Run, Dak, Run! How Should Cowboys Use More Mobile QB Prescott?

After Prescott's complete recovery from the gruesome ankle injury in 2020, coach McCarthy seems ready to cut him loose in 2022

FRISCO - Dallas Cowboys watchers remember the day well. We remember the exact play. We've re-lived it in our heads several times. ... over and over.

It was a Week 5 divisional matchup against the New York Giants in 2020 when quarterback Dak Prescott scrambled to his left for a minimal gain before being ankle-tackled from behind. 

He didn't get up.

The AT&T Stadium crowd and a national television audience cheered in support as an air-casted Prescott rolled off the field on the back of a cart in tears with a compound fracture of the lower leg and a dislocated ankle. 

Prescott wouldn't play again until the 2021 season and seemed fully recovered before a calf injury on the final play of a Week 6 overtime win over the Patriots seemed to derail his MVP-caliber season.

Prescott was known as a mobile quarterback at Mississippi State. In four seasons there, he amassed 2,521 yards on 536 carries for a 4.7-yard average and scored 41 touchdowns on the ground.

The Cowboys were excited at the prospect of Prescott using his legs in the NFL, and with good reason. Before the ankle injury, Prescott has accumulated 1,314 yards on 259 carries (5.0 average) over his first 69 games in the league.

But in 2021, Prescott rushed for just 146 yards - his lowest total by far in a healthy season since he entered the league - on 48 carries (3.0 average).

And that was apparently by design, as coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Tuesday he's ready to give the 28-year-old signal-caller more opportunities to make plays with his legs during the upcoming campaign.

"I think like anything, this is year three in the offense and the opportunity to move more potentially than he did in the past, as far as what he's being asked to do," McCarthy explained, according to the NFL's website. "I think he's clearly, the thing that jumps out to me, is his movement ability in the scramble drills and scramble situations. The way he activates scramble drills. He's gotten more reps at it, it's more natural to him, so he looks really good."

Is it time to unleash Prescott? McCarthy and the Cowboys seem to think so, injury concerns aside.

Said Dak, while joking about "20 carries a game''": “It's risk versus reward ... To go get the first down and get that, get some yards and get out of bounds. And just know the importance of everything. The coach isn’t going to call that for me to try to go run people over and stiff arm. 

"Being smart and understanding that me being available is the best for me.”

McCarthy admitted the team has "tried to be smart" regarding Prescott's return from injury, and the eyeball test confirmed that, as Prescott seemed hesitant to leave the pocket last season, even under pressure.

The Cowboys might be ready to unleash Prescott, but the question remains, is Prescott ready to fully test his body against a full season of whatever number of carries again?

“My confidence is through the roof,” Prescott said. “I mean, I feel good on the move or not.”

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