Dak Prescott, one year after injury: 'I definitely fast-forward through that play'

Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Dak Prescott is having himself a resurgence of sorts after a season-ending injury early last season, as he currently ranks fifth in the NFL’s MVP odds at +800.

Prescott through four games has held a completion percentage as high as 75%, while throwing for 1,066 passing yards — averaging 280 per game — 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He’s also added 54 rushing yards and a rushing total to his stat line, leading the Cowboys to a 3-1 record so far.

Just a year ago, the story surrounding Prescott was vastly different. Prescott suffered a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle in 2020, forcing him to undergo surgery and miss a significant portion of the season. He played in just five games, a period in which he strung together an MVP-hopeful campaign with 1,856 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, four interceptions, plus three rushing touchdowns and 93 rushing yards. But it was brutally cut short by a graphic injury, a clip that Prescott said he still hasn’t watched — and doesn’t plan on watching.

This coming week, the Cowboys play the New York Giants, the same team Prescott got hurt against last year, and the game is just 364 days after the injury.

“I definitely fast-forward through that play,” Prescott said, when asked about watching Cowboys-Giants film. “I’ve watched that play a couple of times, and when it comes up, I can say I watch the beginning of it but not the end of the run. I don’t think much about it. It’s kind of past it, and it’s really not something I care to see and know that I’ve done a lot to get past it.”

It was about a year ago to-date that Giants’ defensive back Logan Ryan fell on Prescott’s leg, ending his season and creating more difficulty in his offseason contract extension discussion, although he and the Cowboys still agreed on a lucrative, four-year, $160 million contract.

“I don’t know what I was doing trying to bang my leg,” Prescott said. “I know I was trying to just get it right, make it look normal so I could try to get off the field. When I look back, as I say, I don’t know if it was shock, obviously not feeling it all and me trying to bang it straight. It’s just like, ‘What am I doing?’ That’s what allows me to laugh about it. Yeah, wow.”