Dak Prescott 'High Horse'? Inside Cowboys QB Move to Play-Caller
As quarterback Will Grier stood in the huddle and relayed a play call to the rest of the Dallas Cowboys' offense during Saturday night's preseason finale against the Las Vegas Raiders inside AT&T Stadium, a voice came into his headset.
Coach Mike McCarthy? No.
How about offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer? Not him, either.
Instead, it belonged to starting quarterback Dak Prescott, who's typically on the other side of those messages but traded in his helmet for a headset in Dallas' last tune-up game before kicking off the regular season against the New York Giants on Sept. 10.
The game was Prescott's first in the role of acting offensive coordinator, and it was a resounding success, as the Cowboys walked away with a 31-16 victory over the Raiders.
Prescott, entering his eighth professional season, gave credit first and foremost to Grier, who "played his ass off" in a stellar 29-of-35 passing performance during which he threw for 305 yards and two touchdowns.
With a quarterback performance like the one Grier put together, Prescott said it "doesn't matter who's calling the plays" ... but his biggest takeaway was seeing just how important comprehending the quarterback's ins and outs is to successful play calling.
"I've got a lot of respect for it," Prescott said of calling plays. "I've been around for a while, so kind of understand the flow, what you're trying to get. Knowing the quarterback, what he's good at, what he's wanting to do I think's a huge part of it. I give credit to that as much as me calling a couple plays."
That being said, Prescott's experience makes him more than educated on all that goes into game planning and serving the role as the offensive coordinator.
The 30-year-old is taking a broader view of his play calling debut, deflecting praise and focusing not only on Grier's strong effort but also the circumstances in which it came in.
"I've been around for a while, so it wasn't anything that I didn't understand that these guys put so much time and a lot of effort into," Prescott said. "Once again, it's preseason football - those guys gave us three coverages on the other side. So, I'm not going to sit here on my high horse like I just called the Super Bowl something.
"It was a game, it was fun, it was fun to do, and fun to experience that."
When asked whether it's something he'd like to do in the future, Prescott simply rubbed his head and replied with "maybe" - but after having Dallas' offense clicking on all cylinders, perhaps it's something for him to consider once he decides to hang up the cleats.
In the meantime, Prescott is focused on replicating the offensive success come 7:20 p.m. CST on Sept. 10, when the Cowboys host the Giants in a primetime divisional showdown.
You can follow Daniel Flick on Twitter @ByDanielFlick
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