Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy specifically sought to utilize Dak Prescott’s legs in 2023, and the quarterback answered the call, logging his most carries in five years en route to All-Pro honors. By contrast, Prescott has been a virtual non-factor on the ground this year, both as a designed rusher and scrambler, managing just 10 rushes through seven games.
Asked this week if Prescott doesn’t want to run or isn’t physically capable anymore, team owner Jerry Jones offered conflicting explanations: “I think it’s both,” Jones said initially, via ESPN, before later backtracking. “[His] ability to run is — there’s no question as far as him physically. He can run.”
So why isn’t Prescott doing so? It turns out Jones doesn’t really want the quarterback running the ball, either.
“You really don’t want to see him really take off with that ball,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan. “These quarterbacks that run, you know they’re going to get injured. And that happens. It happens to the youngest, it happens to the best. It has happened to Dak. … I wouldn’t say it’s up there in red letters in the practice facility: ‘Don’t run.’ But I would say that we want him to be smart about it, and he is being smart about it. … I don’t want to see him take those kinds of hits.”
Prescott’s 24 rushing yards during the Cowboys’ 3-4 start puts him on pace for a career-low rushing output, not counting the 2020 season in which he played just five games due to injury. Unfortunately for Dallas, the veteran hasn’t exactly been making up for it through the air, completing just 63.7% of his throws thus far, with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions, tied for second most among all quarterbacks.
