'What Do You Need From Me?' Coach Mike McCarthy's Cowboys Plan for Dak Prescott

ARLINGTON - Dallas Cowboys franchise quarterback Dak Prescott found his way to head coach Mike McCarthy this week, in preparation for today's NFL Playoffs visit from the San Francisco 49ers, and offered his services.

"What do you need from me?'' Prescott asked.

“I need you to keep being exactly how you are,” McCarthy responded.

The Cowboys - by virtue of Dak's league-high salary, by virtue of the position he plays, but most of all by virtue of his character - put a lot of responsibility on his shoulders.

Do more? What more can he do?

Except to play well enough to beat the 49ers today, that is.

"It's hard to talk about him without recognizing his leadership ability,'' McCarthy said.

Of course, as critical as that is, it can only take a team so far. The playoff ditch - indeed, the NFL teams that are sitting at home watching - is littered with clubs with good leaders.

Prescott needs to play well. Make sharp decisions. Win.

And yet at the same time, as the coach also told him, "Be yourself and don't try to do too much."

The Cowboys as an organization are quite comfortable with the $40 million APY investment made in Dak this offseason. And even more critically today, the Cowboys as a locker room are wildly comfortable and confident in their leader.

“When you look at the quarterback, they have a lot of responsibility,” Elliott said. “They got to go out there and get everyone lined up. You got to call the play, you got to remember the play, and then you have to remember how to execute it. There’s a lot of stuff on Dak’s shoulders. But I wouldn’t rather go out there with any other quarterback.

“I know how serious he takes his job and he takes that burden. I know he’s going to do everything he needs to between now and Sunday to prepare and be ready to go out there and lead us.”

Prescott choses to not view it all as a "burden.'' You know, "pressure is a privilege.''

“I don’t necessarily know why people have labeled the word 'pressure' as such a bad thing, honestly,” Dak said. “I think it creates high expectations and high standards, and they usually create high results.”

The Cowboys need high results. But in a delicate twist, they need Prescott to do so much to get there ... while also trying to not do too much.

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