FRISCO, Texas — North Carolina coach Bill Belichick picked Dak Prescott as the outstanding player of Week 2 on Monday’s episode of “Let’s Go!,” the SiriusXM podcast hosted by Jim Gray. The Dallas Morning News first reported Belichick’s comments.
Belichick is in his second season as head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels, who went 4-8 in his first year in 2025. Before Chapel Hill, he spent 24 seasons as head coach of the New England Patriots and won six Super Bowls there.
A day before the podcast aired, Prescott broke Tony Romo’s Dallas Cowboys record for career touchdown passes. He went 26-of-31 passing for 279 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions in the 37-20 win over the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium.
“I’ll go with Dak Prescott,” Belichick said. “Prescott’s had a tremendous career, maybe underappreciated at times, but he’s been a pillar of that organization for a long time.”
Dak Prescott Passes Tony Romo With 249th Touchdown Pass Against Washington
The record came on a 24-yard throw to CeeDee Lamb with 3:07 left in the fourth quarter, and it was the last score of the game. Romo threw 248 touchdown passes in 13 seasons with Dallas before the Cowboys released him in April 2017.
“Dak became the all-time touchdown leader for the Cowboys. That’s a pretty big statement there,” Belichick explained.
Lamb has caught 37 of Prescott’s 249 touchdown passes, more than any other player, and 2 of them came Sunday. Jake Ferguson caught the other two, and his 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter tied Romo at 248.
Prescott left Sunday holding the franchise marks for passing yards, touchdown passes, completions, pass attempts, and completion percentage. It was his 79th career game with multiple touchdown passes, which tied Romo’s team record. The win was the 84th of his regular-season career, one behind Roger Staubach and 10 behind Troy Aikman.
Washington was also the opponent for Prescott’s first NFL touchdown, a 6-yard run in a 27-23 win on Sept. 18, 2016. He took over as the starter as a rookie that season after Romo was hurt in a preseason game, and he wore a Staubach jersey to his postgame news conference Sunday.
“I’m blessed, honored,” Prescott said after the game. “As I’ve told you earlier in the week, records are meant to be broken. This is my time to break this one. Pretty cool to do it against the team I [threw] my first touchdown against, what, 10 years ago or so. So definitely humbling. Something I don’t take for granted, the great history of this organization, of the past quarterbacks before me, obviously wearing, to me, the greatest one, right?”
“And so super, super honored, super thankful. God’s great,” Prescott continued. “I’m not taking it lightly, but as I told you all, it’s just the beginning. I want to double it. I plan to play for a while, so just getting started.”
Prescott said he felt his late mother, Peggy, with him on the throw to Lamb.
Dak Prescott Went 2-1 Against Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots
In the first of Prescott’s three games against Belichick’s New England teams, the Patriots won 13-9 at Gillette Stadium on Nov. 24, 2019.
Dallas had lost all five of its games against Belichick’s Patriots before Oct. 17, 2021. That afternoon in Foxborough, Prescott threw for 445 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception, and his 35-yard touchdown pass to Lamb in overtime won it 35-29.
The third meeting was a 38-3 Dallas win at AT&T Stadium on Oct. 1, 2023. Prescott went 28-of-34 passing for 261 yards without an interception, and his 20-yard touchdown pass to Lamb put Dallas ahead 10-3 in the first quarter. The 35-point margin was the worst loss of Belichick’s 29 seasons as an NFL head coach.
“I think you’ve got to recognize what he’s done, not just [on Sunday], but throughout his entire career,” Belichick said. “It’s impressive.”
Dallas opened the season with a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants on Sept. 13 and goes into next Sunday at 1-1. The Baltimore Ravens are the opponent, at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, and kickoff is at 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS. The Ravens won 28-25 the last time the two teams played, in Week 3 of the 2024 season.
