Dak Prescott sends message to all Cowboys’ doubters: ‘Keep writing, keep talking. We’re ready to go play’

There are lots of people doubting the Dallas Cowboys this year, especially with their struggles in the playoffs in recent years, but quarterback Dak Prescott is not worried about the haters. Prescott is confident in this team and believes in their ability to succeed this season.

Prescott encourages the doubters to keep speaking their minds, because he feels his team will prove everyone wrong.

“Where we are right now, it’s all excitement. … It’s truly a privilege to be the quarterback of this team, to be a leader of these guys, offense, defense, this coaching staff that we have,” Prescott said, via ESPN. “And yeah, especially with everything being said about us — you know what I mean? — the lack of what we have, keep writing, keep talking. We’re ready to go play.”

There are reasons fans and the media are not certain that Dallas will be NFC East champs this year. The team losing Amari Cooper and Randy Gregory impacts the team offensively and defensively. They also lost starting left tackle Tyron Smith indefinitely due to a knee injury. Plus, with the Eagles‘ offseason moves, like trading for A.J. Brown, many predict Philadelphia will win the division.

Prescott says he is his “biggest critic” and is tough on himself in order to compete at the highest level. “I believe high expectations create higher results. … I’m always going to hold myself to extreme, super-high expectations, higher than I think anyone else can,” he said. 

While the criticism is something he isn’t focusing on, he does appreciate people holding him to a high standard. 

“When you feel other people have those expectations for you as well, it’s fun. It’s fun. At that point, what you believe in yourself, other people believe in it, too. You just want to continue to improve and be the best you can,” the 29-year-old said.

The Cowboys won the division last year, but have not been back-to-back NFC East champions since 1993 and Prescott knows repeating as winners will be a challenge.

“It’s definitely time for us to go back-to-back winning this division, getting to the playoffs, things that you said haven’t been done in my career and hadn’t been done in a long time. That’s how you make those steps. You got to compile good years on top of good years to make those runs to give yourself a good chance,” Prescott said. “We got a good team. We got a great team, great coaching, great organization. Now it’s time not to have any lapse, be better than we were last year and take the next step on top of last year.”

The Cowboys tend to have some hope at the start of the season, but even when they make the playoffs, making a deep run seems cursed in Dallas. They are tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars with the worst playoff winning percentage in the last two decades.

A Super Bowl appearance is a stretch, but at some point the Cowboys need to prove they can be a threat in the playoffs.