FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott says he feels fine.
“I’m fully healthy, 100% healthy,” he said. “Thank you, though.”
And he doesn’t believe he is in a slump, which even owner and general manager Jerry Jones indicated on Tuesday speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.
“I do realize I’m not playing my best ball, haven’t been playing it, have made some poor decisions, you could say,” said Prescott, who has eight touchdown passes and six interceptions in his six games back since a calf strain.
“That’s kind of part of it. I wouldn’t say it’s slump material, but I’m definitely not up to my standards or expectations, and when you play at a high level, that’s what you create. So I’m glad people have the same expectations for my game as I do for myself.”
Prescott admitted he has heard some of the talk about his recent play and is using that as motivation similar to the way he used his fourth-round-pick draft status as a tool to overcome expectations.
“I’ve been doubted my whole life, said I can’t do this or can’t do that, so in a sense I’m kind of glad it’s actually come back,” Prescott said. “I’m glad that’s the way people feel and there’s a lot of that being said right now.”
Prescott said to get back to his pre-injury form — 16 touchdown passes, four interceptions in his first six games — he needs more practice work. With the amount of time on the field cut back, Prescott and receivers Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup have spent time after practice working on routes and timing.
“Practice being cut down shorter and having specific routes and things you want to make sure you’ve got the right timing on, making sure we get the extra work to dial those things in,” Prescott said. “Limited practice doesn’t allow you to do that.”
With Prescott’s numbers off, running back Ezekiel Elliott dealing with a banged-up knee and the offensive line mixing and matching different combinations, the Cowboys’ offense has scored just 10 touchdowns in the past six games. They scored 23 touchdowns in Prescott’s first six starts.
Elliott doesn’t want to hear about a Prescott slump.
“I mean, there is 11 of us out there, so I wouldn’t say you could put anything on one player because it takes all 11 guys to make a play,” Elliott said. “And I think we all need to play better, the whole offense collectively.”
The Cowboys have a chance to clinch the NFC East with a win Sunday against the New York Giants, whom they beat 44-20 in October. Prescott has won eight straight starts vs. New York and has 20 touchdown passes against his NFC East rival.
In addition to the season high in points, the Cowboys had 515 yards, including more than 100 yards rushing from Elliott and more than 300 yards passing from Prescott.
“I think it’s the right time for us to turn it on,” Prescott said. “I had that talk with the skill position players in the signal-caller’s meeting is we’d much rather be going through what you’re through this time that we did than two weeks from now. Now that we’ve addressed it, we’ve held ourselves accountable for it, we can move forward and peak at the right time heading into the playoffs.”