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4 moments that altered Dallas Cowboys 2021 season

By Adithya Prabakaran

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 16: Trevon Diggs #7 of the Dallas Cowboys and La'el Collins #71 of the Dallas Cowboys react seconds after the San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at AT&T Stadium on January 16, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 16: Trevon Diggs #7 of the Dallas Cowboys and La'el Collins #71 of the Dallas Cowboys react seconds after the San Francisco 49ers beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at AT&T Stadium on January 16, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /

Dak Prescott’s Calf Injury

The Dallas Cowboys’ electric 6-1 start to the season was great until Dak Prescott tweaked his calf throwing a game-winning touchdown to CeeDee Lamb against the New England Patriots. The injury news was a shocking revelation as it was hard to tell something happened after the replay.

The initial review of the injury was that Prescott appeared to have a similar injury as wide receiver Michael Gallup. Gallup had yet to return to the team at that point after getting injured midway through week one against New England. Yet the team and other sources were saying Prescott’s recovery should be quicker because the usage of that muscle group was different between both players. (A true statement)

So the bye week came and passed and Prescott’s status for the game against the Minnesota Vikings was up in the air. Eventually, news came that Cooper Rush would be the signal-caller on Sunday Night prime time television. In a remarkable turn of events, the Cowboys knocked off the Vikings and were in a great position to still compete for the top seed in the NFC behind the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals.

Prescott came back the following week against the Denver Broncos and did not have a great day. To be fair, neither did anyone else on the team. (Exceptions may include Micah Parsons and Leighton Vander Esch)

This poor outing was followed by a monster day against the Atlanta Falcons, but then this was followed by utter domination in a loss against the Kansas City Chiefs. The offensive line looked overwhelmed by the physicality of Kansas City, but even then Prescott didn’t look comfortable navigating the pocket. Not much was made in the loss to the Las Vegas Raiders as Prescott brought the team back from a significant deficit, but two weeks later against the Washington Football team, Prescott once again looked out of sorts.

The team made it a larger point to run play-action passes off stretch plays and almost every time they ran them they were rendered ineffective. Prescott wasn’t pushing the ball down the field even hesitating by stopping his boot and trying to plant his feet. (As you might remember, this led to a Cole Holcomb pick-six in the fourth quarter)

Questions once again resurfaced around Prescott’s calf especially with how little the Cowboys were using him to run in short-yardage situations. Given the initial diagnosis was a calf injury similar to that of Michael Gallup’s it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that the Cowboys were trying to force Prescott to play on a bad leg knowing he was their best shot at chasing the number one seed.

What actually happened with Prescott’s calf will be unknown unless someone comes forward with information regarding his health, but it was obvious the team was playing it down pretty much the entire second half of the season.

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