National Football League

Dak Prescott once again comes up small in a big Cowboys game

Updated Oct. 9, 2023 7:07 p.m. ET

There have been nearly three decades' worth of Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks since Troy Aikman who weren't good enough to lead the team to the Super Bowl. Cowboys decision-makers have believed for years that Dak Prescott was different, that he was going to be the one to finally get it done.

What he did on Sunday night, though, won't help make his case that he's the quarterback capable of winning the big ones. Because in a huge regular-season game against another Super Bowl contender, Prescott came up very small.

In a game that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said felt like it was "for all the marbles" and hoped would be a "season-builder" for his team, Prescott had his worst outing of the season. He completed just 14 of 23 passes for 153 yards and threw three interceptions as the Cowboys were humiliated by the San Francisco 49ers, 42-10.

"I didn't see it coming," Prescott said. "This might be the most humbling game I've ever been a part of."

Said Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy: "It's a punch in the gut. It's a kick in the ass. I didn't see this coming."

"It was clearly humbling," he added. "But it's only one game."

Yeah, but it was a big one — especially for his quarterback. To be fair, this wasn't all on Prescott, of course. The self-proclaimed "best defense in the NFL" was shredded for 421 yards and six touchdowns by the 49ers offense and quarterback Brock Purdy, who ripped them up for four touchdowns and 252 yards. And McCarthy was schooled by 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, as San Francisco outcoached Dallas on both sides of the ball.

But Prescott stood out because he is supposed to be the quarterback capable of making the Cowboys a true contender. And this game was supposed to be both his chance to prove it and his redemption for last year. Ten months ago, he left San Francisco as a divisional-round loser after throwing for just 206 yards and tossing two interceptions in a 19-12 loss.

Somehow, he managed to play exponentially worse.

It was clear from that start, too, that something was off. The Cowboys went three-and-out on three of their first four drives — and it might have been all four if running back Tony Pollard hadn't fumbled on the first play of the third drive of the game. They had one extended drive in the entire game — an 11-play, 78-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that clearly was an anomaly.

There was only one other drive out of the 10 that Prescott led that even included a first down. And each of his final three drives before he was pulled ended with an interception — each one worse than the next. The first one was a deep throw he air-mailed about 10 yards past the speedy Brandin Cooks, right into the hands of 49ers safety Tashaun Gipson. The second was a forced throw at well-covered receiver Michael Gallup, which resulted in a ball tipped right into the hands of 49ers linebacker Fred Warner.

The first was one of those throws where it's hard to say what Prescott was thinking. Cooks had a receiver draped all over him. 49ers linebacker Oren Burks was cutting in front of him. Prescott, for inexplicable reasons, threw it anyway — right into Burks' hands.

He was long and short and behind his receivers all night long. He somehow made CeeDee Lamb invisible, hitting him just four times for only 49 yards. And he was so off on his timing with Cooks, the deep threat of this offense, that he hit just once on four throws in his direction — and that one went for just seven yards. The offense in all had just 197 yards on the night and eight total first downs.

Prescott obviously isn't that bad. He and the Cowboys will surely have much better days ahead, and they very likely will win plenty of games this season. But the 2023 campaign is about more than just winning games. It's about winning big games. It's about winning important games. It's about beating the teams that will stand in their way on their march to their first Super Bowl in 27 years.

And after watching this, it's just hard to believe that Prescott is up to it. It's hard to believe that any of the Cowboys are up to it right now. The defense looked great fattening up on the Giants, Jets, and Patriots. In those games, every button the coaching staff pushed was right. They pounded those teams 118-13, which is exactly what powerful teams are supposed to do. And while they did lose to the Arizona Cardinals, even that wasn't a complete disaster. It looked more like a let-down game than anything else.

This was different. This was big. And the Cowboys were outclassed. They didn't look like they belonged on the field with the 49ers. And Purdy, not Prescott, was the best quarterback in the game. Neither McCarthy nor his defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, had any answers for what Shanahan was doing at any point in the game.

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It all added up to the second-worst loss of McCarthy's career. And it was the worst loss of Prescott's career, too. And you can bet it will feel like the worst loss in years to every member of the Cowboys organization, right up to the ownership suite. He really thought he had the makings of a championship team. He thought he had a championship quarterback. And this game was going to be one where they proved it.

Instead, the Cowboys are left with far more questions than answers. And once again, Dak Prescott is left with something to prove.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.