Dak Prescott says new Cowboys offense will be fast and 'aggressive'

Dak Prescott says he’s spending far more time with Mike McCarthy. After all, the Cowboys head coach now is also the offense’s play caller. And a quarterback needs to pick up on every nuance.

Prescott even talked about how McCarthy gets so excited while calling plays that his Pittsburgh accent comes through the headset.

The quarterback then asks for a repeat. “What formation was that?” Prescott says. “He knows and repeats it a couple of times to make sure I can get it and hear it. So, it’s going well.”

Dak Prescott gave an update on this new-look Cowboys offense during an interview Saturday on NFL Network. In the off season, Dallas owner Jerry Jones forced McCarthy to make changes. The Cowboys and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore parted ways. (Moore now is with the Chargers). McCarthy then promoted Brian Schottenheimer to OC, but the head coach opted to be the play caller.

Before he arrived in Dallas in 2020, McCarthy was accustomed to calling plays. But he kept Moore, a former Cowboys quarterback and holdover from Jason Garrett’s staff, as the OC. That all ended with Dallas’ 19-12 playoff loss to the 49ers in late January.

McCarthy began installing the new offense during OTAs and mini camp. And in preseason camp, it’ll be time to work out the kinks.

“Yeah, it’s going great,” Prescott said of the change. “I’m just spending a lot of time in all the meetings with (McCarthy). You see it out here, talking through plays, talking about what we wanna draft, starters. Just trying to make sure that our communication is smooth, and we’re thinking the same thing. Understanding the purpose in the play call and the process is happening fast and enjoyable.”

Dak Prescott says Mike McCarthy will be aggressive with the calls

Dak Prescott said that McCarthy will be “aggressive” in his play calls. Plus, expect the Cowboys offense to be more up tempo. It’s a modernized version of the vintage West Coast offense. And it’ll be Prescott’s responsibility to distribute the ball.

“I just think one way that Mike calls the game is aggressive,” Dak Prescott said. “We’ve got so many playmakers. He wants to get those guys the ball. Get it to them fast, in open space. Get it out quick. I think all of that will allow more points to come and guys like Turp (Kavontae Turpin) and CeeDee (Lamb) and Brandin Cooks, Michael Gallup, Tony Pollard, for me to distribute the ball and let them do what they do best.”

Schottenheimer spoke to the media Friday. And he told them to look at Prescott’s feet.

“Everything in this system, the West Coast, is all tied to the quarterback’s feet,” he said. “When you see a quarterback playing really well in the West Coast offense, you’ll see his feet are decisive, he’s firm on his back foot. That’s a big part of it. But the design of it is how do you spread people out and get your guys running vertically into the defense and have the quarterback get the ball accurately to them. That’s kind of the genesis, if you would, of the West Coast offense.”

And Schottenheimer also told reporters that McCarthy is “re-energized” because of his new play-calling duties.

“Quite honestly, he’s a hell of a play-caller,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s aggressive, he’s confident. We want to play with an attacking scheme. You’re gonna see that.”