Getty Cowboys QB Dak Prescott
Dak Prescott is catching some heat from the unlikeliest of sources — and for the unlikeliest of reasons.
“We don’t need that TD that bad bro!! @dak don’t do that s*** again!!!! WE NEED YOU HEALTHY!!!!” NFL legend Michael Irvin tweeted Sunday.
Irvin was reacting in real-time to Prescott’s rushing touchdown amid Dallas’ Week 10 blowout of the Atlanta Falcons. The score — a four-yard improvised sneak on 4th-and-2 — came near the end of the third quarter with the Cowboys firmly in control, 36-3. Prescott was met by Atlanta bodies near the goal line and willed his way into the end zone, punctuating a record-setting victory.
It was not the smartest play for a $160 million franchise quarterback removed from calf, shoulder, and ankle injuries, who probably should have been planted on the bench by that point.
But it meant something beyond seven meaningless points.
“I had to re-establish some toughness,” Prescott said after the game, via Yahoo Sports. “At that point, I was actually getting ready to dive and just didn’t want the ball to go off a guy’s leg or something like that and realized I had the defender squared up. And at that point, yeah, it’s goal-line. I told you guys earlier in the year: certain plays, certain positions on the field, I’m going to go back to my instincts and [I’m] going to get the touchdown or the first down. But being smart about it.”
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Zeke Reacts to Dak’s TD
Prescott would be yanked in favor of backup QB Cooper Rush after breaking the plane for the final time Sunday. The two-time Pro Bowl signal-caller finished with 301 total yards (296 passing) and three combined TDs (two passing) in the 43-3 rout.
He received an additional boost from running back Ezekiel Elliott, who hit pay dirt twice across 14 carries — and who had a front-row seat as Prescott followed suit, sacrificing himself in the process.
“I saw. I mean, Dak’s a big dude; those DBs are a little smaller. Maybe don’t want him doing that when we’re up 40,” Elliott said in his postgame press conference, via Yahoo Sports. “I said something, joking, to him, after that drive. What do you expect him to do, one-on-one on the goal line? You’ve got to go get the touchdown. That just shows the type of quarterback that we have, it shows the type of the leader he is. He’s going to leave it all out there.”
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Joneses None Too Pleased
Irvin wasn’t the only onlooker to take umbrage with Prescott’s risky decision. Both Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones and vice president Stephen Jones publicly admonished their foundational talent during Tuesday radio interviews on 105.3 The Fan.
“Let’s don’t do that,” Stephen Jones said, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “But certainly, I mean, that’s Dak. At the end of the day, we have to protect Dak from Dak, but he’s the ultimate competitor.”
“I worry about it,” Jerry Jones said, via The Athletic. “We got to realize that at the end of the year what this is about is being standing. Warren Buffett one time said the hardest thing about accumulating wealth is to be there to spend it.”
Jerry Jones on @1053thefan on this Dak Prescott TD: “I worry about it. We got to realize that at the end of the year what this is about is being standing. Warren Buffett one time said the hardest thing about accumulating wealth is to be there to spend it.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL