Dak Prescott bounces back from ‘humbling’ with a clutch efficiency in Cowboys’ win

There wasn’t much Dak Prescott might do Monday night to eliminate the memory of what occurred in San Francisco 8 nights earlier. That was too huge of a videogame, and he was too dreadful in it for anybody to forget that simply .

But what Prescott did Monday in Los Angeles was a huge action back in the right instructions. It was a indication the Dallas Cowboys quarterback can still come up huge for his group when they requirement it the alotof.

Prescott wasn’t simply excellent in the Cowboys’ 20-17 triumph over the Los Angeles Chargers, he was the thing the Cowboys requirement him to be in the mostsignificant areas. He was clutch. He was 21-for-30 for 272 lawns and a goal general, consistingof 6-for-9 for 111 lawns in the 4th quarter. He even led the Cowboys to 10 fourth-quarter points, consistingof the game-winning field objective with 2: 19 left in the videogame.

He was making plays when the Cowboys required them. And he was putting his colleagues in position to make plays, too.

That’s what an elite quarterback is expected to do.

Of course, that’s precisely what Prescott didn’t do one week earlier in that dreadful, 42-10 loss to the 49ers, when he tossed 3 interceptions and couldn’t get the Cowboys offense moving at all. He called that videogame “the most humbling I’ve ever been a part of.” It was one of the most awkward, too.

Clearly, he took it personally because he was doing whatever he might versus the Chargers to keep the offense moving. He was outstanding leaving the Chargers’ powerful pass rush, darting out of problem and keeping plays alive. He was sacked 4 times, however mostlikely prevented 5 or 6 more, turning those pressures into conclusions rather.

And he kept the Chargers offense off-balance with his feet, running 5 times for 38 lawns (before his 2 kneel-downs at the end). That consistedof an outstanding, 18-yard goal run (the longest such of Prescott’s profession) in the veryfirst quarter when he fabricated a handoff to Tony Pollard and took off up the middle and was neverever even touched.

That wasn’t his finest work, . That came in the 4th quarter, which began with his mostsignificant play of the night. On a third-and-4 from the Dallas 24, Prescott hardly prevented a sack, got out of the pocket, pump-faked to draw the protection away, and then tossed throughout his body to discover an open Pollard. Then Pollard did the rest, shaking off Chargers cornerback Michael Davis and turned it into a 60-yard gain.

That drive ended with another excellent play and toss, when Prescott took a snap from the Chargers’ 2 and backpedaled away from the pass rush upuntil he had time to loft a rainbow into the end zone for Brandin Cooks. Both plays might haveactually been a catastrophe. But both times Prescott made them work.

And he did more of that, though not rather as stunningly, on his last drive, after the Cowboys gift-wrapped a game-tying goal to the Chargers with a muffed punt. Prescott got the ball back with the rating connected 17-17 with 7: 11 staying and marched the Cowboys 54 lawns in 14 plays to get them in variety for a game-winning field objective. He kept that drive alive with 2 big third-down conclusions — an 18-yarder to CeeDee Lamb and an 11-yarder to Cooks.

And he simply missedouton what would’ve been a 21-yard goal when he simply missedouton an open Pollard in the end zone. They had to settle for a 39-yard Brandon Aubrey field objective. But thanks to the Cowboys defense — a sack by Micah Parsons and an interception by Stephon Gilmore on the last 2 plays of the videogame — that was excellent enough.

It wasn’t simple, either. The Cowboys had to conquered 11 charges and the muffed punt. Pollard just had 30 hurrying backyards on 15 brings. The Chargers got a lot of pressure on Prescott, specifically in the veryfirst half. There’s no doubt for a Cowboys group that was “punched in the mouth” last week, as Prescott stated, they were being evaluated onceagain.

“I simply love their durability and battle,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy stated. “It was a rough videogame out there.”

It was, however this time they had the quarterback to lead them through it. He couldn’t do that a week ago in a much bumpier videogame in San Francisco. And it may be a while before anybody can genuinely forget that. But Monday night, Prescott showed he’s as “resilient” as his group. And he advised everybody that when it matters, he can be quite excellent, too.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East pressreporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He invested the previous 6 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.