FRISCO, Texas – Two days off a thrilling 24-21 comeback victory against the Eagles, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys took to the practice field again after holding a walk through on Monday.
There's no time for celebrating Sunday's huge game, however, as they move right ahead to playing the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday in Dallas' annual Thanksgiving game.
"It's vital, you've got to reset," Prescott said. "Yea, that was a great win, great, tough win, emotional coming back from down 21, but it was only to be celebrated that night to be honest with you… Especially on the short week, you've got to move forward, you've got to get on your film, you've got to find a way to crunch five days into two, two and a half, three days."
It's not easy to compress that much information for a quick-turnaround game against any opponent, but much less when it's the Kansas City Chiefs, who played in Super Bowl LIX against the Eagles, who Dallas played on Sunday.
"We know how talented and good this team is coming in," Prescott said. "We know how important it is to start fast, and that's our focus. However, if that doesn't happen, you've got to be resilient, you've got to show competitive stamina. At the end of the day, it's a four-quarter game and that is what the goodness of last week does."
All of Kansas City's losses have come in one-possession games. While their 6-5 record may not be indicative of it, the Chiefs' offense has continued to play well, and it's led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who Prescott has a lot of respect for.
"Everything in his game," Prescott said of what he respects about Mahomes. "The way he plays it, at the end of the day obviously talent jumps out, but you watch a guy who plays with pure passion, who'll do anything it takes to win. On the sideline, he's not necessarily always running out of bounds, trying to make the extra play, never giving up on a play, has the ability to throw it back across his body. He does it all right. What I respect most is just his will to win, you see it, he'll do anything and everything it takes."
On Prescott's side of the ball, he'll have to deal with veteran defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Known for being a coordinator that loves to disguise coverages and blitzes at a heavy rate, Prescott knows the offense being on the same wavelength is of the utmost importance.
"We've got to be on our P's and Q's," Prescott said. "Communication has to be better than it's ever been before. Verbal, non-verbal, receivers have to know the protections, the IDs, they've got to know when I expect them to break hot, it's going to take all 11 to be on the same page. [Spagnuolo] makes it hard on you. So each and every play, doesn't matter if it's third down in the red zone, wherever, we've got to have our heads up and be on alert."
On Sunday, WR CeeDee Lamb struggled again versus the Eagles in terms of dropping passes he normally catches. While some could be concerned about the trend, Prescott isn't, and points to history as his reason why.
"Huge game," Prescott said on what he expects from Lamb on Thursday. "Just go back and look at the career, right? Any game that maybe he's not done to his standard or had a drop here or been a frustrating game, the way he's responded has been unquestionable. I know early in this year, it was the same way from the first time we played them to his next game, I don't expect this to be any different."
And he was correct. After key drops in Week 1 against the Eagles, Lamb responded the following game against the Giants with nine catches for 112 yards. After being injured in Week 3 and missing some time, Lamb's return against the Commanders saw him reel in five catches for 110 yards.
The confidence that Prescott has in Lamb extends out to George Pickens as well, who has a knack for going up through contact and double teams and finding a way to come down with the football.
"If he's one on one, he's not covered. Not in my mind anyways," Prescott said. "I think with the proper ball, any DB out there, just his size, his ability to go up and make a play. It's not for just him, it's for CeeDee as well. You get a guy one-on-one with those guys, I have so much confidence in our guys going to make the play."
With plenty of talk throughout the season about Pickens' future in Dallas, Prescott also expressed praise for his running back Javonte Williams, who will also be a free agent this offseason and is a player he wants back in the fold too.
"A thousand percent…" Prescott said when asked if he'd want Williams in Dallas in 2026. "Hell yea. How crucial he's been in this offense, how great of a dude he is, how great of a teammate he is. A quiet guy, but when he speaks it's definitely heard. Anything he does is felt. He's an important piece to what we're doing right now."
For now, those matters are left towards the future. In a short week, much less sitting at 5-5-1, Prescott and the Cowboys are worried about the present, beginning with Kansas City on Thursday and continuing to try to go on a run in the back half of the season.
"We got to win every game at this point," Prescott said. "The Philly game doesn't mean anything right now. Nothing that's happened up to this point really means anything other than just put us in a position to be must-win games."
