already eliminated from playoff contention, Schottenheimer said doing so would deviate from the team mantra all season: compete every day. Even though losing games would benefit draft positioning, Schottenheimer wants to do everything possible to win the team’s final three games.

“It doesn’t change,” Schottenheimer said Wednesday. “We get judged on winning and losing, and we haven’t won enough games. Doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be things when we look back that we’re like, ‘Hey, we’ve built this and this is great. We really upgraded this position.’”

“I’m going to stay in the moment. I’m going to be all about the Chargers. After we go and play the Chargers, and hopefully win, I’m going to be all about the Commanders and then the Giants and see what happens. We’ll take a broader, bigger picture at that point.”

When asked directly if he would consider giving backup quarterback Joe Milton III a start over Dak Prescott down the stretch, Schottenheimer was direct.

“I want to win,” he said. “So, the plan will be to play Dak.”

Even after a weekend that saw Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes go down with a torn ACL that could affect the start of the 2026 season for the franchise, the plan remains to keep Prescott on the field.

Prescott hasn’t faced any major injury concerns this season — only popping up briefly on the injury report earlier this year with a hip issue that didn’t affect his game status — and it seems as though he’s going to finish the season out with a good chance at leading the NFL in passing yards.

His 3,931 passing yards are 209 more than the second-place passer in the league, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. If he can finish the year as the league’s leading passer, it would be the first time to achieve the feat in his career. He is on pace for 4,773 yards, which would be the second-highest total in his career after he threw for 4,902 yards in 2019.


Game schedule dates, times, locations

NEXT UP: Game dates, times, locations, channel

Rangers
  • June 22 Rangers 4, Miami 3
  • June 23 Miami 6, Rangers 4
  • June 24 Miami 4, Rangers 2
  • June 25 Rangers 6, Toronto 5
  • June 26 Rangers 5, Toronto 4
  • June 27 Rangers 7, Toronto 4
  • June 28 Rangers 3, Toronto 2
  • June 29 at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m., ESPN
  • June 30 at Cleveland, 5:40 p.m., RSN
  • July 1 at Cleveland, 12:10 p.m., RSN
  • July 2 vs. Detroit, 7:05 p.m., RSN
  • July 4 vs. Detroit, 3:05 p.m., RSN
  • July 5 vs. Detroit, 2:30 p.m., NBCSN, Peacock
Wings
  • June 17 Golden State 91, Wings 80
  • June 20 Wings 93, Chicago 92
  • June 22 Wings 112, Seattle 110 (OT)
  • June 25 Las Vegas 99, Wings 84
  • June 28 Minnesota 85, Wings 77
  • July 2 at Connecticut, 7 p.m., KFAA, Amazon Prime Video
  • July 5 at Toronto, 2 p.m., KFAA
  • July 7 at New York, 7 p.m., ESPN
  • July 10 vs. Toronto (at Montreal), 6:30 p.m., Ion
  • July 12 vs. Chicago (at American Airlines Center), 6 p.m., ESPN, Disney+
TCU Football
  • 2026 season
  • Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), 11 a.m., ESPN
  • Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
  • Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, 7 p.m., ESPNU
  • Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA
  • Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA
  • Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA
  • Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA
  • Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA
  • Nov. 6 at Arizona, 9:15 p.m., ESPN
  • Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA
  • Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA
  • Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN
Cowboys
  • Sept. 13 at N.Y. Giants, 7:20 p.m., NBC
  • Sept. 20 vs. Washington, 3:25 p.m., Fox
  • Sept. 27 vs. Baltimore (at Rio de Janeiro), 3:25 p.m., CBS
  • Oct. 4 at Houston, 12 p.m., Fox
  • Oct. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
  • Oct. 18 at Green Bay, 7:20 p.m., NBC
  • Oct. 26 at Philadelphia, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
  • Nov. 1 vs. Arizona, 12 p.m., Fox
  • Nov. 8 at Indianapolis, 12 p.m., Fox
  • Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, 3:25 p.m., Fox
  • Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee, 12 p.m., Fox
  • Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox
  • Dec. 7 at Seattle, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC
  • Dec. 20 at L.A. Rams, 3:25 p.m., CBS
  • Dec. 27 vs. Jacksonville, 7:20 p.m., NBC
  • Jan. 3 vs. N.Y. Giants, 12 p.m., Fox
  • Jan. 9 or 10 at Washington, TBA
World Cup
  • All local matches at AT&T Stadium
  • Group stage
  • June 14 Japan 2, Netherlands 2 (Group F)
  • June 17 England 4, Croatia 2 (Group L)
  • June 22 Argentina 2, Austria 0 (Group J)
  • June 25 Japan 1, Sweden 1 (Group F)
  • June 27 Argentina 3, Jordan 1 (Group J)
  • Knockout round
  • June 30 Norway 2, Ivory Coast 1 (round of 32)
  • July 3 Round of 32: Australia vs. Egypt, 1 p.m., Fox
  • July 6 Round of 16: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox
  • July 14 Semifinal: Teams TBD, 2 p.m., Fox
FC Dallas
  • May 2 FC Dallas 2, NY Red Bulls 0
  • May 9 FC Dallas 3, Salt Lake 1
  • May 13 Vancouver 3, FC Dallas 2
  • May 16 FC Dallas 3, San Jose 2
  • May 23 FC Dallas 2, Colorado 1
  • World Cup break
  • July 22 at Portland, 9:30 p.m., Apple TV
  • July 25 at San Diego, 8:30 p.m., FS1, Apple TV
Texas Motor Speedway
  • July 11 NASCAR Racing Experience
  • July 11 Hearts in High Gear
  • July 25 Drift n Drag
  • Aug. 1 NASCAR Racing Experience
  • Aug. 29 Team Texas: David Starr's Racing School
  • Sept. 5 NASCAR Racing Experience

This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 4:46 PM.

Nick Harris
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.
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