Dak Prescott says he thinks about his interceptions while studying film, especially since he has had so many in the last three games as the star quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.
Last season, he was the runner-up for NFL MVP, but this year he has thrown two interceptions in each of those three games, a first in his nine seasons.
At the same time, Prescott is the best chance for the Cowboys (3-4) to get out of their current situation. As the defending NFC East champions, they have made the playoffs for the past three years and are now facing their second two-game losing streak of the season as they head to Atlanta (5-3), who leads the NFC South.
“You can’t dwell on it,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “We trust Dak. Dak’s going to make way more good decisions than bad decisions. You’ve got to go play the game.”
With eight interceptions and a passer rating of 84.5, Prescott is on track for his worst career numbers in both areas. Last year, he led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes against nine interceptions and threw for 4,516 yards, achieving his best-ever rating of 105.9.
His second interception in last weekend’s 30-24 loss to San Francisco led to a bad third quarter that cost Dallas the game.
The blame for that interception, which was caught by Deommodore Lenoir while All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb couldn’t defend, fell on Prescott.
At that moment, Prescott had thrown as many interceptions as touchdowns this season, before throwing two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Lamb.
“I’ve got to be better. Simple as that,” Prescott said Thursday. “But you’re never going to knock my confidence. The majority of it is decision, so I go back and I guess a couple years ago, risk vs. reward. That’s something just watching the film this week, it’s just heavy on my mind.”
The “couple years ago” reference was to 2022, when Prescott tied for the NFL lead with 15 interceptions, even though he missed five games due to a broken thumb.
The Cowboys have a young offensive line and the worst rushing offense in the NFL. Their defense is also struggling without its top two pass rushers, which means they aren’t putting enough pressure on the quarterback. Additionally, Dallas has had difficulty stopping the run.
Considering all this, a lot of responsibility falls on Prescott to make winning plays. He succeeded with a fourth-quarter drive to beat Pittsburgh in Dallas’ last victory, but then he threw four straight incompletions with a similar chance against San Francisco three weeks later.
“This system’s built on making the quarterback successful,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “Obviously the starting point of making a quarterback successful is running the football. So we can start right there. If anything, I would guard against asking him to feel like he has to do more than he’s already doing.”
Two years ago, Prescott threw at least one interception in 10 of his 12 regular-season games. However, he started the playoffs with one of his best performances in a 31-14 wild-card win against Tampa Bay, which led to Tom Brady’s retirement.
In 2022, the Cowboys were 3-2 in the games where Prescott threw two picks. Right now, they are 1-2 during this three-game stretch of multiple interceptions, with enough personnel problems that making a comeback for playoff contention will be tough.
“We always got next week, so dwelling on the past is not our job,” said Lamb, who finally had his first 100-yard game of the season against the Niners after having eight last year. “As for him these past couple of weeks, he knows, he’s aware.
“For us, we got to get open, create lanes, create avenues for him to throw in, and with that comes great route-running and details in and out of the offense,” Lamb said.
Prescott’s longest losing streak is three games, which has happened three times. The first time was in 2017, and the other two times were in 2019. Those are the only two seasons the Cowboys missed the playoffs when Prescott was healthy for the whole year.
The game against the Falcons is the first of four straight games against teams with winning records, three of which are division leaders. Dallas is already two games behind in the loss column in the NFC East.
“Yeah,” Prescott said when asked if the Atlanta game was a must-win. “To me, every game is. But obviously, 3-4, as I’ve said, lot of season left, but the first start to be able to say that confidently is getting back even.”
