Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott already ‘turning the page’ to next season
The Dallas Cowboys lost to the New York Giants 34-17 in their season finale Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Quarterback Dak Prescott played only the first half of the meaningless game, completing 7 of 11 passes for 70 yards.
Here’s everything he said to the media after the game:
Obviously this is not the ending you would want, not so much today, but overall. How can you sum up your season overall?
“Tough, tough season. Frustrating in the sense ... I can’t directly correlate my play to the wins or losses, end of the season, overall success of the season. So that makes it frustrating. One of the best offenses in the league, explosive. Not always to our standard, didn’t play like that every week, week in and week out. But put up a lot of points. Unfortunately, just didn’t win the one-score games that we should have. Didn’t finish out some of those close games on our end. Ultimately just [a 7-9-1] record. It sucks, but it’s the reality. A lot of good in the season. But it’s not the destination, not the end goal, not where we wanted to be. But thankful for the experience. Thankful for the men in the locker room who gave their all. Coaches each and every week. I don’t think effort or lack of focus or intensity was ever our problem. Appreciate everyone giving it their all, leaving it all out there.”
How much will you talk to owner Jerry Jones about the plan going forward, improvements?
“Yeah, I mean, as it comes up. To be blunt, there’s going to be conversations. I’m sure they’re going to reach out. There’s going to be other topics where I go to them first, right? There will be a lot of communication. I know Schotty [head coach Brian Schottenheimer] said at the end of it, now we have the time. Not only do your evaluations, but from there you decide how you are going to move forward, what pieces stay the same, what team you’re going to put together for next year.”
Offensively today, did you know you were going to come out? Did that affect your offense at all? You weren’t as productive.
“No, I didn’t necessarily know when I was coming out. To me, it was just play the game, play the game to win. Gave it my best when I was in there. Didn’t convert on the fourth-down try right there in the red zone, which would have led to points. I feel would have made a huge difference in this game. That sucks. But yeah, I mean, the plan for me coming out wasn’t necessarily defined. So yeah.”
How tired are you having this bad taste in your mouth?
“Yeah, it’s frustrating. Tired of it? I’ve got to deal with it. Sure, tired, right? But it’s up to me to control. That’s why I said this year is as frustrating as anything. There’s a number of times being up here talking to you guys saying I need to fix this, get better at this, to have a season where it wasn’t on my play. I can’t say I should have fixed that or I should have fixed that. I take accountability, don’t get me wrong, in so many ways. The leader I am, I’m frustrated, always trying to figure out what could I have done better, whether it was conversations here, talking to this guy there, whatever it may be. I still put some of it on myself. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get it done. Yeah, I’m tired of it, sick of it. It won’t change the way I approach this offseason, the way I lead, me just giving this game everything I’ve got to try to change it.”
When do your thoughts turn to next season?
“Five minutes ago. Now.”
Reboot or anything like that, or ...
“This game is who I am. Don’t get me wrong. This game, the happiness, the peace, the joy. I’m as disappointed in this thing, it’s ending. As much as I put into this game, yeah, I mean, as much as you put into your teammates, into the culture, just sucks when it ends in whatever form and fashion. There’s only one team that’s ever happy at the end of the season. Yeah, I mean, I’ve turned the page. Turning the page now. Honestly, my thoughts are literally may take a week off of not weighing myself, who cares what I eat, just doing that. It won’t be too long after that we’re completely back dialed in. I know I said I felt like this season sucks for me individually because of the process I took with the injury, how early I started in the offseason. Just going into this one will be intentional a lot earlier, focus on next year.”
You had a long personal winning streak that’s over now against this team. Does that even matter to you at this point?
“A little selfishly pissed. But that’s completely selfish. In another way, it’s kind of good you can go into next year, it’s not even a conversation, not even being brought up. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about my win streak. That’s the good in it. But selfishly, I am pissed.”
What do you think is ahead for you in your career?
“Greatness. I’m going to work every day, bust my ass in the gym, the way that I take care of my body, throwing on the field, to do everything I can. I don’t expect anything different than years past, to be better next year than I was this year. I think over my career, the track record somewhat proves that. For me it’s just continuing the work. I don’t know if there’s many that work as hard as me or as intentional as me. I pride myself in that. I look forward to getting back to that, like I said, here in about a week. Icontrol what I can control. I worry about the present. The future will take care of itself.”
What have you thought in your team being around [defensive end Jadeveon] Clowney?
“Yeah, we need him. We want him. He goes out and makes a game like this. Damn, bro, making the price high [smiling]. But yeah, the type of guy he is, the type of player, the leader honestly. He’s somebody I want around; somebody I think we need around. He’s been awesome. He’s been a great teammate. Super thankful to have him this season, to get to know him, be a teammate with him. Like I said, I hope it’s not one season.”
You practice against this defense every day. What does it need at the end of the day to improve?
“Yeah, I mean, I got to be completely honest. Yeah, I practice against ‘em I wouldn’t say every day. You get into the season, maybe once a week, maybe three or four plays here. It’s tough. It’s tough for me. I say it’s tough for me to evaluate. I’m not going to sit up here and evaluate these guys when I don’t truly know the ins and outs, the calls that they’re being asked to make, what they’re being asked to do. I think that’s a huge part of it. I mean, I heard Schotty’s answer, right? It’s for those guys, the front office, for them to have those individual meetings, ask the defensive players these type of questions. Get those answers, evaluate, and make those decisions.”
What does the team need overall?
“I mean, [shoot], it’s still hard to answer that. You’ve got one of the best offenses in the league. Unfortunately, not so good defense in the league, however you say it. My job is to play quarterback. Obviously, I’ve been in this thing 10 years, I’ve got a lot of experience. I know a lot that can help make decisions or help give input. I’ll be damned if I sit here and going to evaluate the whole team on what we need to do, what we need to do to get better, particularly a couple hours after our last game.”
How important is the passing title to you? Will you keep an eye on [Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Lions QB Jared Goff]? (Note: Stafford later threw for 259 yards to win the title)
“I don’t think the number is that far off now. I kind of have a feeling one of those guys are going to go make sure they beat it this afternoon. It would have been cool or it will be cool, don’t get me wrong. I said it to the O-line just the other day. It would be cool for me. It’s cool for the organization, one, being the first Cowboy to do it. Anybody that stepped on the field with me will share that. That’s what I told the offensive line; You guys blocked for the yards leader in the league. That’s something you carry just as much as I do. It’s not something that’s just me. The running backs, whether they’re making catches or blocks. It would be cool.”
You mentioned this over the last couple weeks. One of the reasons you want to play is because of the injury last year. How gratifying is that [to get through the season healthy]?
“Very thankful. Very thankful. When you don’t get to play this game, especially talking about how much love and joy and peace this game brings me, when it gets taken away, it’s tough. When you put everything in it to come back and play your best, you feel like you’ve done that, but you don’t get what you want, it’s a tough feeling. Super, super, super thankful, though. Super thankful to have another season healthy and another solid year.
On the price tag to bring back wide receiver George Pickens
“I mean, I don’t know if it’s necessarily time demanding at this point. He knows that. Jerry knows that. Jerry knows how I feel, how the organization feels, anything about George. I think Jerry knows the importance of keeping a guy like that, talking about leading the league in passing or having a chance to do that, talking about how good this offense was this year. That guy was a huge part of that. I think that speaks for itself.”
How much of a benefit is there to starting this offseason healthy compared to last season?
“Yeah, it’s a huge benefit. That’s part of why I want to start it early, start it the right way, be intentional, take care of my body. There’s a certain amount of reps that I take. I’m a guy that tries to outwork everybody, but it’s not always the best as you get older. It’s about working smarter. Yeah, we’ll put together a great plan. But being healthy is a huge part in it. I think I’ll have the best offseason of my career by the way I approach it and attack it.”
How much do you anticipate you and Schottenheimer’s relationship growing?
“Yeah, a lot. I mean, obviously I understand the offense, how he’s trying to attack. I expect the same jump any offensive team does from year one to year two. Even how good we were in year one. Anything, not just myself but the other 10 guys, understanding the offense, understanding the why, the purpose of things a little bit better. I think we’ll show up next year and just in year two, the way we communicate and work with each other this offseason.”
You’re very good at being a team guy. This is the first Cowboy team ever to give up 30 points a game. The kind of pressure that puts on the offense, how much do you have to get away from that next year to have success?
“I mean, I put pressure on myself to score 30 points a game. I think this offense does, right? Thirty-plus points a game. It’s unfortunate we were giving up that much, making it a little harder. Yeah, we have to stop giving up 30 points a game. That will be I’m sure, I know, the vocal, the main focus of this offseason. But at the end of the day when you’re an offense that can score 30, 30-plus, that’s what I’m going to focus on, focus on the ways we can make sure we’re doing that, giving our team the best chance to score as many points as we can week in, week out. There’s going to be games when we make adjustments, we’re stopping teams, holding them to much less, half of that. There’s still going to be teams that score 30, 40 points. We have to hold our own, play complementary football. We have to stop that.”
Did you talk to Schotty about giving you one more [opportunity] in the third quarter?
“No. Just the way it was delivered to me. [Cowboys quarterbacks coach Steve] Shimko comes up, great season, you’re done, good job. At that point it was, what, one-score game. All the confidence in our guys going down there and scoring. All of our young guys controlling the second half.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2026 at 8:41 PM.
