FRISCO, Texas — There is very little positive to take away from what the Dallas Cowboys allowed themselves to suffer in Week 6 at the hands of the Detroit Lions, the latter soundly thumping the former to the tune of a 47-9 shellacking at AT&T Stadium — handing Dak Prescott and his teammates their third straight loss at home to begin the 2024 season.
A lot went wrong for the Cowboys, and Prescott is owning his part in the failing.
When asked if he could play better going forward, having thrown for only 17 completions in 33 attempts for 178 yards with no touchdowns to two interceptions in the face of the Lions' pass rush, the All-Pro quarterback didn't shy away from accountability. Instead, he leaned into it fully.
"For sure," said Prescott. "Yeah, simple as that. I don't want to say I have to play perfect by any means, but I've got to play better, better than I did and close to [perfect]. Especially when you're playing a team like that.
"As talented as they are, they're hot right now — good on defense, great on offense. Yeah, for sure."
Unfortunately for the Cowboys, as it stands, they cannot say the same about themselves on either side of the ball, the offense unable to score touchdowns while the defense has allowed 167 points in its last four home games, the third-most in NFL history over that span of contests.
Owners of a 3-3 record heading into their bye week and with their Achilles heel, the San Francisco 49ers, waiting for them on the other side of it, Prescott's message to both himself and the entire roster is a clear one, and one that head coach Mike McCarthy echoed in what's being described as an emotionally-charged post-game speech.
It involves self-reflection, simply.
"We've got to get better — simply, simply," Prescott explained. "And obviously, going into the bye week, I mean we're 3-3 after six games and with a long season to go. I've been in worse situations, I guess you can say in terms and when we got it going, teams that got on the streak, I think about 2018 that,yeah, it is about us sticking together.
"I think after a loss like this, there's no better time than to test the character of that."
This coming bye week is all about the man in the mirror in Dallas.
"Look in the mirror. Look in the mirror," said Prescott. "Go watch these six games over the bye week. Take a few days off, reset and be ready when we get back into that building Monday to refocus and do every single thing that you can to help this team, and everybody has a role, whatever that role may be, so make sure you understand what it is and it is carved out. And if it's bigger than what it was a few weeks ago, if it's smaller, whatever it may be, figure out a way just to be the absolute best in it.
"And, as you said, there are 11 games left. We're going to take it one at a time, San Fran is next. So as we need to watch these six games, go ahead and get a jumpstart on a couple of the games and be ready to, as I said, to refocus after this reset."
The gauntlet certainly won't begin to suddenly evaporate going forward, with the 49ers, Falcons, Eagles, Texans and Commanders all licking their chops to face the version of the Cowboys they witnessed on Oct. 13, with each of those opponents slated to battle Dallas between now and Thanksgiving.
How they do or do not exit the bye week will determine if they can go on a run similar to what Prescott is describing, or if they'll begin to tailspin.
So, first, make sure the mirror is clean, and with no cracks in it, so as to not distort the reflection.
Second, and finally, stare hard into it.
Very, very hard into it.
