In the face of sideline upheaval, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has vowed to keep calm and carry on.
Dak Prescott
Prescott claimed that business as usual reigns through turbulence in the Cowboys’ playcalling hierarchy: the upcoming 2023-24 season will be the first professional season where Prescott won’t be working with Kellen Moore, his backup for two seasons and coach for five more. The union was severed after Dallas’ Divisional round loss to San Francisco when Moore and the Cowboys mutually agreed to part ways. Unemployment lasted less than 24 hours, as Moore took the same position with the Los Angeles Chargers shortly after his departure.
With Moore also left the Cowboys’ playcalling duties, which have since been passed on to head coach Mike McCarthy, adding a new duty to a desk that already sits next to one of the hottest seats in football. Critics felt that Moore’s instant hire out west as well as the fact that Dallas was a top-six team in scoring in all but one of his four years as offensive coordinator made him a bit of a scapegoat for the Cowboys’ final struggles.
Facing his own forms of pressure, Prescott remarked that, while it’ll be different to have McCarthy’s voice in his helmet rather than Moore’s, little will have truly changed in the grand scheme of his North Texas career.
“It’s not like … I haven’t been coached by Mike. He’s always coached me,” Prescott, appearing at the Grant Halliburton Foundation’s Beacon of Hope community luncheon this week, remarked of the head coach that has overseen three of his first seven NFL seasons. “That’s not going to be new. I can’t say that’s a proper statement. As I said, it has happened. I am excited about that new voice.”
In addition to McCarthy’s title, the Cowboys also brought in longtime NFL assistant Brian Schottenheimer to serve as the new coordinator.
Prescott was sure to give Moore his props upon his departure, claiming his “voice was great” and that quarterbacks coach and that of fellow newly-minted Chargers rep Doug Nussmeier’s was “amazing.” But with the Cowboys’ championship drought approaching three decades and Prescott looking to make a promised comeback from a season where he threw an NFL-worst 17 interceptions, the winds of change are most welcome.
“Change is inevitable, you can’t stop that,” Prescott continued. “It obviously happens, so at this point just excited for what’s new. A little percentage of the offense is going to change.”
“(I’m) excited knowing (McCarthy) had a lot of success calling the game, knowing that the way he sees the game being called for the quarterback. (I’m just) excited.”