OXNARD, Calif. — Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is not worried the right latissimus strain that has kept him off the practice field the last two days is anything that will linger into the regular season.
In fact, if this were the regular season, Prescott said he would practice and play.
“I think I’d do whatever is necessary and take the steps that were needed to make sure I was ready for Sunday if that’s when it was or Monday or whenever the game would be,” Prescott said. “I know I’d get myself there one way or the other and be able to perform the way I want to.”
Prescott pulled himself from Wednesday’s practice after feeling soreness in his right throwing shoulder, undergoing an MRI that revealed the strain. He said he likely did not warm up properly going into that practice and when one-on-one drills started, Prescott told backup Garrett Gilbert to take over.
“I didn’t want to work through and making something small worse and bigger than it has to be,” Prescott said.
Prescott said he expects to resume throwing in a “couple of days,” but perhaps be on a pitch count early.
“It’s making a deep throw or an aggressive throw right now that I don’t want risk,” he said. He will not practice Saturday or Sunday. The Cowboys are off on Monday and will practice Tuesday before departing for Canton, Ohio, and the Hall of Fame Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coach Mike McCarthy said Prescott will be reassessed on Monday.
“Honestly I’m just going to let the rehab process answer that question,” McCarthy said. “I’m really focused on him getting back. It’s not an issue but you would definitely bring him back later than sooner mindset as far as the way we look at it.”
After missing so much time because of the compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle he suffered last October, Prescott admitted some disappointment.
“I am a little bummed about it, but still being active and still seeing the defense and still being a part of everything,” Prescott said. “So it’s not like anything that the ankle was. So I know I will be fine. I know I am doing the treatment. I am doing everything necessary to make sure I will be just fine. I am not worried about that. It’s not anything I worry about lingering or causing problems. Not even near the same aspect of the ankle and the time I had to take from that.”