HOUSTON — Dak Prescott tied Roger Staubach for second in Dallas Cowboys history with 85 regular-season wins Sunday. He threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb with 40 seconds left in a 34-30 win over the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium. Troy Aikman holds the franchise record.
Prescott completed 32 of 45 passes for 335 yards, 1 touchdown, and 0 interceptions. He was 20-of-25 for 248 yards after halftime, and it was his first 300-yard game of the season. The winning drive went 74 yards in 11 plays after Houston took a 30-27 lead with 2:26 left.
Dak Prescott Takes Blame For Missed Read To CeeDee Lamb
Houston’s front got after Prescott in the first half, and he took responsibility for one of the sacks. On third-and-7 from the Houston 38 with 1:17 left in the half, Lamb came off his route and broke open, and Prescott did not stay with him. Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter split the 9-yard sack, and Brandon Aubrey’s next try came from 65 yards.
“No, hell no. That’s one I just said wasn’t great. I actually missed the read. CeeDee does a good job coming off and breaking out. I’d been hit a few times before that,” Prescott said. “One of those plays that you look back and you’re not proud of, and you’re like, damn, I should have just stuck on CeeDee for a second, and he ended up winning. And I wouldn’t have gotten sacked there. I wouldn’t have even put our team in the position for that long of a field goal. So, no, it wasn’t purposeful.”
Pressures dropped from seven or eight in the first half to one late in the second, by Prescott’s count. He was a little sore after spending the afternoon getting away from Anderson, and he wanted it known which plays were on him.
“It was fun. That’s what football is. I’m never going to shy away from that. Sure, I’ll be a little sore, but I’m glad to be just a little sore, especially when you get a win. My offensive line fights their asses off in the game. I love that group,” Prescott explained. “That group up front, they’ll do anything and everything they can to keep me clean. And sometimes they’re going to have their hands full. And they did tonight with that group that we had, but it just shows the resilience.”
“The difference in that is a credit to those guys just locking in and being the better versions of themselves in the second half than they were in the first half. And, hell, I could have done some things myself to get the ball out of my hands,” Prescott continued. “I know I missed a read on a third down to CeeDee in the first half before I took the sack. That’s not on them. That’s on me. And so just understanding that it’s a collaborative effort to keep me clean and to get the ball out, those guys are doing everything they can, and it’s a hell of a group.”
His hand was swollen after the game. Someone stepped on it after he threw the ball away on a second-quarter play that drew an intentional grounding call.
“Nothing. I just got stepped on, literally. That play, I threw it away with the intentional grounding play. I knew I was getting sacked. I was in trouble. Thankfully, got it away. No harm,” Prescott said. “And my hand just got stepped on after. This is just to make sure it doesn’t swell. It’s perfectly fine other than that. Just a little swollen.”
Prescott Answers Rio Finish With Game-Winning Drive
In Rio de Janeiro a week earlier, Dallas reached the Baltimore Ravens’ 2 with 23 seconds left and kicked a tying field goal before losing 34-31 on the final play. Prescott has known since then what the offense is capable of. The disappointment in Rio was not doing it.
“I feel like I’ve known it. I feel like that’s what the disappointment was with last week. Last week is, I know how and what we’re capable of doing. And when we didn’t do it last week, down in the red zone with plenty of time and opportunities, and we don’t get it done, we settle for a field goal,” Prescott said. “As I told you, we put our defense in a terrible situation by our lack of execution. So today was just the epitome of the trust, the brotherhood, the practice, the details, everything that we put into this, the communication, and we just have to build off of it.”
On fourth-and-4 from the Dallas 32, Prescott hit Jake Ferguson for 7 yards. The touchdown came on second down from the Houston 12, one snap after a pass intended for Ryan Flournoy fell incomplete with Anderson in on the play.
“Great play design. I mean, a play design that, not that I wanted earlier in the game, but a play that I knew was a touchdown. I knew just from watching the film throughout the week and watching the film with the coaches, hearing them put it in, seeing exactly how their defense plays, knew it’d be a touchdown,” Prescott said. “And, I mean, credit to Schotty for calling it at the perfect time. As soon as it was called, I knew it was a touchdown.”
Cowboys Teammates Put Late-Game Trust In Dak Prescott
Right tackle Terence Steele put the two-minute offense on Prescott, as long as the line gives him time.
“It’s all on him, just trusting him and just knowing that we give him time, special things are going to happen, especially with the guys that we have on the outside,” Steele said.
New cornerback Joey Porter Jr. had been with the Cowboys a few days. He called Prescott a leader who gets it done when the team counts on him.
“He’s a leader. He’s a leader for this team. He’s going to walk down the field and do what he has to do,” Porter said. “And when a team counts on him, he’s going to get it done, and that’s what he did today.”
Prescott saw growth in his own confidence from Rio to Houston. With no timeouts left, he watched the defense keep the Texans from getting a touchdown.
“Tons of growth. Each and every one of those guys in that locker room, and I mean, I give credit to the coaches, their energy, their discipline, their disposition, and just making sure that we move on and trust in yourself. And so I’ve seen a lot of growth, just in that sense, in my confidence,” Prescott explained. “It wasn’t just a field goal that they were trying to stop them from getting; it was a touchdown. And not that much time, timeouts were gone. It was a lot of trust.”
“Obviously, the nerves are there. You’re hoping that they do their job, and I felt like they did a great job of doing that. We’ve got to score, we’ve got to help our defense out. This is a team game,” Prescott added. “As I said earlier, that’s what makes this game so special: it takes everybody that steps on that field, and everybody has a part in it. Tonight is a good example of that.”
Prescott Explains Faith’s Growing Role Inside Cowboys
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer has opened up talk of faith in the building, according to Prescott. The team has two chaplains, Jonathan and Dr. Evans.
“Absolutely. And I think credit Schotty and his leadership and the way he’s opened that up. That’s who he is. That’s who I am. And that’s who a lot of our guys on our team are,” Prescott said. “And just trying to be contagious, understanding that we’re all here because of God, and we’re all here to serve a greater purpose. And that’s my point about opening your perspective up when things happen. Win, lose, or draw, what’s the purpose? What does God have meaning for this?”
“We may not always have the answers for it, but we know what God wants us to do in our response, and that’s being the best versions of ourselves, serving Him, serving others, and doing it with pure love. And I’m thankful for this team. We’ve got great chaplains, Jonathan and Dr. Evans, and so they’re helping lead that cause,” Prescott continued. “And that’s life. I’ve been through so much in my life. God’s always been the reason and who I fall back on and my refuge, as I say. I can’t thank Him enough and never will be able to thank Him enough. And so just to see that transcend throughout our team, starting with our head coach, is special. It’s something that we take pride in, but at the end of the day, it’s about giving Him the glory. And from that, good things will come, all great things will come. And so I’m thankful for that.”
After the game, Lamb said he cannot wait for Prescott to pass Staubach.
Dallas is 2-2 and hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday, Oct. 8, at AT&T Stadium, with kickoff at 7:15 p.m. CT on Prime Video.
