Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott knows he could've played much better after throwing two interceptions against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8 as his team falls to 3-4.
"Frustrated myself with my play," Prescott told reporters postgame . "I imagine the rest of the guys are as well, not getting a win, two now in a row, sitting at 3-4. But I can definitely tell you that nobody's shaken or giving up. Frustration is very high, but it’s a long season. I mean, it’s a long season, a lot of division games are still ahead of us. Frustrated—that's the best way that I can put it."
The Cowboys offense struggled for the majority of the game, save for a fourth quarter in which something clicked as the team cut down the deficit to 30-24. Prescott and friends got their chance as the defense got a stop, their second of the second half after allowing three consecutive touchdowns to open the third quarter.
Taking any sense of climax away from the story, the Cowboys offense quickly went four-and-out, gaining zero yards and turning the ball over on downs. Asked about the final drive, Prescott provided a breakdown of what went wrong:
"Hell yeah, there's belief (of being able to get it done)," Prescott said. "I mean, that's all I can ask for, all this team can ask for, is an opportunity—ball in our hand, down six, to go win the game. And yeah, first one, inside cut, I just got to put the ball higher. Nowhere else I think in that moment, from my view, to go with the ball, just got to put it higher. Or, you know, scramble, create something with my legs, being it first down. The second down play, they did a good job, took (TE Jake Ferguson) away underneath, kind of bracketed this corner route, forced me out of the pocket. Third down, liked the matchup, took a shot, didn’t convert it. And then on the fourth down, I got pressure early, had to get out of the pocket and kind of put something up for hopes. Hope that there was contact on the end, didn’t go that way—two guys on one. They made the plays when they needed to, and we didn’t."
It was a bit of everything for the Cowboys on those final seconds of the game and a strong indictment of the state of the team.
Here's a thought: In football, the plays a team calls in the opening drive are known as "scripted plays" or "the first 15." They're considered very important to gather information about certain matchups and because they give the offense a sequence to set things up and score.
Head coach Mike McCarthy has opted to elect to receive any time the team wins the coin toss and the team's first 15 have been consistently underwhelming. That was the case on Sunday, as the Cowboys handed it off to FB Hunter Luepke on third-and-five.
The only other drive that could matter as much and that teams often prepare for is when a game-winning drive is needed to steal a win. For the Cowboys, this is how it went: No one was open, protection was mediocre, and Dak Prescott is throwing a turnover worthy throw.
The Cowboys are just not a good football team right now and it seems like every week we just confirm such a suspicion.
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