HOFer Rips Cowboys’ ‘Loveable’ Dak Prescott for Lack of ‘Serious Attitude’

Getty Cowboys QB Dak Prescott

Terry Bradshaw might not be the guy most Cowboys fans want to hear lobbing criticisms at the team or its star quarterback, Dak Prescott. But, hard as it might be to admit, his thoughts on the subject are valid—not only does Bradshaw have an NFL MVP to his credit, he has four Super Bowl rings and two Super Bowl MVPs in his trophy case.

Prescott, quite famously at this point, has no Super Bowl appearances and just a 2-5 playoff record on his ledger. So when Bradshaw has some advice for Prescott, he might be well-advised to accept it.

And the one thing that Bradshaw seems to think Prescott needs to do more than anything is get a little angry, to start using his playoff failures as fuel to bolster his performance in the biggest moments.

“I am a huge Dak Prescott fan. I believe Jerry Jones will do anything to win,” Bradshaw told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this week. “Instead of being so kind and gracious, kind and lovable, I want Dak to go up there and say (bleep) you guys, and (bleep) all of you. …

“You have to have an edge about you. You have to have some nastiness about you, because it will permeate through your entire team.”

Dak Prescott Still Has No New Contract

As of now, it is mostly anxiety that is permeating through the team. The Cowboys made the decision heading into the offseason that they were not going to make major changes to the roster after last year’s 12-5 record yielded a home playoff game in which the Cowboys got smacked around on their home turf.

Coach Mike McCarthy stayed. The Cowboys made minimal effort to re-sign their own free agents. They made a sub-minimal effort in bringing in outside free agents. That decision appears to be part of a calculation on the part of Jones to, proverbially speaking, throw this roster into the deep end and make it learn to swim on its own.

Maybe the lack of activity will anger players. Prescott, specifically–he is due a contract extension, but the possibility remains that the Cowboys won’t give him one. If that ticks him off, Bradshaw said, that’s a good thing. Too many have handled this team with kid gloves.

“They lack the killer instinct, and that’s your fault; well, maybe not you specifically,” Bradshaw said about the local media in Texas. “They are placed on a pedestal because every network wants the Cowboys on national TV because they get the highest ratings every week.

“When I look at the Cowboys, where is that drive? I’m just thinking about (the Steelers), and our team was never satisfied. When people said we weren’t any good any more, we went out and won two more Super Bowls.”

Cowboys Facing an Uncertain Future

Bradshaw did not directly call the Cowboys a soft team. But he essentially said that they are, that the loss to Green Bay, which came after the Cowboys fell behind, 27-0, and were booed at home, was evidence. They need to be held accountable, and need to face up to—and answer for—their own failures.

“What they lack is that (angry) attitude,” he said. “They lack that (really bad word deleted) attitude. Or they don’t answer, ‘Why when you get into the playoffs you play like dog (waste)?’ Where is that fear?”

“I am not saying the Cowboys do not have the potential to do that. But go back and look at Prescott’s last game (the wild card loss to the Green Bay Packers). He was terrible. Then you look at the stats and it says he threw for 400 yards, I don’t put any value in that. As a player, you do not w