By Martin RogersFOX Sports Columnist
Six months ago this week, Dak Prescott was under pressure. Well, more precisely, he was talking about being under pressure. He liked the pressure, he said. He welcomed it. It brought out the best in him and the Dallas Cowboys. It created the right kind of expectation.
“I don’t know why people label the word ‘pressure’ as such a bad thing,” Prescott said.
A few days later, the Cowboys were done, swept by the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC’s wild card round.
Whether it was pressure or just the 49ers’ elite defense, Prescott and Dallas headed into the offseason, extending a dismal stretch in which the franchise has won just three playoff games over the past quarter-century.
Now that most of the summer is over and thoughts have turned to the new campaign, he’d better start loving the pressure again, or at least getting comfortable with it. Because there’s a lot to come.
That’s the nature of things like the Cowboys quarterback, where expectations and reality don’t always line up neatly, and where the hunger and desperation for success grows with each down year.
Prescott’s season was statistically spectacular – with 4,449 yards and 37 touchdowns against just 10 interceptions – in a campaign that saw him bounce back from a horrific dislocation and compound fracture of his right ankle.
In terms of numbers, it’s hard to imagine how he could have done much more. And yet, when the fireside debates that fill these non-football months turn to which players will have the highest expectations in the coming year, Prescott is usually near the top of any list.
A season like the one he just had – good enough for a 12-5 record – would have gone almost anywhere else. But Dallas fans are worn out. They had seasons of hope that should have led to more. Positive signs. Platform placement campaigns. Years of building and learning. Plus, there’s a bunch of substandard obscurity mixed in.
It is now at the point of victory or collapse. Winning, as in really winning. Not as in double digit wins, but as in playoff wins.
It’s been too long. Too much hope was invested, and for Jerry Jones too much money was spent. Too many false dawns.
Is it fair for Prescott to shoulder the primary burden of that responsibility? Difficult. But that comes with the territory of being the Cowboys quarterback, and he knows it.
When you’re the QB of the Cowboys, there’s just nothing about you that people aren’t interested in. It could be your love life. What car do you drive? What are your views on topics that have nothing to do with football. Heck, they’re still interested enough in Tony Romo that his win in a pro-am golf tournament last weekend got plenty of attention.
Right now, the hot topic for Prescott is his stature. The 28-year-old slimmed down over the summer, working with a full-time trainer he employs personally.
Dak Prescott in ‘the best shape of his life’
Dak Prescott is feeling good this season. He told reporters he was “in the best shape I’ve ever been in.” The Dallas Cowboys quarterback also raved about his recent trip to Miami with his teammates ahead of training camp. Skip Bayless reflects on how much this offseason will help his quarterback.
“A few weeks out (of training camp) and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in,” he told reporters. This may interest you : How to watch the final of season 3 of ‘The Boys’ on Prime Video today (7/8/22). “So it’s time to step up and go.
“Whether I’m on vacation or not, (my trainer) goes with me. We work on those movements and stretches. I feel like, since the injury, I’ve trained more functionally than ever. So I see it in my body, I see it in the way I move and as the ball comes out.”
In theory, Prescott should be even stronger this season than he was last season, which was the first phase of a four-year, $160 million contract. He no longer has to go through an extensive pre-workout routine to ensure his ankle is properly supported.
His mobility, coming off 21 months since the injury, appears to be greater, enough that head coach Mike McCarthy has already talked about including Prescott in more running games.
Prescott is making all the right noises and seems full of optimism — although optimism is a dangerous word in Dallas and should be handled with care.
Oddsmakers are cautious about the Cowboys, placing them as the eighth favorite to win the Super Bowl, at +1800. Skeptics are concerned about the departure of preferred wide receiver Amari Cooper and the overall status of the offensive line.
When Prescott addressed the media, he was the talk of the town. Good, certainly, but it’s hard to explicitly put it on the finger.
A sense of confidence, no doubt about it. A feeling of readiness, perhaps eagerness to get things going?
Prescott says he’s ready for anything, ready to unleash his new physicality, ready for the opportunity, ready to try to make up for the latest disappointment.
And, in all likelihood, ready for the pressure, which is always there — and until the Cowboys return to the Super Bowl — always increases.
You might as well learn to love him, because it won’t go away.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. You can subscribe to the daily newsletter here.
Get more from the National Football League Follow your favorites to get game information, news and more.
