Prescott’s progress stays on upward trend
FRISCO — The positive news keeps coming for Dak Prescott.
As his recovery from last season’s ankle injury as well as a shoulder issue in training camp continues, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said Thursday that the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback no longer has a pitch count in practice leading up to the season opener on Sept. 9.
“We’re just playing ball at this point,” Moore said.
Prescott worked in team drills for the first time in nearly a month
on Wednesday completing 11 of 12 passes while taking 18 snaps with the first-team offense.
It was Prescott’s first work in competitive drills since July 27 when he finished that practice with shoulder fatigue. After doing individual drills the next day, Prescott took himself out of practice and examinations determined he had a strained right shoulder.
After two weeks of not throwing, Prescott made just light to intermediate throws since, but over the last few days, his workload increased. Dallas did not practice Thursday.
“He’s a competitor,” Cowboys coach Mike Mccarthy said before Wednesday’s practice. “He brings that competitiveness and expertise to knowing the quarterback position. He makes the whole practice better because of the way he approaches it. Just his warmup before practice is game-like. He treats it the way you’d love to see
all your players treat it. He’s definitely one of the examples you use for the young players.”
There is never serious doubt about Prescott’s availability to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the opener Sept. 8, but the team took a cautious approach in his rehab.
“Dak looked really good,” Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott said after Wednesday’s practice. “He’s throwing the ball with some pop. He looks like he rested good.”
The shoulder strain has kept Prescott out of all the Cowboys’ preseason games. But now he no longer has practice limitations.
“I thought he looked great (yesterday). We’re fired up,” Moore said. “We’re not looking at anything from a limitation standpoint. … We are at that point where we are ready to rock and roll. We’re getting ready for the regular season and Tampa Bay.”
Prescott will not play in the preseason final against the Jacksonville
Jaguars on Sunday. Cooper Rush will get the start
and split reps with Garrett Gilbert and Ben Dinucci as they take the
battle for the No. 2 job down to the final game.
Rush is the favorite and would have to have a horrible turn against the Jaguars to relinquish the position.
Prescott will throw before the game and continue to ramp his preparation for the season opener in what will be his first game since suffering a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle against the New York Giants last October.
The Cowboys had hoped to get Prescott some game reps in the preseason before being set back by the shoulder strain.
They know there will be rusty against the Buccaneers, but they will do as much work in practice as possible to create some chemistry and continuity with the firstteam offense.
The Cowboys are simply happy that Prescott is good to go.
“He’s in a great place right now,” Moore said. “I think we all love where he’s at. I think he’s worked his tail off in everything he could possibly do. We’re just going to go for it.”