Dak Prescott vs. Brett Favre? QB 'Doesn't Need Fixing,' Cowboys Say
OXNARD, Calif. - The concerns may be overblown. The critics may be overwrought. But for the Dallas Cowboys to reach their peak, it makes sense that quarterback Dak Prescott - who led the NFL with 15 interceptions last season and is now be working inside the new "Texas Coast Offense'' - must also reach his.
So yes, Dallas is a critics' go-to "talking point,'' as Prescott tells us ... and not always fairly so. But know that as training camp opens here in Oxnard, the Cowboys themselves are talking about this, too.
“He certainly doesn’t need to be fixed,” new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said upon the team's arrival here in Oxnard, expressing confidence in the eighth-year QB. “There’s no question about that. The guy is a great player. … I mean, he’s going to go out there and he’s going to compete — ‘I can make that throw.'' ...
Ah, but "Schotty'' also indicated that sometimes that confidence can cause a quarterback to want to take on that "make-that-throw'' challenge when he shouldn't. And that's where the coach's comparison to Brett Favre comes in.
"One of my early experiences as a coordinator was with the Jets, 2008, and I was coaching Brett Favre,'' Schottenheimer said. "You guys have seen Brett play. He would force a ball into traffic. ... He’d come over and I’d be, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ And he would go, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, my bad ... (but) Hey Schotty, I can make that throw, though! I can make that throw!''
"It’s a little bit that competitive spirit,'' the coach said. "These guys, they all have that. Again, Dak loves some of the things we’re doing from training the footwork and the timing and some of the rhythm things, tying the routes to his feet. We expect him to have a huge year.”
Favre, of course, excelled in this offense under coach Mike McCarthy in Green Bay. It's McCarthy who appointed Schottenheimer as his Dallas coordinator this year. And the Favre comps are encouraging ... if a little scary.
Said Schottenheimer of Dak: "He’s just got to understand situations of the game and down and distance, and all that stuff, and clean up some of the decisions that he knows last year he kind of missed.”
There has been a great deal of analysis of Prescott's interceptions and who is to blame. This marks a rare public pronouncement from the Cowboys on Dak's responsibility here.
“I’m being pressed,” Prescott said. “I’m being challenged in ways that maybe I haven’t before. But it’s awesome.”
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