FRISCO, Texas – Heading into the final four games of the season, the Cowboys sit at 6-6-1 with four games remaining, and a difficult road ahead of them to reach the postseason.
Their best chance? Winning the NFC East, which in the easiest terms would require Dallas to win out and the Eagles to lose two of their remaining four games. While part of the process does require hoping they get some help, QB Dak Prescott is focused on what's in front of him and his team.
"I just got to go win every game. That's all I can control," Prescott said. "I'm going to root against [the Eagles] regardless, whether we're in this position or not, so I got to control what I can control and go win games."
Even when Prescott isn't around the facility, he admitted he thinks about the possibilities that lie ahead often and feels differently each time it crosses his mind, but it's not a burden.
"It's not heavy," Prescott said. "Even if I feel it, and obviously I think about it a lot, I say that to say I want that. That's unfortunately the position we've put ourselves in and that's the only way that we can get out of it. It's not like that it's some, 'Oh my God, I can't believe this is on me' or, 'This is stress,' no. This is just the avenue that we have to go, and the only way we can get out of this is handling our business."
The first step to handling their business begins on Sunday night against the Minnesota Vikings. For Prescott and company on the offense, that means going up against defensive coordinator Brian Flores, whose defense has the highest blitz rate in the NFL this season.
"Just understanding he's an aggressive play caller," Prescott said of the matchup. "He's a play caller that likes to win the game from the plays that he's dialing up and the way he's attacking the offenses and the looks that he's presenting, giving us curveballs and making it tough on us, but we've just got to communicate."
"Why I relish this challenge is it's as much of a game as anything that's a challenge to me mentally and what I'm seeing on film and being able to decipher that. Pre-snap, getting us into the right protections, into the right looks and plays versus all their different looks."
The good news? Prescott has thrived while under pressure this season, with the second-most passing yards (1,018) and second-highest completion percentage (60.8%) in the league when under duress.
He credits that to the work that goes on ahead of Sunday night, which allows him to counter what could be a strong look from the defense into an advantageous play for his offense.
"I think it slows down actually just through your prep throughout the week," Prescott said. "When you know a team's going to do that, it's about the film study, anticipating those looks, more importantly just to make sure that you get them blocked up. And then once you have them blocked up, honestly, it's advantageous looks to us, especially when you're talking about the receivers that we have."
With ten years of playing experience under his belt, Prescott has seen a lot of defensive looks from blitzes to coverages to everything in between. Still though, he knows complacency is something that can't develop in order to be successful."
"Just over time, certain blitzes, certain looks you see better than others," Prescott said. "I would say at this point I've just seen more of them that it's hard to surprise me in that sense. But you still got to be on your P's and Q's. I just got hit two weeks ago against one in Kansas City and threw an interception, so I'm far from [having] all of this dialed down. So I'm just going to keep studying and be ready for Brian Flores."
