Dak Prescott is still not over the Dallas Cowboys’ season-ending playoff loss.
In fact, he might not ever get over it. His desire to put this season in which the Cowboys went 12-5 and won the NFC East but lost in the wild card round in the rear-view mirror might’ve played a part in Prescott declining an offer to play in Sunday’s Pro Bowl in Las Vegas.
“I don’t know if it’s gone yet. I don’t know if it ever will, honestly,” Prescott said of whether the bad taste of the loss has subsided. “I think there are probably some games, some moments in an athlete’s career that just stick with them forever and I’m sure that’ll be one of them.”
A year ago, Prescott’s right foot was in a walking boot after a second surgery to repair his broken ankle. A calf injury forced him to miss a game in 2021.
“Didn’t want to take any more hits, or any more wear on the body,” Prescott said of the Pro Bowl decision. “I wanted to turn the page, get ready to start next season.”
Prescott said he was healthy and no offseason medical procedures are necessary.
“Thinking about where I was a year ago, it’s something that I’m thankful for just to go through everything I went through to get where I am now and be a better person because of it,” said Prescott, who plans to attend Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles on Feb. 13.
Prescott was available to the media after filming social media material for 7-Eleven, along with Fox broadcaster Erin Andrews and Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster at The Ford Center in Frisco.
He called Tom Brady, who announced his retirement after 22 seasons, “the standard.”
“The greatest to do it, the greatest to play this game,” he said. “I know as a competitor in the game, you have so much respect for him but you’re excited the day a guy like that retires. So credit to him for everything he’s done.”
The prospect of losing offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who is a candidate for a couple of head coach vacancies, is a concern, he said.
“In a sense, yeah. Just knowing the relationship we’ve had, how great of a play-caller he is, how great of a person that he is,” Prescott said. “But in the same sense, [I’m] excited and so proud of of him for the opportunities that are ahead of him.”
