EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Labeling a Week 4 game against a sub-.500 team as a “must-win” might sound dramatic.
But when the Dallas Cowboys took a moment to think about the misery that a flight home at 1-3 would be, the moniker didn’t feel so off-base.
This wasn’t just about the expectation that they beat the New York Giants because, well, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has done nothing but that for eight seasons and 13 straight games now.
This was about the noise that was getting louder and louder after the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens thoroughly outplayed the Cowboys in their own building.
This was about the reality that in a social media era, a young locker room does hear the outside noise even as team leadership would be happy if they didn’t.
So after head coach Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott discussed in a recent conversation how naive it would be to hope they could ask players to shut out the noise, they realized they are instead better off imploring their high-profile locker room not to ride the emotional wave of outside narratives even when they are exposed to them.
They need to show more to fully earn the league’s confidence. But their best chance at heading down that road was to enter this 10-day stretch between games with a win.
So allow Prescott his admission after the Cowboys beat the Giants, 20-15.
“1000% this was a must-win,” Prescott said on his way to the team bus. “Before a long weekend, puts a better taste in our mouth. But at the end of the day… it’s a process. We’re not going to get complacent. We’re not going to get overexcited about what we’ve done tonight. It’s about building and it’s about figuring out what we can do better in all phases.
“But it’s a lot easier to do that with a win.”
Prescott to Lamb connection the difference on gritty Cowboys-Giants night
Prescott was among the first to point out a moment when he could have been better.
The Cowboys opened the Thursday night contest with a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-dak-prescott-believes-cowboys-just-got-a-1000-must-wineven-though-he-always-beats-the-giants-065317675.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-09-27 06:53:17
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
