Opinion: Dak Prescott comes up clutch, rescues Cowboys with late heroics vs. Steelers

PITTSBURGH – It was Dak Prescott’s game to win or lose.

Sure, it’s a team game. Yet no player was destined to leave a mark of the marathon Sunday night game quite like the embattled Dallas Cowboys quarterback.

Near the end of the first quarter, Prescott became posterized as the 100th sack of T.J. Watt’s career, and the milestone came with him coughing up the football in the red zone.

Ugh.

Just before halftime, Prescott was intercepted at the goal line by Donte Jackson. It was some sort of miscommunication. Prescott zigged. CeeDee Lamb zagged. Jackson picked.

Argh.

Somewhere, some armchair quarterback must’ve grumbled about Prescott being the NFL’s first $60 million man. Or had a flashback about one playoff disaster or another.

In any event, early in the fourth quarter, Prescott heaved it for Jalen Tolbert, running a deep post pattern. It was so overthrown that it seemed as though Joey Porter Jr. was the intended receiver more than the actual interceptor.

Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times, as they say, is a trend.

Prescott’s three turnovers left him trending as the perfect gift for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who keep leaning on their big-play defense to cover for the inconsistent offense. Without the turnovers, Pittsburgh might have been blown out on its own turf.

But Prescott found his superhero cape in the nick of time. He shook off all the adversity from a memorable visit to Acrisure Stadium – including a one-and-a-half-hour weather delay before the opening kickoff – to essentially will the Cowboys to a last-minute drive that sealed a 20-17 victory.

“I personally was pissed about the two-minute before halftime, obviously, throwing an interception there,” Prescott said about his crunch time mindset.

He settled it with a dart on a fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter. It was a precise throw to Tolbert in the short corner of the end zone, connecting with the ideal out route at the perfect time. In throwing to a spot off his back foot, desperate or not, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said the play illustrated the trust his savvy quarterback has developed in the third-year receiver. He knew that Tolbert, who typically made himself available during the offseason when Prescott called for impromptu throwing sessions, would be in the spot while Pittsburgh’s coverage worked to take Lamb out of the equation as an option.

Yet that wasn’t the defining play from Prescott on the 15-play, 70-yard drive. The Cowboys (3-2) would have never had a chance for fourth-down drama if, two plays earlier their unquestioned leader didn’t dive headfirst to the turf to recover a Rico Dowdle fumble. The football was punched out as the running back – who provided a jolt with a career-high 87 rushing yards -- tried to jump over the pile from the one-yard line.

Instincts took over.

“They always stress, follow the ball,” Prescott said. “More than ever, that’s the reason why. Just examples of things in practice, coming up over and over again.”

Prescott passed for 352 yards, which is the type of big number you’d associate with a quarterback needing to put on his back a team that was missing two stalwarts, Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, from a beleaguered defense. He’s down a starting receiver, too, with Brandin Cooks expected to miss at least a month with a knee infection. And the running game has been so suspect, which is why Dowdle’s big night and the fact that Dallas logged 31 rushes against a stout Steelers run defense offered some hope.

Still, Prescott, who completed 29 of 42 passes, was no sure thing. Inconsistency was the vibe of the night. He was nearly flawless on a 16-play, 90-yard drive capped with a 22-yard throw on the run to Dowdle early in the fourth quarter. Then he came back on the next drive with a throw he wanted back on the pickoff Porter. Then again, it’s a team game. He had some company as the Cowboys found ways of short-circuiting themselves. The two turnovers in the red zone came on a night when they committed 11 penalties for 87 yards.

But still: It was the type of mess that begged for a steady hand when it mattered most.

“He doesn’t blink,” McCarthy said, reflecting on the final drive. “He doesn’t dwell on mistakes. There was no doubt we’d go down and score.”

It gets no easier. The Cowboys host the Detroit Lions next weekend, then a trip to San Francisco is on the docket later in October. Yet they proved something about their mettle by emerging from a tough environment with a win.

McCarthy called it a confidence-builder. There’s no doubt about that. Yet it was also a case where the team looked to Prescott’s composure to help save the day. And he delivered.

“You’re just thankful,” he said, “especially in a game when I had turnovers, that I still got a chance an opportunity and we could go win the game.”

And so it was on another ho-hum day for Dak at the office.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Dak Prescott rescues Cowboys vs. Steelers with late heroics