FRISCO, Texas — There's plenty you can and should be on the lookout for when the Dallas Cowboys host the Atlanta Falcons in the 2025 preseason finale, but Dak Prescott isn't one of them — it having been officially decided the All-Pro quarterback will not take the field and that, for the third time, it will be Joe Milton getting the start.
It will mark the sixth consecutive season in which Prescott has not played a preseason snap, his last being in the third outing in 2019 versus the Houston Texans, when Prescott completed two of only three pass attempts for a touchdown and a 93.3 passer rating.
Brian Schottenheimer was definitive in explaining why Milton will get the start over veteran quarterback Will Grier, despite the glaring struggles over the former in his first two preseason outings.
"We want to find out more about [Joe]," the Cowboys' head coach and offensive playcaller said on Monday. " … Will gets opportunities to compete differently. He gets opportunities to compete in practice, and he gets opportunities when he gets a chance to play in games. We compete a lot of different ways. I think I've been very clear: we're not naming a backup right now.
"But the guy that I feel like we don't have as much information on is Joe Milton. I feel like we have more information on Will Grier."
Grier also lacks regular season NFL game reps, as Milton does, but Schottenheimer explains that his time with Grier in Dallas, in the past and recently, gives him a leg up on knowing how to scheme a game around the 30-year-old.
That is not the case with Milton, seeing as he and Schottenheimer have all of two preseason games together, and nothing more outside of practices this summer.
"I'm learning, Joe," said Schottenheimer. "I'm learning how to call a game with Joe as [our] quarterback. I think that's a big part. You're going to call a game differently with Geno Smith than you would with Russell Wilson. You're going to call a game differently with Mark Sanchez than you would Mark Brunell, you know?
"We're trying to figure that out, but we've also been very upfront with them, and because I think that's important. … I want to see Joe, after a tough start, and if he [can] bounce back. He was a little more inconsistent this week than he was against the Rams."
Schottenheimer went on to point out some of the identifiers for Milton's struggles, e.g., footwork issues negatively impacting the ability to put touch on the football, and Milton himself graded himself as a D-minus for a second week in a row after another poor showing — putting both on coach and quarterback on the same page regarding needing more reps.
As such, there will be another heavy dose of Milton for the Cowboys when the Falcons arrive, and regardless of if he struggles again or if things suddenly click and he has an exceptional game against Atlanta, the underlying truth remains the same:
The Cowboys will go as Prescott does, and no one will see him take a game snap until Sept. 4 in Philadelphia.
