‘We’ve Gotta Define It!’ What’s Dak Prescott Cowboys Preseason Plan?
July's annual shutdown of the commonly-accepted "Big Four" professional sports (coinciding with Major League Baseball's All-Star break) leagues has their viewers longing for the purgatory that is preseason NFL football.
The full slate of late summer not-so-classics is just over a month away from kickoff and the Dallas Cowboys' trio begins against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 12 in Arlington. With the preseason schedule working with a three-game slate for the third straight season, debate continues to surface over exactly how much time starters should play. Holding starters out entirely, a practice popularized by the 2021-22 champion Los Angeles Rams, has become increasingly common.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was one of those confined to the sidelines and he's toeing the line when it comes to this year's preseason slate, which also features showdowns against Seattle and Las Vegas.
“I’m always down for playing, always down for getting the reps,” Prescott said, per The Dallas Morning News. "I’m going off (the coaches') schedule. If I get action in the preseason, I’ll be all for it and if I don’t, I’ll make sure I’m preparing and getting those reps in practice.”
Preseason games perhaps indirectly kickstarted Prescott's Cowboys career: an exhibition injury to Tony Romo in Seattle during the summer of 2016 afforded him the starting duties as a rookie. Ailments of his own notwithstanding, Prescott has been the Dallas starter ever since. He has not partaken in a preseason game since 2019 (with the 2020 edition called off due to COVID-19 restrictions).
As such, Prescott was one of the many starters spared from last year's preseason action but he could be persuaded to partake in this year's exhibition affairs: Dallas is working with a new offensive coordinator in Brian Schottenheimer while head coach Mike McCarthy is set to take over playcalling duties for the ousted Kellen Moore.
Even if Prescott is held out again to let Cooper Rush and Will Grier have all the summer fun, he's confident that McCarthy and Schottenheimer will make their vision clear during training camp activities in Oxnard.
"When you switch playcallers, a big point of that is you’ve got to get into the season, before Game 1, know who you are and what you want to do and how you want to attack the defense,” Prescott said. "(McCarthy) has done a great job in the spring and the offseason of getting an idea, but we’ve got to make sure we really button it in and define it once we finish with camp."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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