The chatter around Dak Prescott was bizarre all week, in the lead-up to the Dallas Cowboys’ “Sunday Night Football” matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. Gambling lines surging in the Vikings’ direction implied that Prescott would be out at quarterback for the Cowboys with a calf injury, but the team did not officially announce his absence until the deadline — 90 minutes before game time. In the meantime, Prescott had a strenuous pregame workout, which flummoxed NBC color commentator Cris Collinsworth.
“The part that didn’t make any sense to me was, if he looked like that, and didn’t get to play, then what was the point of having him work out like that? Because, he could’ve easily reinjured the thing doing that,” Collinsworth said during the game broadcast.
Here part of what Prescott’s workout looked like:
“I’m good. I’m blessed,” Prescott told Cowboys reporter Clarence Hill Jr. after the workout.
Collinsworth has a point here: If Prescott could ace his workout but still not play in the game, why have the workout in the first place?
Prescott, returning after missing the last several months of the 2020 season with a broken leg, has had an excellent season thus far for the Cowboys. He’s completing 73.1 percent of his passes, is averaging 8.4 yards per attempt, and has 16 touchdown passes to just four interceptions. The Cowboys, who defeated the Vikings on Sunday despite starting Cooper Rush over Prescott, are 6-1 with a comfortable lead in the NFC East, where the next best record is the Eagles’ 3-5 mark.