PITTSBURGH – It was Dak Prescott’s game to win or lose.
Sure, it’s a team game. Yet no player was destined to leave a mark of the marathon Sunday night game quite like the embattled Dallas Cowboys quarterback.
Near the end of the first quarter, Prescott became posterized as the 100th sack of T.J. Watt’s career, and the milestone came with him coughing up the football in the red zone.
Ugh.
Just before halftime, Prescott was intercepted at the goal line by Donte Jackson. It was some sort of miscommunication. Prescott zigged. CeeDee Lamb zagged. Jackson picked.
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Argh.
Somewhere, some armchair quarterback must’ve grumbled about Prescott being the NFL’s first $60 million man.
In any event, early in the fourth quarter, Prescott heaved it for Jalen Tolbert, running a deep post pattern. It was so overthrown that it seemed as though Joey Porter Jr. was the intended receiver more than intended interception.
Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times, as they say, is a trend.
Prescott’s three turnovers left him trending as the perfect gift for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who keep leaning on their big-play defense to cover for the inconsistent offense.
But Prescott found his superhero cape in the nick of time. He shook off all the adversity from a memorable visit to Acrisure Stadium – including a one-and-a-half-hour weather delay before the opening kickoff – to essentially will the Cowboys to a last-minute drive that sealed a 20-17 victory.
“I personally was pissed about the two-minute before halftime, obviously, throwing an interception there,” Prescott said about his crunch time mindset.
He settled it with a on a fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. It was a precise throw to Tolbert in the short corner of the end zone, connecting with the ideal out route at the perfect time. Yet that might not have even been Prescott’s defining play on the 15-play, 70-yard drive. The Cowboys (3-2) would have never had a chance for the fourth-down drama if, two plays earlier their unquestioned leader didn’t dive headfirst to the turf to recover a Rico Dowdle fumble. The football was punched out as the running back – who provided a jolt with a career-high 87 rushing yards – tried to jump over the pile from the one-yard line.
Instincts took over.
“They always stress, follow the ball,” Prescott said. “More than ever, that’s the reason why. Just examples of things in practice, coming up over and over again.”
Prescott passed for 352 yards, which is the type of big number you’d associate with a quarterback needing to put on his back a team that was missing two stalwarts, Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, from a beleaguered defense. He’s down a starting receiver, too, with Brandin Cooks expected to miss at least a month with a knee infection. And the running game has been so suspect, which is why Dowdle’s big night and the fact that Dallas logged 31 rushes offered some hope.
Yet Prescott, who completed 29 of 42 passes, was no sure thing. He was nearly flawless on a 16-play, 90-yard drive capped with a 22-yard pass to Dowdle early in the fourth quarter, then came back on the next drive with a throw he wanted back on the pickoff Porter. Then again, it’s a team game. The Cowboys had a way of short-circuiting themselves. The two turnovers in the red zone came on a night when they committed 11 penalties for 87 yards.
But still: It was the type of mess that begged for a steady hand when it mattered most.
“He doesn’t blink,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said, reflecting on the final drive. “He doesn’t dwell on mistakes. There was no doubt we’d go down and score.”
It gets no easier. The Cowboys host the Detroit Lions next weekend, then a trip to San Francisco is on the docket later in October. Yet they proved something about their mettle by emerging from a tough environment with a win.
McCarthy called it a confidence-builder. There’s no doubt about that. Yet it was also a case where the team looked to Prescott’s composure to help save the day.
“You’re just thankful,” he said, “especially in a game when I had turnovers, that I still got a chance an opportunity and we could go win the game.”
And so it was on another ho-hum day for Dak at the office.
