Cowboys' Dak Prescott confident as ever: How partnership with Brian Schottenheimer has silenced naysayers

FRISCO, Texas -- There were plenty of question marks about how the Dallas Cowboys offense would look in 2025, particularly regarding quarterback Dak Prescott. 

Prescott turned 32 on July 29, and he entered the season fresh off his second season-ending injury this decade after tearing his hamstring in Week 9 at the Atlanta Falcons last season. Dallas also gave the keys to the head coach's office to Brian Schottenheimer, a career assistant who hadn't called offensive plays since 2020 with the Seattle Seahawks. 

Thus far, the Prescott-Schottenheimer partnership has silenced all the naysayers through two weeks. Prescott co-leads the NFL in third down completions for first downs (15) with Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, and he leads the league in Pro Football Focus' big time throws metric (9). PFF defines big time throws as "on the highest end of both difficulty and value. While the value is easy to see statistically, the difficulty has more to do with passes that have a lower completion percentage the further the ball is thrown down the field." In short, tight window throws, deep balls and deep balls into tight windows. Prescott also led Dallas on five consecutive scoring drives (three touchdowns and two field goals) across the third and fourth quarters in Week 2 against the New York Giants to force overtime in an eventual 40-37 victory. 

"Most definitely," Prescott said Thursday when asked if this is the most confident he's played in his 10 NFL seasons. "I would just say it's the experience on top of all the work. Yeah, everything, all of that adding up, compounding really just the years of playing this game and seeing defenses and when you've got guys like CeeDee [Lamb] in his prime and a guy like George [Pickens] that we were able to add. Two elite guys with the rest of the crew: [KaVontae] Turp[in], [tight end] [Jake] Ferg[uson], a great run game, it's hard not to be."

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A significant component of Prescott's trust is the continuity he has with Scottenheimer, Dallas' offensive coordinator from 2023 to 2024. Even though Schottenheimer had the title of OC, his predecessor Mike McCarthy was the team's playcaller. The new Dallas head coach has kept some of the offense's foundation structure intact, but he's made sure to add some new wrinkles this year that have elevated the Cowboys' offense early on. Dallas has used motion at the snap on 37.7% of their snaps through two weeks in 2025, which ranks as the 11th-highest rate in the league, per NFL Pro Insights. That's over a 10-percentage-point increase than their motion at the snap rate in the final season under McCarthy, 24.6% -- the ninth-lowest rate in the NFL. 

"Yeah, getting into Year 10 I don't know if I'd have the same comfort level if we switched the whole offense up ... vs. what we've been doing or what I've had strengths at. Schotty has been a huge part of it: calling plays and him knowing my strengths, my weaknesses," Prescott said. "Things that I want to work on, challenge me to work on those things that allow our game plan to open up and then calling things to my strength. ... He knows the locker room, and he knows these guys' strengths. He knows how the season goes and how honestly many of us react and change up through the season. I think that's a huge part of it."

Lamb, who led the NFL with 135 catches in 2023 the last fully healthy season Prescott played, is of course reaping the early rewards from Prescott's "high level" performance to quote offensive coordinator Klayton Adams. He's tied for third in the NFL in catches (16) and third in the league in receiving yards (222) through two games. 

"He's been hooping for sure. ... Absolutely Dak is playing his best ball," Lamb said Thursday. "I'm happy for him. I hope he continues doing his thing and the results [relfect] in our win column." 

Prescott's 27-yard connection with Pickens with two minutes left in overtime highlighted that confidence. The Giants blitzed, and Prescott's pocket collapsed. Pickens and Lamb ran crossing routes, and Prescott rifled the football to his right to Pickens despite fading back to the left. The end result led to the Cowboys reaching the Giants' 43. Two plays later, kicker Brandon Aubrey's game-winning, 46-yard field goal was going through the uprights as the overtime clock expired for Dallas' first win of the year. What is it that empowers Prescott to let it rip on throws going across the football field? Trust. 

"Just a lot of work has paid off. ... A lot of banked reps, a lot of trust in those guys, and you see it throwing into some of the coverages and windows that I was," Prescott said. "That doesn't happen without trusting those guys are going to make those plays and be right where they were back in the spring when you were working on this type of stuff. Yeah, I'm not going to put any limitations on those two guys [Lamb and Pickens] and the connection and what we can do." 

"Number one, it's going to come down to trust. There's a great play, you guys have seen it, in overtime. We run a couple of crossing routes. George and CeeDee are running a couple of crossing routes against man to man. ... Dak just stood in there and knew where George was going to be and threw it to the perfect spot. Pinpoint accuracy. I just think that comes from practice. ... Practices matter, and Dak's timing and confidence is high right now with a guy that's only been here for seven, six months, whatever it is. It feels like GP has been here forever, in a good way. We grade every throw. We grade every decision. ... I would say his decision and accuracy grade like I spoke to you earlier, his footwork grade, he's playing at a high level. That's why he's confident."

"The opportunity, that's the part on him that's super good. He gives the receiver an opportunity. So yeah, just making a play on my part," Pickens said. 

However, Pickens' mind was blown by a different tight window throw in the clutch by Prescott in Week 2. The Cowboys quarterback unleashed a laser up the seam to tight end Jake Ferguson for an 18-yard gain that moved Dallas' to the Giants' 49 with nine seconds left in regulation. Prescott released the pass with Ferguson's back turned toward the ball, and by the time the tight end turned around, the ball was zipping right to his hands in between multiple New York defenders. 

"Definitely an amazing throw, that's what I was thinking too. Him rolling left and throwing back right, and he threw it to Ferg, that was my first time really seeing it. He can definitely make some crazy throws," Pickens said of Prescott's "big time throws" collection. "I don't know why people down talk him. That's kind of crazy to me. ...This is my first time [playing with Prescott,] so I was just like 'Wow.' But he's been doing this for 10 years… So for me, I've always watched him, so it's kind of what I expect."    

However, Prescott isn't going to set any expectations about how high-flying the 2025 Cowboys can be. Given the first two NFC Offensive Player of the Week awards of the year have gone to the quarterbacks who have faced the Chicago Bears defense this year, Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (Week 1) and Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (Week 2), expect more explosive play from Dallas in Week 3. 

"I'm not gonna put any limitations on [the offense]," Prescott said. "We can be very explosive. It's gonna be a fun offense to play in, if we just continue to be multiple, as we continue to marry the run game with the pass game, get those actions going even more. Yeah, it can be scary."