Mike McCarthy wants Dak Prescott to be Hall of Fame-type QB, own Dallas Cowboys offense

They were simple questions. How has Dak Prescott handled the changes to the offense? And what has Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy learned about his quarterback after working more closely with him than anytime since he arrived in 2020?

It was the answer spoke volumes about what McCarthy —a noted quarterback guru who has won a Super Bowl title with future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers and has coached Hall of Famers in Brett Favre in Green Bay and Joe Montana with the Kansas City Chiefs — thinks about Prescott.

A year after arguably the worst statistical season of his career in which Prescott tossed a NFL-high 15 interceptions in 12 games, prompting McCarthy to move on from offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and install himself as the signal caller while ushering in more West Coast concepts, the coach sees greatness in his current quarterback. He has challenged him to own this new version of the Cowboys “Texas Coast” offense.

McCarthy wouldn’t call it a new revelation but “you don’t really know until you really go out there and stress and push” that has come with the changes.

“You cannot challenge these guys enough. And I love the way we’ve challenged Dak mentally and more importantly I love the way he’s attacked it,” McCarthy said. “He’s really handled these changes and adjustments and the input … because at the end of the day, the quarterback needs to own the offense.

“I have no interest in being known as a guru coach or a smart coach. I want smart, Hall of Fame type quarterbacks and the only way to get there is you got to make them own the offense,” McCarthy continued. “And you see it. He has the personality but it’s just like anything, this is our first year playing the way we want to play and he’s done a really good job of taking ownership of that and with that, the mental challenges, he has knocked it out of the park.”

Prescott has owned the offense so much that he has given it a new name. He says the now combination of the timing based passing system under Kellen Moore and the West Coast offense has created a new system entirely.

“This is the Texas Coast, “ Prescott said. “We just renamed that, the quarterbacks. It’s got definitely some West Coast principles, but has a little bit of what we’ve done in the past and just obviously marrying them together with a lot of detail and maybe in a sense, a system that’s not out there.”

Prescott has knocked it out of the park but he has no intention of resting on his accomplishments. The desire to build on the past two 12-win seasons and take the Cowboys deep into the playoffs and possibly reach the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995 is too great.

And the memories the season-ending playoff disappointments are too fresh, heightening his focus, attention to details and purpose heading into the 2023 season.

And he plans to use the five weeks following the end of minicamp on Thursday to the start of training camp in late to July to gain even more ownership of the offense.

“I think I’m in a good spot,” Prescott said. “There’s more to grow. I’ll use these five weeks to make sure I’m crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s. I feel great at the things we’ve put in that we’ve done. I’m saying own it, but want to own it more.”

“The signals are firing. You know what I mean? It’s clicking. I’m being pressed. I’m being challenged in ways that maybe I haven’t before but it’s awesome. And it’s, yeah, it’s fun. It’s fun.”

The addition of speedy receiver Brandin Cooks in a trade with the Houston Texans to go along with two-time Pro Bowler CeeDee Lamb and the return to health of Michael Gallup has Prescott poised to have his best season. He’s coming off a completely and full healthy offseason for the first time since before the 2019 season.

Prescott skipped the offseason program in 2020 in a contract hold out. He spent the 2021 offseason rehabbing from a fractured ankle. Before last season he spent time strengthening and rehabbing from shoulder and calf injuries.

He feels he is the best shape of his career.

“It’s huge to be able to just get into the offseason and work on your whole game and not spend two hours of your day every day for a couple of months working on an ankle or a shoulder or trying to get it back just to normal or feeling like yourself and just being able to elevate everything in my game,” Prescott said. “It’s been fun and damn sure refreshing just being able to do that.”

He’s owns that too.