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Dak Prescott made Dallas Cowboys news with an epic turkey leg celebration after the team’s Thanksgiving blowout win over the Washington Commanders. Prescott revealed an elaborate planning process that allowed it to happen.
The team put four turkey legs in each of the giant red Salvation Army kettles positioned beyond the end zones, according to ESPN. If the Cowboys were to put the game out of reach of the Commanders, the team would make a show of pulling turkey legs out of the kettles. According to Prescott, all they needed to do was get the approval of head coach Mike McCarthy. Prescott got some help from owner Jerry Jones in persuading McCarthy to OK the celebration.
“Team effort. Team idea. And, yeah, we talked about it. It was probably a two-, three-day long process of [discussing] whether it [would] be [worth] a 15-yard [penalty]. Whether coach would accept it,” Prescott told reporters on November 23. “And I tell you, I actually go talk to coach before every game and, sure enough, I caught him as he was talking to Jerry [Jones]. And so, I mentioned it, and of course Jerry liked it.”
Prescott said that there were certain conditions that needed to be met before the team could grab the turkey legs. And McCarthy said he told Jones the game was to be “out of hand” for the celebration to take place.
“So, yeah, at that point, my direction was just to make sure we’re up and the game was in hand,” Prescott said. “And so, the first touchdown to CeeDee [Lamb] and the following two-point conversion, if you watch I’m kind of like, ‘Is it time? Can we do it?’ I’m like, no, we’ll get another one and sure enough, right after the one to [KaVontae Turpin] was like, yeah, let’s go for it.”
Cowboys News: Mike McCarthy Warned Dak Prescott About the Score Before Turkey Leg Celebration
We have seen a number of Cowboys kettle celebrations over the years, but Prescott’s celly with KaVontae Turpin wins the award for most original. McCarthy went into more details about his conversation with Prescott. The Dallas coach gave Prescott a warning that the “game better be well out of hand.”
“Well, when Jerry’s in the locker room before the game speaking on it and he was all for it, so,” McCarthy said with a smile during a November 23, 2023 press conference. “I just told him, ‘Hey, that game better be well out of hand before we start pulling turkey [legs] out of a kettle can.’ That was a little different pregame for me.”
Dak Prescott on Turkey Leg Celebration: ‘We Plan to Be in the End Zone’
The fact that Prescott and his Cowboys teammates spent days planning the celebration shows the team’s confidence. Prescott noted that the turkey leg celebration was a display of this confidence. The quarterback revealed that there were turkey legs in every one of the Salvation Army kettles.
“Yeah, we understand we’re going to be in [the end zone],” Prescott said. “It’s not like we had them in just that end zone. They were in every bucket. DaRon [Bland] could have got one himself when he jumped in the other bucket. He was just probably stepping on ’em.
“But, yeah, we plan to be there, and I think that says a lot, too though when you plan. Whether it be a touchdown celebration, kettle celebration, it’s a mindset. And I think that’s important for us to have those expectations of getting in the end zone and understanding that we’ll get back in there.”
This year was the 27th year of the Cowboys partnering with the Salvation Army to kick off its annual Red Kettle Campaign.
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