’This is our job’: Dak Prescott to play Week 17 despite Cowboys missing playoffs – Todd Brock, The Cowboys Wire
QB1 is staying in that role to end the regular season.
In the moments following a listless 34-17 defeat at the hands of the Chargers in the team’s 2025 home finale on Sunday, the veteran quarterback was asked whether it would be difficult to muster up intensity from here on out with a postseason berth now off the table.
Prescott sighed and then paused for a full five seconds before replying.
“Honestly, I guess it’s different when you do this, and I’m not firing any shots, but I’ve said it over and over,” the 32-year-old said in a careful, measured tone. “This is our job. Like, we’re blessed. You know how hard we’ve worked and the sacrifices we’ve [made] to even get to this league? To get to 10 years in, for myself? To be healthy? I said it to the team … this game has given us so much; how could you cheat it? And so to answer, I don’t know anything else. I’m not going to cheat this game. I’m going to give this game everything that I have, and that’s just how my mind works.”
Cowboys first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer has said that he intends to play to win the final two games of the season as he attempts to finish with a .500 record and continue building a highly competitive culture that carries into the offseason.
Executive vice president Stephen Jones echoed that mindset on Monday by stating emphatically that Prescott would, in fact, be the starter on Christmas Day when the team lines up in Washington.
Dallas Cowboys announce a decision that could snowball into unexpected All-Pro contract drama in 2026 – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports
A big part of the offensive evaluation in the last two games will be watching how Tyler Smith does as the starting left tackle.
Tyler Smith moving could cause contract drama
Though Smith is up to do whatever the team needs him to do, he understands this is a business. In the offseason, he became the highest-paid guard in the NFL at $24 million per year. The only problem? The highest-paid tackle in football makes $28.5 million a year.
Could the difference lead to Smith demanding more? If so, it could be a little bit of unexpected drama. Though the difference wouldn’t be massive, disagreements on positions are commonplace in the NFL.
“Ultimately, I’m going to do what’s best for the team,” Smith said postgame. “Also, I’m a smart player. I understand who I am, where I am, and ultimately what I’m getting paid to do. So I’m going to be smart, we’ll have those conversations when we have those conversations.”
Smith admitted he takes a lot of pride on his versatility, and he is open to playing whichever position he’s asked to.
Keeping Dak Prescott clean is a must
With only two more games left to be played, the Cowboys have only one more chance to get a win streak going, which would be only their second of the season. If Dallas is going to play to win, they need to ensure they can keep Dak healthy. Moving Smith to tackle yielded results on Sunday, as Prescott was sacked once and hit only three times.
NFL Week 16 takeaways: What We Learned from Sunday’s 12 games – Staff, Around The NFL
The Cowboys defense played a lot more man coverage and blitzed a lot more against the Chargers, but the visiting team was ready for it all and still dominated the game.
Next Gen Stats Insight for Chargers-Cowboys (via NFL Pro): The Chargers offense used 12 unique offensive personnel groupings in Week 16, the most by any offense in a game this season.
NFL Research: The Chargers have now won each of their past four road games in Dallas (2001, 2009, 2017 and 2025). The last time the Cowboys defeated the Chargers in Dallas was in Week 1 of the 1990 season.
10 thoughts on the Cowboys 34-17 loss to the Chargers – Dan Rogers, Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys defense is bad in coverage and bad in pass rush, which didn’t work out too well playing against Justin Herbert.
3. Defense is so bad
It’s just never going to get better for the Cowboys’ defense. Everything is terrible. Even when they string together a couple of decent plays, they just couldn’t hold it together on third down. The Chargers converted 7/11 on third down, including all four attempts in the first half. On the day, Los Angeles finished with 452 total yards of offense.
4. Herbert had his way
You had to believe that if J.J. McCarthy could look good against the defense, it wouldn’t be that hard for Justin Herbert. Despite dealing with an injury, the Chargers quarterback orchestrated an effective game, going 23/29 for 300 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. He finished the game with a 132.8 passer rating. It marks the fourth-straight game an opposing quarterback has had a passer rating above 100 against the Cowboys.
5. Zero pass rush
One of the reasons that Herbert had things so easy is the Cowboys’ inability to generate any type of pass rush. Play after play, the Chargers’ quarterback had a clean pocket to work with, and whenever anything came from the edge, he’d just step up and deliver. And if there was nothing open, he took off running. Herbert rushed eight times, including once for 34 yards when he just ran for days. It’s really hard to stop opposing offenses when the defense cannot put any pressure on the quarterback.
Accountability & Responsibility: Jerry Jones claims both, has neither – Richard Paolinelli, Inside The Star
The Cowboys playoff hopes were over before the loss, but losing a third straight game a day after affirming “The Streak” will reach 30 years was a tough look.
For now, the best Dallas can hope for is to avoid back-to-back losing seasons.
The good news is they have games at Washington and at the New York Giants to close the year out. Neither one of those teams should be able to beat the Cowboys.
Notice I said “should” and not “can’t” there?
That’s because this year’s team simply can’t be trusted to get the job.
There is one person and only one person to blame for that. That would be the Owner, the General Manager, and the Three-Ring Circus Master we all know and love.
Jones On Accountability, Responsibility
Which brings us to comments Jones made recently on 105.3 The Fan. A quick hat tip to Jon Machota for subjecting his brain cells to listening to Jones (not actually) answering questions.
Having been through it in person myself, the experience does leave you with some brain damage in the aftermath.
As usual, Jones talks a good game. As usual, he’s all hat and no cattle.
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