The emotions, memories, imagery and good feelings were all over the place for Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
He woke up knowing it was going to be a pretty special day.
Needing three touchdowns to tie and four touchdowns to pass Tony Romo and become the team’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns, putting the finishing touches on a seemingly improbable and unlikely run to the top of the Cowboys record for quarterbacks on franchise history, the former lowly 2016 fourth-round pick who grew up in a trailer park in Haughton, La., just had a feeling.
He put on the No 12 jersey of legendary Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and strode into AT&T Stadium with a Cowboys hat atop his head ready to meet the moment.
After tossing four touchdown passes in the Cowboys 37-20 victory against the Washington Commanders and being celebrated by his teammates, fans, coaches and owner Jerry Jones, Prescott let be known that the job is not finished.
“It made me emotional,” Prescott said of the moment when he was swarmed by teammates and he had water dumped on him in the post game locker room. “I love those guys. I lay it on the line each and every day. My love for this game, my love for my teammates. Any and every that I’ve had, there’s tons of guys that aren’t in that locker room that I think about when I break this record whether it’s them catching the ball, or them blocking or them on defense and just giving me confidence and getting the ball back. But to see my teammates act that way, to see guys that have only been together for five, six months, have the joy, have the cheers that they do, it was emotional. Very, very appreciative of it.”
Prescott appreciated receiver CeeDee Lamb for retrieving the ball after catching a 24-yard score in the fourth quarter. It the 249th of his career that started in 2016 with his first to former Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant.
Prescott went 26-of-31 for 279 yards and four touchdowns against the Commanders. In addition to the 24-yarder to Lamb, Prescott threw a 3-yard touchdown to Lamb and had scoring tosses of 10 and 12 to tight end Jake Ferguson.
Along the way, Prescott became the team’s all-time leader in passing yards, completion percentage, completions, attempts and passer rating. The passing touchdown record was the last one to fall.
“CeeDee tells me right after game, running off the field, ‘nobody’s more deserving’,” Prescott said. “I’m just super blessed for having those guys, but it’s not just on the field, it’s off the field and that personal relationship.”
And while Prescott appreciated Lamb for getting the ball, he allowed that it will probably sit on his mantle catching dust. He is still in the process of building his house and has no where to put it.
Prescott said might arrogantly and naive predicted he would surpass on the passing records as a rookie in 2016. He also has a sense of history.
He knows that true greatness in the vein of Staubach, who has two Super Bowl titles in his Hall of Fame career, just behind Troy Aikman’s three in Cowboys history, comes with championships not personal accolades.
“Yeah, we were talking about it throughout the week. Yeah, he’s just on my mind and home opener, knew that this was an opportunity to break this record and just felt right,” Prescott said of wearing the Staubach jersey. “Just felt right. As I said, he’s the standard. He was the first great one here and I think he still is. And as we know, I was schooling up [Quinnen Williams] on the history of him to win the Heisman, to go serve for our country and then to come back, win two Super Bowls, be the man that he is, be as great as he is off the field, do so much for the community. He’s the epitome of what a Dallas Cowboys quarterback should be and he’s who I’m chasing. And so I’m thankful for the relationship that we do have and yeah, just wanted to support him.”
That’s why he was glad to get the passing record out of the way Sunday against the Washington in front of the the home crowd to appreciate. Now, he can get to work and focus on what’s really important, leading the Cowboys to a Super Bowl victory.
So what’s left for him to accomplish, Prescott was asked?
“The one thing. The main thing,” Prescott replied with a smile. “That won’t be a dust collector.”
Prescott still has time to make that happen.
Sunday was about looking back to how it all began and living in the moment about what he has accomplished and the lives he touched.
He thought about his mom, who who died of cancer when he was in college at Mississippi State. She allowed him to dream big. She was on his mind when he woke up Sunday morning and when he tossed the record-setting touchdown pass.
“Absolutely…I woke up this morning just a little emotional, way more than normal,” Prescott said. And I don’t know if it had a part in God knew it was going to happen today and I was going to break this record and have to talk to you guys or not. So yeah, I don’t know. I just felt it. On the drive I was kind of like, God, if you’ve got it in store for me, let’s break this thing and just get it over with. And the moment it happened, yeah, I just felt my mom. My mom was never short or never hesitant to tell me how proud she was of me. She was never, never, never short of that. And I could just hear that. And that’s enough. Thankful that my teammates, my coaches and everybody believe in me and all that, but that’s enough. And I heard that my whole life growing up and I hear it now as loud as I’ve ever heard it. And so I’m just blessed.”
The Cowboys let him know how blessed they are to have him on Sunday.
Tight end Jake Ferguson, who caught two of Prescott’s four touchdowns against the Commanders, focused on the friendship and leadership, rather than football after the game.
“The man he is, he’s a role model for everyone,” Ferguson said. “He inspires me. He’s been there for a lot of hard times for me. I lost my step father in camp, and he pulled me out of a meeting and got me together. He’s a special man.”
Jones once said that Prescott was the best leader he had ever been around that included Aikman and receiver Michael Irvin from the three Super Bowl title teams of the 1990s. Jones has watched Prescott from the beginning and knows first and what it took to make it all happen.
“I just think it’s such a statement for how he did it, how he does it,” Jones said. “And he does it with hard, hard work. He makes it look pretty easy out there, but anybody that knows it, you guys that see him at practice and training camp, knows that he’s the hardest working guy on the team. I’m proud for him, and boy he stands in with pretty good company to have broken that record.”
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer also focused on Prescott’s leadership and work ethic.
“I’ve been around some elite quarterbacks and Dak Prescott’s preparation is something that is abnormal,” Schottenheimer said. “They all work. They all prepare. They all study film, but this guy takes it to a different level. I mean, just the amount of film he watches, the communication, he’s up in our office till all hours of the night and watching film with a couple of our coaches and it’s just unique.”
“I think that’s what it takes and that’s what you love about the guy. But most people don’t see it. Fans don’t see it. I mean, he’s there till 9:30, 10 o’clock at night and sometimes I feel like I’ve got to kick him out. But he’s a special young man and he deserves everything he gets because he does it for his teammates and his brothers, not himself.”
Prescott hopes his success can inspired future generations.
“I just encourage the next little kid out there who comes from the trailer park in Louisiana or wherever he may come from and doesn’t know if he can do it or have the resources or have the family that you’re right, believe in what you want to believe in and find the people that support that, and you can do it,” Prescott said.
Ironically, Prescott threw the first touchdown pass of his career against the Commanders, making it a full circle moment on Sunday.
It brought back a flash of memories.
“I’m blessed, honored. As I’ve told you earlier in the week, records are meant to be broken,” Prescott said. It’s my time to break this one. Pretty cool to do it against the team that I threw my first touchdown against, 10 years ago or so. So definitely humbling, something I don’t take for granted. The great history of this organization, of the past quarterbacks before me, obviously wearing to me the greatest one. And so super, super honored, super thankful. God’s great.
“Some of those memories, highlight reels or whatever you want to call it, roll in your head. And it’s a reminder, but I don’t do it often. For one, it makes me emotional knowing everything that I’ve been through, everything that it took to even get into the NFL and the doubters, whatever it may be, and just the constant belief in yourself and shows me how great God is. And when you believe in yourself and you’re founded and you’ve got strong faith, what can happen. But as I said, this is just a step. And like I said, I want so much more. I’m not taking it lightly, but as I told y’all, it’s just the beginning. I want to double it. I plan to play for a while so I’m just getting started.”
