ARLINGTON, Texas —There's an adage in sports that teams often "play how they practice."
Maybe that was the case for the Cowboys, especially for Dak Prescott, who admitted he didn't have his best practice on Thursday and it led to an erratic day for the offense.
That carried over to Sunday as the Cowboys struggled in the first three quarters of the game in the Ravens' 28-25 win.
"I didn't have a great practice. I believe it was Thursday. I even told Coach (Mike McCarthy) I said, I feel better when it's me. I can control it, I can get over it. I'll make that change and that difference," Prescott said. "But it's also a sense of got to make sure that other people are doing what they're supposed to be doing. Make sure that other people aren't maybe dwelling on a practice rep, myself included."
The Cowboys scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, thanks to a wide-open passing attack that took advantage of the Ravens' soft coverage.
But quarterback Dak Prescott took the podium in the post-game press conference and focused on the early part of the game.
"Started late … that's the biggest part of it," Prescott said. "The penalties, some errors, whether it's alignment or assignments … we've got to be cleaner. We've got to lock in and be more focused on our job and take accountability."
What Dak is referencing is the things they did – or didn't do – in the first three quarters that resulted in just six points and saw the Ravens roll to a comfortable 28-6 lead.
In fact, Prescott said the offense needs more of a "professional" approach when preparing for these games.
When pressed on the team lacking professionalism, Prescott explained.
"Yeah, by knowing where you're supposed to be. Knowing your reads, knowing where you're supposed to line up, knowing your routes - adjustments versus certain coverages," Prescott said. "Every part of what being a professional is it's doing your job and being prepared for every part of the job. So time away from the building to being in the building, just being a pro and understanding that you can only get so many practice reps, but you can watch the film, you can do all these other things that'll help make up for it. And we just got to be more focused. And that's what, to me on offense, we haven't been as focused as we should be. We've had a few mental errors that were crucial. And to me it just goes into being professional and understanding what you got to do."
