Cowboys' $240M star Dak Prescott admits to crying over horrendous season as team faces constant mockery
Here come the tears.
Dallas Cowboys franchise quarterback Dak Prescott admitted just how bad his team's failed season has made him feel about himself.
Prescott told The Dallas Morning News this week he couldn't hold back the emotion or the tears when he sat down and realized just how bad his team really is.
"The other day, after the game, I guess, it all just hit me," Prescott said of the experience shortly after his team was blown out by the Houston Texans Monday night. "Boom, right. A couple of tears came down.
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"This is going to hurt. It's going to suck at times. You just have to understand this is one of the moments that it does. I don't want anything right now other than to let it suck. It's understanding and being able to voice that, 'Yeah, I'm blessed to be where I'm at.'"
The 31-year-old, two-time NFL playoff game winner has been out for the season since injuring a hamstring in Week 9 against the Atlanta Falcons. Prescott says nearly all the tendons connecting his hamstring to his pelvis tore off, and there is only one left.
"It started to lift off the bone even more," Prescott said. "That one was doing all the work, and now it was compromised. Hell, I had a week of not even playing football, just walking and normal movement and that was tearing it."
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Prescott underwent season-ending surgery, which was announced by owner Jerry Jones Nov. 12. In Prescott's absence, backup quarterback Cooper Rush has only made things worse for the spiraling Cowboys. The team is on pace for its worst season in 35 years.
They have just three wins. And if they don't win at least two of their last seven games, it will be their worst winning percentage in a season since their one-win campaign in 1989.
The team's 3-7 start is its worst since 2020, and Prescott, statistically, was off to one of his worst starts as a passer. With eight interceptions in eight games, Prescott recorded the worst passer rating and second-worst interception percentage of his career in a single season.
And it all started right after Prescott signed the most lucrative contract in NFL history. His representatives announced he agreed to a four-year, $240 million contract just hours before the season opener against the Cleveland Browns Sept. 8.
Now, many around the NFL and sports media have used the Cowboys failure as a springboard for comedy.
Former Broncos Super Bowl Champion and current ESPN host Shannon Sharpe blasted the Cowboys on his latest episode of the "Nightcap" podcast.
"I would’ve left the stadium with a bag over my head. Ain’t no way you’ll see me leaving the stadium when I got beat like that. After I’ve gotten beat like that every game. … And you do this?" Sharpe said.
"It’s disrespectful. It’s disrespectful to the fans who pay their hard-earned money. But you know what, it couldn’t happen to a better franchise. Because all that owner do is run his mouth and talk about what they’re gonna do. … And all their players do, because they take it from the owner, is run their mouth — and they ain’t won dog crap. None of them."
Legendary NFL quarterback Peyton Manning was one of the most prominent figures to weigh in. During a bit hosting the Country Music Awards Wednesday night, Manning joked that Prescott isn't the only Cowboy to cry this year, pointing to owner Jerry Jones.
Manning and CMA co-hosts Lainey Wilson and Luke Bryan made a reference to "Cowboys Cry Too," Kelsea Ballerini's hit song with Noah Kahan.
"But enough about Jerry Jones," Manning said.
ESPN star Stephen A. Smith said Tuesday he had President Biden on his mind when he watched the Dallas Cowboys owner talk to reporters after the team's loss to the Houston Texans.
Smith added that the Cowboys have been so bad this year, he can't celebrate it as effusively as he normally might. They're so bad it makes him "sad," he said. Smith said players like Micah Parsons look like they are about to "see a therapist" because they're "depressed."
"I’m getting very, very worried about Jerry Jones because the only thing that’s worse than the team’s play is his press conferences, or whatever you want to call it, when he is in front of the reporters, where he says one thing after another after another," Smith said. "I find myself thinking about Joe Biden before he backed out of running for re-election."
Even Cowboys Hall of Famer and three-time Super Bowl champion Troy Aikman suggested head coach Mike McCarthy will be gone after this year.
"Mike McCarthy’s a good football coach," Aikman said during ESPN's broadcast of the Cowboys' loss to the Houston Texans Monday night. "He’s proven that at Green Bay. He’s proven it here. You win 12 games three years in a row, you’re doing something right. But he didn’t get a contract extension after he had done that. It’s hard to imagine him getting one now."
But even with all the bad press and losing, Prescott still says this year has been "one of the best" of his life off the field because he hasn't let the team's failures bring down his spirits.
"Off the field, it's been some of the most joyous times I ever could have imagined, dreamed of. Having a child, getting engaged, starting a family. But, then, on the football field, it's probably been as tough of a season as I've ever had. I'd probably say the toughest."
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