Dak Prescott isn’t pretending Sunday is just another game.
The Cowboys quarterback knows exactly what’s sitting in front of Dallas: a 7-1 San Francisco 49ers team, a matchup loaded with baggage, and a chance to reset a season that still hasn’t produced back-to-back wins. Prescott has lived through the pain of this rivalry before, and the numbers back it up. His personal record against the 49ers stands at 2-4 overall.
Still, he made it clear Thursday that he doesn’t want that history hanging over the rest of the locker room.
“I want to beat them absolutely, and I'm not naive to what's happened or my history against them. But to put that on the rest of these guys or put that on the locker room, I think that's stupid,” Prescott began.
For Prescott, the focus is less about the ghosts of past playoff losses in 2021 and 2022, or the 42-10 blowout at Levi's Stadium in 2023, and more about what Dallas can do right now. He framed Sunday as a chance to stack wins and build some momentum.
“This is about us going in and getting a win and us trying to win this game. And get some momentum going and get back-to-back wins for the first time this season and build off of that,” he added.
“And so what a great opportunity to do it against a 7-1 team. It just so happens that it'd be the Niners.
So yeah, obviously I want to get a win and everybody and anybody in this building does for sure a bunch of different reasons. But at the end of the day, it's a 7-1 team coming in here and we've got an opportunity to beat them.”
That’s the cleanest way to frame it: Prescott wants the win, Dallas needs the win, and the 49ers happen to be the team in the way. A victory would do more than just help settle his own score with San Francisco. It could also shake up the early NFC playoff picture.
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