'Great Friend, Great Coach!' Inside Dak's Cowboys Relationship with Coach McCarthy
FRISCO - Mike McCarthy has often said that a play-caller and his quarterback need to have a hand-in-glove relationship, that they need to spend time together to build a football bond, and if they're lucky, a truly personal bond.
McCarthy and Dak Prescott have done that. And the Dallas Cowboys are the beneficiaries.
"Being able to work with him hand-in-hand each and every day -- about the game plan, about the play-call, the play-caller purpose -- I know what he's thinking,'' Dak said of his working relationship with the Cowboys head coach, who a year ago appointed himself as his own play-caller and then went to work with Prescott installing the "Texas Coast Offense.'' He knows my strengths, what I'm trying to get to. We know the strengths of this offense and the players around me. It's been fun."
But what about the "working relationship'' beyond football? Prescott led the NFL this year with 36 touchdown passes and cut his interceptions from last year's NFL-worst 15 to this year's solid nine, and the Cowboys led the NFL in scoring with 29.9 points per game.
Is that just about X's and O's?
"He's been a great friend,'' Dak said, "and a great coach, obviously.''
As the Cowboys enter the playoffs Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, many outside The Star still don't comprehend that. (Let's put it this way: In the highly unlikely event owner Jerry Jones really considers firing McCarthy? Jerry might want to include in his evaluation a temperature check on the Dak-led locker room).
But this is "hand-in-glove stuff now. The McCarthy/Prescott relationship was already good. But they've installed the "Texas Coast Offense'' together, complete with weekly Thursday night one-on-one sessions that go beyond the game
"You got a two-hour meeting,'' McCarthy said of his sit-downs with Dak. "Half-an-hour to 40 minutes is partly football. The other is about life.''
So they go through the week's game plan, pick out favorite plays, talk situational football ... and then what?
Said Dak: "Sometimes it's the history in the game. Sometimes it's me looking ahead to fatherhood. ... Just somebody that obviously I can learn from. He's seen a lot in life, seen a lot in this game.''
And now, more than ever, what Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott see is a shared vision - together, as friends.
