By Dwain Price
FRISCO – Whatever lingering doubts anyone had about whether Dallas Cowboys Dak Prescott can be an effective quarterback without running back Ezekiel Elliott by his side were thoroughly put to rest during this past Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. Prescott threw for a career-high 332 yards and three touchdowns and had a very polished quarterback rating of 137.1 as the Cowboys scored 20 points in the game’s final eight minutes and beat the Giants, 30-10. That sterling performance by Prescott kept alive the Cowboys’ slim hopes of advancing to the playoffs. Then again, coach Jason Garrett has never questioned the maturity level of his steely-eyed second-year quarterback.
“He’s a really mentally tough guy,” Garrett said. “His poise, his composure, his mental toughness to handle the positives and the negatives that comes with that position (is great).
It’s one thing to say, ‘Ok, I’m going to check the ball down, I’m going to check the ball down. But when the opportunity presents itself you have to be ready to make the play, and he was able to do that throughout the game.”
Prescott tossed an 81-yard touchdown to Rod Smith, a 54-yard pass to Cole Beasley and a 50-yard TD to Dez Bryant. That, along with 20 completions in 30 attempts against the Giants, will likely give him even more confidence going into Sunday’s 7:30 p.m. road game against the Oakland Raiders.
“The biggest takeaway I take from the game is doing that, is getting the ball out,” Prescott said. “Even though they were short routes, having that confidence and getting that guy a good throw, a throw where he can shake off his man and go make a play.
It was a grind early and it was a grind all throughout the game. And we were finally able to get some momentum and get going and got good right there in the fourth (quarter).”
This was a game the Cowboys desperately needed to remain in the NFL wild card playoff conversation. But in order to make the playoffs, the Cowboys are going to need some enormous help. Just to qualify for the playoffs the Cowboys (7-6) must win their final three games against the Raiders, Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles. And they’ll also need the Atlanta Falcons (8-5) to lose two of their remaining three games, and the Green Bay Packers (7-6) and Detroit Lions (7-6) to each lose at least one of their remaining three games.
Following the game against the Raiders, Elliott will return for the team’s final two games after serving an NFL-mandated six-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. The Cowboys also received a major boost on the defensive side this past Sunday when linebacker Sean Lee was back in the lineup after missing the previous three games with a strained hamstring. Lee promptly made his presence felt as he collected a game-high 18 tackles and also intercepted a pass against the Giants.
“I’m just excited to be back,” Lee said. “It’s frustrating being out – you feel like you’re letting your teammates down.
But to be able to be back with them, and really the support I got during injuries is what motivates me to get back and it motivates me to work hard. I want to try to perform when I come back and help this team. I love playing for this team and I’m excited to be able to do it.”
The three rookies in the Cowboys’ secondary – Chidobe Awuzie, Jourdan Lewis and Xavier Woods – are also excited about being able to make some meaningful contributions in their first season in the NFL.
“It was fun seeing how far we’ve come so far and are still going, obviously,” Awuzie said. “The most important thing is we were able to contribute and make a positive impact on the game (against the Giants) and get a win.
Coming into this league you can’t take anything for granted. These players are grown men, everybody’s good, everybody’s great, and you kind of have to step up your preparation and your skills a little bit.”
Mostly, the rookies simply try to play through their mistakes and follow the lead of their more experienced teammates.
“We just look at the (veterans) as people of examples to try to emulate what they’ve done and what they’ve made a mistake on and hopefully do it better this time around,” Awuzie said. “Getting these W’s, that’s the main thing.
When we win everything’s good, everything’s happy, people are able to look at their mistakes more objectively and not really be annoyed because we lost or something like that. We definitely have a positive feeling in this locker room and it feels good.”
A large portion of that positive feeling is directly centered around Prescott, who didn’t pass for at least 180 yards in any of the previous four games which Elliott was suspended from. But that all changed in a mighty big way against the Giants.
“It’s so hard when you’re just nickeling and diming all the way down the field,” Beasley said. “It’s too hard to do that in this league. It makes it so much easier when you have those big plays.”
And it makes it so much easier for the Cowboys when they have a quarterback like Prescott who can deliver those big plays.
“This says a lot for a young player to come into this league and just have one of those games,” Witten said, referring to Prescott. “It’s a tremendous job by him of staying poised and making plays down the stretch.”
