FRISCO, Texas – Fairly quickly, Dak Prescott stopped enjoying Victory No. 1 as an NFL starter.
"Probably when I woke up the next day," he said. "You've got to bounce back and got to prepare quick for the next team. It's been all Chicago this week."
Sunday night against the Bears at AT&T Stadium, the Cowboys' rookie quarterback has a chance to showcase his talents in front of a nationally televised audience.
He grabbed the league's attention with a near-perfect preseason passer rating in August, nearly led to the Cowboys to a comeback victory over the Giants in Week 1, and directed the winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter this past Sunday against the Redskins.
No rookie in NFL history has thrown more pass attempts (75) without an interception in his first two games. He currently ranks ninth in the NFC in passer rating (83.1) with a 62.7 completion percentage and no touchdowns or interceptions, though he did have a rushing score in the Cowboys' 27-23 win in Washington.
It's an impressive start for the fourth-round pick filling in while Tony Romo recovers from a broken bone in his back. But Prescott says he isn't too interested in stats or the outside perception that he's already exceeded expectations.
[embeddedad0]"I'm just going into each and every game trying to give my team a chance to win," he said. "It would be nice to throw some touchdown passes, but as long as we're scoring, that's all I care about.
"I have high, high expectations for myself, a lot greater than this and what things are going on now. I want to continue to get better and I guess continue to give you guys stories, but my expectations are very high for myself."
To meet them, Prescott's approach is simple: "Just do what the coaches give me, study my butt off, watch a lot of film and try to go out there and present the game plan on the field the best I could."
His teammates have noticed.
"We got a lot of experience with him in camp," wide receiver Cole Beasley said. "He's a very poised and confident guy in the huddle, and that's what you like to see. It's like he wasn't even a rookie."
Prescott understands he's in a veteran offense that can help make his job easy. He's working to improve his accuracy by speeding his feet up and gaining a better comfort level in seeing plays develop and knowing where his receivers will be. All that comes with experience, and in Week 2, his completion percentage jumped from 55.6 percent to 73.3 percent.
He has a chance to take another step forward in primetime Sunday night.
"It's the NFL. Every game's primetime to me," he said. "But I mean, Sunday night? Yeah, it's a little different I guess. It'll be a little special. I'm just excited to go out there and be with those guys and play football."
