Dak Prescott met reporters on Thursday ahead of the biggest home game of the Dallas Cowboys’ season so far. Dallas is 4-5 after it beat the Indianapolis Colts 27-23 on Sunday, November 8, and the 7-1 San Francisco 49ers come to AT&T Stadium on Sunday, November 15. The 49ers have won the last four meetings, two of them in the playoffs. A win would give the Cowboys back-to-back victories for the first time this season.
Prescott was asked about discipline, his own history against San Francisco, the NFC East race and how the offense plans for a receiver who may or may not play. The Cowboys posted his full session.
“I was pissed”
The Cowboys were flagged 14 times for 153 yards in Indianapolis. The one that drew the most attention came with 9:49 left, after Quinnen Williams forced a Jonathan Taylor fumble and Shemar James returned it. Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who was inactive with hamstring and back injuries, ran onto the field in street clothes to celebrate, and Dallas was penalized 15 yards. Prescott had a heated message for his own sideline after the flag.
Asked whether it was his place to say something, Prescott did not back away from it. “Yeah, I mean, I was pissed. I spoke my mind, and I don’t think I’ve ever been short or shy to in a moment when it’s truly, truly bothered me,” he said. “That was just a big play … turnover happened and a flag comes out, and it’s just like, we did some great stuff here, let’s not minimize it.” He would not get into whose job it is to hand out discipline. “We’re grown men at the end of the day,” he said. “Me personally, if you need somebody to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do, I don’t know if this is the business for you.”
Overshown has said the penalty was not a sign of an undisciplined team, and Prescott agreed with that. “Guys excited, guy just wanted to go celebrate with his guy,” he said. “I saw the video. I’ve really only seen it once, and felt like he caught himself midway through, like, what the hell am I doing out here? So you can’t put that on coaches.” He said Overshown had owned it with him. He added that the message to the sideline was simple: “Be more disciplined.” “I’m never going to ask players to take away their energy or suppress their excitement,” he said. “Plan to make those turnovers, have some celebrations, but act like we’ve been there before.”
He was just as direct about the rest of the flags, saying the penalties have to come down on offense, defense and across the board. “We’ve got to clean it up,” Prescott said. “Simple as that.”
“It just so happens that it be the Niners”
Prescott has lost two playoff games to the 49ers, after the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and he was asked whether Sunday is about getting that monkey off his back. “I want to beat them. Absolutely. And I’m not naive to what’s happened or my history against them,” he said. “But to put that on the rest of these guys or to put that on the locker room, I think that’s stupid.” He said the point is the opponent’s record, not its name. “What a great opportunity to get to do it against a 7-1 team,” he said. “It just so happens that it be the Niners.”
He also said the old games do not carry over. “Those last years don’t serve anything for this,” he said, pointing to new coaches and many new players on both sides since the teams last met. He still expects the 49ers to bring “a level of physicality,” and said Dallas has to “start this thing fast.” Asked about his team’s struggles at home, he leaned on a line from coach Brian Schottenheimer: “The best way to learn to win is to win.” He said the Cowboys should expect Sunday to come down to the last drive.
Fred Warner, Osa and the crowd
Prescott called Fred Warner “probably the best linebacker in the NFL right now” and described the matchup as a chess match. He said the core of the San Francisco defense has stayed the same through coordinator changes, which makes it familiar, but he warned against letting that become a shortcut. “You have to go through the same preparation and through your same process,” he said.
One familiar face is on the other side. Defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, a Cowboys third-round pick in 2021, was traded to the 49ers in March for a third-round pick. “I’m sure he’s going to be excited to try to get a sack on me,” Prescott said. “He’s a guy who does everything the right way, always took care of his body, loved his teammates.”
He also expects plenty of red in the stands. Asked about 49ers fans traveling to Arlington, he said the offense will get some work on its silent cadence, which it has used a lot on the road this season. “I just challenge Cowboy fans to not let that happen,” he said, “to show up, support and understand what they mean to this game.”
Rooting for Dan Quinn, and planning for Pickens
Prescott spoke hours before the Washington Commanders beat the Giants 24-21 on Thursday night, and he made no secret of which side he wanted. “I find myself rooting against any team that plays NFC East,” he said, laughing, before adding that he was “cheering for DQ all day long.” Dan Quinn, Washington’s coach, was the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator from 2021 to 2023. The result left the Giants at 5-3-1, a game and a half ahead of Dallas.
Receiver George Pickens missed the Colts game and was limited in practice on Thursday with hamstring and shoulder injuries. Prescott said the Cowboys install the plays as if he will play, and others are ready to step in if he cannot, pointing to Ryan Flournoy, whose 46-yard catch set up the winning touchdown in Indianapolis. Without Pickens, CeeDee Lamb caught 10 passes for 195 yards against the Colts. “I don’t know if I can get the words to say how valuable that guy is, and just what he means to this offense, what he means to me,” Prescott said. He said the biggest step Lamb has taken is communication: “getting such a clear answer back of what he’s saying or what he wants … or maybe even taking some ownership on something that’s already happened.”
Asked to sum up the first half of the season, Prescott kept it to one game. “Everything’s in front of us,” he said. “All you can ask for is to control your destiny, and I think we still have the ability and opportunity to do that.” The history of the rivalry is laid out in our 49ers-Cowboys interactive.
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