Dak Prescott ‘Writing New’ Cowboys Chapter; ‘We’re Ready!’
FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys are about to embark on Year 8 with quarterback Dak Prescott under center, and he as much as anybody is ready to start the season. … with “pen in his hand.”
“It’s about turning the page and writing a new sentence,” Prescott told us on Thursday inside The Star. “The pen is in our hands, and we’re ready to do that.”
Prescott is coming off a season in which he threw a league-high 15 interceptions in his second-fewest pass attempts. On the other side of that coin, Prescott had his second-highest career touchdown percentage.
Either way, last season was last season and the beauty of Week 1 in the NFL: everyone gets a clean slate. Now, it's time for Prescott to go show what he's made of to eliminate any doubts about him, and head coach Mike McCarthy said he's ready to do so.
"(Prescott's) definitely ready to start the season, no doubt," McCarthy said. "As a human being, he is extremely focused on each and every day. I think his discipline and approach to life, let alone professional football is top notch. I know this, he has definitely taken advantage of the opportunity to learn, obviously evaluate and then the implementation of the things that are new."
McCarthy said he's "really impressed" with Prescott's offseason preparation for 2023. One of the things Prescott has done in the offseason was taking his teammates to a mental training weekend instructed by O2X, a company run by former Navy SEALs that has workshops "around nutrition, sleep, conditioning, resilience and stress management."
The trip really focused on how to take team culture to the next level through accountability and goal-setting among other things, while honing in on Feb. 11, 2024 — the date of Super Bowl 58.
By being trained to be laser-focused on the task at hand, a byproduct of the military-grade mental cleanse likely has to result in Prescott blocking out the criticisms that come his way. McCarthy thinks the "intensity" of the media coverage in Dallas can contribute to many outsiders' sometimes-unwarranted piling on the quarterback.
However, McCarthy said Prescott understands that comes with the territory of playing quarterback in the NFL, let alone for the country's most popular team.
"That's part of being a Dallas Cowboy," McCarthy said. "He does an incredible job of keeping that in perspective. It is part of the job description, regardless of how it feels and what it looks like, but I think he handles it extremely well."
The quest to get back to the playoffs and Prescott's chance to silence the doubters begins Sunday night against the New York Giants.
Said Dak: “The way we practice against each other. …. I’m ready to see that live. I’m ready to watch our defense go hunt and I’m ready for us to be aggressive and do what we do best. I’m ready to watch it all come to life.”
