The Cowboys can’t afford to let Week 1 linger, and Dak Prescott has at least one trend working in Dallas’ favor as they turn to the Washington Commanders in Week 2.
Long-time Cowboys beat reporter Ed Werder pointed out that Prescott is a perfect 6-0 in his career after Dallas drops its Week 1 game. That kind of record doesn’t guarantee anything on Sunday, but it does line up with a quarterback who has repeatedly responded the right way after an opening stumble.
When Werder asked Prescott about the mindset behind that run, the Cowboys quarterback kept it simple:
"Just to stick to it. A lot of times, people panic," Prescott said. "A lot of times people want to change everything.
"For me it's about doubling down. I know our approach, I know the coaches and everything that we did in that gameplan was right, we just didn't get it done in a tough NFL game, in a one possession game and still had opportunities."
That message fits the moment in Dallas. The Cowboys are not treating one bad Sunday like a reason to tear everything up, and the tone around the team this week has reflected that. Still, there is no escaping the pressure that comes with opening 0-1, especially after the rough showing against the New York Giants.
Jerry Jones made it clear he wasn’t ready to abandon the plan, saying, "The first game unquestionably was important: don’t get me wrong," Jones said. "I saw nothing on review that tells me we should depart away from the plan we have to get better on defense.”
The urgency is there, too, as Rashan Gary said during the week, per DallasCowboys.com. "It's another division game and, understanding that, we know we just went 0-1; and we can't do that going into this week. The urgency is up, for sure."
The problem in Week 1 wasn’t isolated to one side of the ball. The offense never found a rhythm on the ground or through the air, and when the game tilted later, Dallas couldn’t even stay on the field once things began to improve.
The defense, though, was the bigger mess. The Giants moved the ball too easily, with Jaxson Dart slicing up the secondary and the run defense offering little pushback. Tackling, coverage, communication, and pressure all showed up as issues, and the game plan never seemed to settle in.
Christian Parker also didn’t make the kind of adjustments Dallas needed, including moving away from the soft zone.
So while Prescott’s 6-0 record after Week 1 losses gives the Cowboys something to point at, Sunday still demands much more than a bounce-back narrative. Dallas needs the win, and it needs a cleaner defensive performance to go with it.
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