Part of playing for the Dallas Cowboys is developing a bit of a thick skin. That’s because, when things are going well, there will be folks in the media and among the chattering class who will do their best to take cheap shots at you. And when things are going poorly, there will be folks who will do their best to take cheap shots at you. The Cowboys are as much a story around the NFL now, at 2-4 and foundering early on in the season as they would be if they were 6-0. Maybe more so.
Having been the quarterback of America’s Team for 11 seasons–with very little playoff success interspersed–Prescott knows well that there is a sometimes unhealthy obsession with the Cowboys out there. Speaking with Front Office Sports, Prescott said owner Jerry Jones has become well aware of how to keep the Cowboys at the front of America’s sporting mind, and that playing for the team just means you learn how to go along with that.
Cowboys Know How to Handle Messaging
Prescott noted that it almost does not matter whether fans love the Cowboys or hate them. For Jones, the attention matters most.
“I think it’s credit to Jerry and him just knowing how to get a message out there and knowing how to stay in front of the media. Really pushing good messages,” Prescott said (via Awful Announcing). “I think, ultimately, when he does that, whether you like his messages or not, you create an opinion of the Cowboys. And if you have an opinion of the Cowboys, good or bad, you’re gonna wanna tune in. You’re gonna wanna find out if they’re winning or if they’re losing, and I just think that impact and that reach and just the way that he navigates that allows everybody to have an opinion.
“When you have an opinion, eyes are all on.”
Dak Prescott: ‘Yeah, It’s Comical’
Tune into ESPN any morning during the NFL season–or, very often, even out of season–and you’re likely to get a hefty dose of opinion about the Cowboys. And as always in modern sports media, the hotter the take, the better.
Prescott finds it funny, he says.
“Sometimes, when it’s good, you think too highly of yourself, and when it’s bad, it’s unfair,” Prescott said. “I try to eliminate it in general. But occasionally, you do get a hot take or you hear a hot take or you get asked about it, and yeah, it’s comical. …
“I’m not gonna say it’s unfair, especially in the sense of, as I just said, knowing our owner welcomes it. The brand does in general. Obviously, there’s the marketability side of it. But, for me, it depends on what channel you’re looking at and what message is it because, at the end of the day, it is noise. It’s noise for the players within the locker room that actually have the control of what’s going on in the field.”
Cowboys Dak Prescott Sounds off on ‘Comical’ Hot Takes