FRISCO, Texas — Brian Schottenheimer won’t say what he told Dak Prescott before the Dallas Cowboys’ final third down Sunday. The Cowboys coach said Tuesday that one word he chose put his quarterback in a mindset Prescott does not normally play with.
On third-and-goal from the Baltimore 5 with 14 seconds left, Prescott threw the ball away. Dallas settled for a tying field goal in a 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro. Prescott said after the game that George Pickens probably was open and that he should have put the ball on the front pylon, as he detailed in Rio.
The two talked on the flight home from Brazil. Schottenheimer kept the schematic detail to himself, and he said Prescott has every right to be angry as a competitor.
“He and I talked on the plane. Again, I’m not going to get into too much of it because there’s some schematical stuff, but there’s a lot going on. Some of the words that I told him have meaning, and it put him into a mindset where he just kind of checked GP and then felt a little push and threw it away,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ve got that built in. I talked to him after the game. As a competitor, he should be pissed, but he and I are great.”
Brian Schottenheimer Says Dak Prescott ‘Deserves 100% Of My Trust’
Trust had nothing to do with it, as Schottenheimer tells it. Right tackle Terence Steele had gone down and Broderick Jones was in, and the thinking turned toward making sure Dallas came away with points.
“No. I trust Dak. This has got nothing to do with trust; it has to do with everything that was going on. Terence Steele came out, Broderick went in, and you’re thinking, okay, we need the points,” Schottenheimer said. “It was third and seven, but I trust Dak Prescott completely. It was the word I chose, which I’m not going to give away. The words we say have meaning, and it put him into a mindset he doesn’t play with. That’s what I would change.”
Prescott already had a clock reminder on second down, and Schottenheimer did not think he needed another on third. Instead, the word pushed him toward a more conservative throw than he usually makes. Ryan Flournoy caught 2 passes for 22 yards, both on the final drive.
“That’s a great question. There’s a reminder, and I gave Dak one on second down. There was no need to do it on third down. I trust him completely. That’s why you’re willing to call passes in those situations,” Schottenheimer explained. “He and I have done a lot together; we work together, and we’ve bailed each other out at times.”
“What bothered me was the word I chose, which I’m not going to share. It put him into a more conservative mindset than he normally plays with. Do we hit Ryan Flournoy running across the field? I don’t know. We might, we might not; you never know,” Schottenheimer continued. “Trust your players. Dak Prescott deserves 100% of my trust, and that’s what bothered me. It wasn’t about trust; it was about everything going on, including Terence Steele getting poked in the eye and a lot of other things.”
Brian Schottenheimer On Dak Prescott Trusting Him Back
Prescott has thrown interceptions and kept his coach’s trust, and Schottenheimer hopes it works the other way after Sunday. He also walked Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones through the sequence.
“I hope so. He’s thrown interceptions before and I still trust him, so if I make a mistake I hope he trusts me because I’ve made a lot of really good decisions too. I just took Jerry through the sequence of the game,” Schottenheimer said. “I’ll take responsibility for this. I’m a grown man; I can handle it. Do I deserve the criticism? Absolutely. I take the criticism. It’s going to fire me up, and it isn’t going to happen again. Jerry was great, and our conversation made me feel very positive. I really appreciate his willingness to have those conversations.”
Prescott completed 25 of 40 passes for 276 yards and 1 touchdown with no interceptions against Baltimore. Dallas plays at the Houston Texans on Sunday at noon CT on FOX.
