Cowboys’ QB must cut down on risks

OXNARD, Calif. — Dak Prescott has won one major NFL award, and there are others he wants but if the 2021 season goes as planned he should win the Comeback

Player of the Year trophy.

No player wants to be eligible for the award, because it means you either suffered a major injury, played terribly in your previous season or seasons, or were dealt a catastrophic set of circumstances.

Dak’s fractured ankle he suffered on Oct. 11, 2020, makes him eligible for the award, not his sore right shoulder.

He continues to progress, and he said Wednesday that if the regular season began on Sunday he would play. It’s not, so he continues to take it easy.

“The best way we do that is stay on the pace that I am and progress through it the right way, and once Sept. 9 comes I’ll play that game and move forward without ever thinking about this again,” he said Wednesday after another practice in which he did not do much of anything.

He is scheduled for an MRI exam on Monday in Texas, and he would like to play when the Cowboys host the Houston Texans on Aug. 21. The team doesn’t feel that he needs to play at all before the start of the regular season, which means he likely won’t.

He’s calling this current setback a “freak” thing, and it’s really more as a result of just over throwing.

He is also at that juncture of his career that he has to be smarter, about everything.

“It’s the risk versus the reward at this point,” he said, “and I’ve got to know what I’m playing for, and that’s to be ready for this season.”

Whether it’s throwing the ball too much on the side, or decisions he makes on the field during games, he has the entire franchise riding on his arms, legs, brains and feet. He’s only 28. And 28 is not 22. If you have the stomach for it, watch the run that he made against the New York Giants on Oct. 11, 2020, that ended his season.

There was no hint of a slide, or fear of any type of contact.

The fractured ankle was merely bad luck, and these sorts of things can happen to any player carrying the ball.

He can often run straight up, and often times leads with his upper body and shoulder. He has made that type of run dozens of times both during his time in the NFL and college career at Mississippi State.

He is big enough he can get away with it, now.

“That’s the Coach [Dan] Mullen, Mississippi State, QB direct runs coming out of him still,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said. “Yeah, obviously as you progress, get a little bit older, he’s probably thinned down a little bit more obviously with where he’s at physically.

“So I think you just evolve as a player as you go on. Obviously the wear and tear of these NFL seasons are long. So you’ve got to be able to sustain over the course of a long season all the way through January and February.”

Dak says the right things, but then there is part of him that just doesn’t worry about anything other than the yard in front of him.

When I asked him if he planned to modify the way he runs, or how often, he said, “It just depends on the down and situation and the area we’re in. As I said, when I get into competition, that’s just who I am, I don’t necessarily think about some of those things.”

That’s the part that must change. “But I’ve got to be smart. First down vs. third down are two completely different things, you know what I mean?” he said.

Week 2 and Week 12 are completely different things, too.

“Two yards to get the first down is different from just trying to make a play that may excite some people,” he said. “It’s risk vs. reward and something when you watch football, last year, you’re excited to be a part of it and you realize from a play that maybe I was attacking and being aggressive [the injury], those are the things you take into account and start thinking about and weigh out when I … need to go and get that vs. being smart and getting down and being available for my team.”

The next yard is always a priority, but so is the next game.

If the Cowboys have a good season, Dak Prescott will be an ideal contender to win the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award.

He’s in that position because of an injury that he knows he will have to take every precaution to avoid from happening again.

Prescott