FRISCO, Texas — Not much worked in the TV' favor in 2025. But as they try to stop a three-game slide to avoid finishing with their second consecutive losing season, they at least have the quarterback position figured out with Dak Prescott, and his latest Pro Bowl nod confirms it.
His nod in 2025 marks the fourth of his 10-year career, but he's taking it with several grains of salt, and for good reason. For while he certainly respects the honor, the All-Pro is ending yet another season in which the Lombardi trophy has eluded him.
"It's cool, but I don't know if validating is the word that I'd use or necessarily say at this time," Prescott said after hearing the news. "It's cool, something good within the season, understanding every year, I work my tail off to try to be the best quarterback I can for this team and ultimately, I feel like I'm judged, and usually am, off of wins.
"And I didn't get it done this season."
No one could rightfully hang the failures of Cowboys' this season on the shoulders of Prescott, who not only broke Tony Romo's all-time record as the franchise's leading passer, but also tied Romo for most 4,000-yard seasons in a career (4) and, most importantly, he's not missed a single game this season — having started in all 15 contests.
That makes the declaration by head coach Brian Schottenheimer and the team's front office that Prescott will "absolutely" start against the Washington Commanders on Christmas and against the New York Giants in the regular season finale music to Prescott's ears, because it gives him a chance to have a complete season under his belt, and that's meaningful to him.
So even if the Cowboys did approach him with the opinion of shutting him down, they'd immediately realize he's not exactly going for it, and especially not on Christmas Day, of all days.
"I'm not trying to be away from my family [on Christmas] if I'm not going to get to play in this game, and to get to do something that I love at a high level," said Prescott. "… It's what, 15 games under the belt? I want to make it 17 [games]. I wanna show that every chance I can get out there, I'm trying to play, and to my standard, expectations and, not only that — as we're just talking about how important it is to stop this losing streak and finish this season off with two wins.
"So, yeah, I'd fight him on it."
That won't be required though, as Schottenheimer shares the mindset of Prescott in working to end the season on a positive note, and not on a five-game losing streak going into the offseason. The 32-year-old is demanding everyone in the locker room play for their "pride" and "professionalism", and for things that are bigger than the game itself, such as family and future.
That means there's zero chance of Prescott not practicing what he's preaching and, ever the consummate teammate, he wouldn't even accept full credit for the aforementioned fourth Pro Bowl honor.
"The individual numbers, performance record, allowed an individual accolade, that's 100 percent still a team deal," he said. "When you're the quarterback of this team, to be able to put numbers up like that, you've gotta have receivers like George [Pickens], CeeDee [Lamb], [Jake] Ferguson and the rest of those guys, and you gotta have a great offensive line.
"… My success — that accolade is 100 percent shared with each and every one of those guys in there. It's pretty cool to be a pro bowler. But, at the end of the day, it's not what we're going for."
A clearly frustrated Prescott enters the offseason hoping to not be back in this position, as a team, this time next year. And he understands that in order to command the standard, he has to be it, so get ready to see him take the field when the world tunes into Netflix on Christmas Day — to give back to the game he says "is the reason Christmas is good", a truth that should resonate throughout the entire organization.
