Dak Prescott pregame: ‘didn’t come this far to come this far’
By Reid Hanson
The Dallas Cowboys, once again, have failed to get over the divisional round hurdle. Once again, a promising season ends at the hand of a smarter and more physical team. Once again, we’re sent back to the drawing board with the same strategy in mind. Once again, Dak Prescott critics get the last laugh.
Last season, the San Francisco 49ers manhandled the Cowboys. Their physical play made Dallas focus their entire off-season on getting tougher. Their play design made Dallas focus on getting smarter.
The Dallas Cowboys did both. But clearly not well enough.
Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys still couldn’t get past the divisional round of the playoffs
Before the game, Dak Prescott was interviewed and he said “didn’t come this far, to come this far.” It immediately stuck out as something to come back to – in good times or bad.
Welp, here we are in the bad.
Prescott played poorly. With one interested receiver on the field, he had few options to turn to. Dalton Schultz again showed he’s not the guy to lean on when things get tight. Michael Gallup showed he’s nowhere close to the guy the team re-signed in the off-season. And Prescott himself showed he’s not up to carrying the load by himself.
Complicating matters was the Tony Pollard injury. Pollard left in the first half to a high ankle sprain and the offense immediately felt the repercussions. The Dallas Cowboys defense played a brilliant game against the NFL’s best offense but even they let multiple interceptions literally slip through their hands.
Offensively, the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t do much and for once it wasn’t the play-callers fault. With the exception of the final play, the Cowboys entered in with pretty good play design. They used motion and play-action routinely and were aggressive downfield.
They just didn’t have players.
Injuries and and a frugal front office made this an uphill battle. And Dak Prescott wasn’t good enough to bail them out for their malfeasance.
This will go down as another massive failure for the Dallas Cowboys. Despite the underdog status, more was expected. They “didn’t come this far, far to get this far.” Great. But that’s all the farther they got and they have an entire off-season to figure out how to get farther.
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Recognizing the issue isn’t good enough. Good intentions aren’t enough either. The Dallas Cowboys season ended when it did, because they weren’t good enough to go farther.