Santa Clara, California – For the third time in his career, Duck Prescott The Dallas Cowboys were in the divisional round of the playoffs, and for the third time, their season ended there.
This time, it was in Sunday’s 19-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the same team that eliminated the Cowboys in the wild card round last season.
During the 2016 campaign, Prescott’s rookie year, the Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round despite having home field advantage in the playoffs. In 2018, the Cowboys lost to the Los Angeles Rams, who won the NFC Championship Game and lost to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Despite Sunday’s heartache, Prescott’s faith was not shaken.
“If I had the answers, we would have won tonight. Too early. Too soon,” said Prescott. “And I promise you we will. For the time I play on this team, for this organization, we will. Day in and day out, step by step, that’s what I’m going to do. I know that’s who I am. I’m going to respond in the right way. Like I said, when we make This team is compatible, the players we come back, the coaches, we’ll do what’s necessary to come back here and win next time.”
The Cowboys are now 27 seasons removed from their last Super Bowl XXX championship. While they won a road playoff game for the first time since 1992 with their 31-14 decision over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round, the Cowboys envisioned a trip to Philadelphia next weekend to take on the Eagles in the conference title game.
For Prescott, who completed 23 of 37 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions on Sunday, the burden is only getting bigger.
“I’m disappointed with the way I played. Those guys in this locker room gave everything. Both sides of the ball. And put me in a position to win the game. And I couldn’t do that,” he said. “Yeah, I mean, I put it on.” scapular. When you play this position, when you play in this organization, you have to accept that. This is the truth of the matter. Like I said, it will make me better.
“It sucks, like I said, that I haven’t had another chance for a long time, but I know when I wake up tomorrow it will be the first thing he thinks of, and it will still be when I carry him through my training all this season, with the start of next season. It’s about finding a way to get better.” , and perfecting everything we can to make sure we get over that hump, whatever that may be, and give ourselves a chance to win it all.”
Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Prescott is the main reason for hope that the Cowboys championship drought is over.
“I thought we were going to win it because I trust Duck so much,” Jones said. “I’ll line up there five times with that [similar] situation, and if we get it in the middle, I’ll take my chances. So I’m just saying give me that setup a year ago, a month ago, and I give it as the quarterback and I feel very strongly that we’re going to win.”
But Prescott tied for the NFL lead in interceptions in 2022 with 15, despite missing five games due to a broken right thumb. Against the Buccaneers, he had four touchdown passes and ran for another. Against the Niners, he became the first Cowboys quarterback to have multiple passes intercepted in a playoff game since Troy Aikman in 1998.
Prescott’s first-half selections led to six San Francisco points. His second, within sight of Sir Lambit was just the second red zone interception he threw on the season.
“Two throws I can’t stand,” Prescott said. “You can’t get into the playoffs. You can’t have them when you’re trying to beat a team like that. You can’t get them on the road. Yeah, no excuses for that. Those two are 100 percent on me.”
Prescott had never had more than 13 interceptions in a season (2017) prior to this season, and the problem was something he never resolved in 2022.
“Very disappointed,” he said. “Something to get me off season, take a look at them all. As I said before, they all have their own story. Monday tonight? Unacceptable. You can’t put the ball in danger like that. Whether they’re tipped or whether I’m late On the road to a stop, it can’t happen. The number that was added is ridiculous. I can promise the number will never be like this again.
“I promise you.”