Mike McCarthy says Dak Prescott's 'knocked it out of the park' amid offensive changes

As Mike McCarthy prepares to handle play-calling for the Dallas Cowboys for the first time, the former Green Bay skipper is leaning on quarterback Dak Prescott now more than ever. The duo must be in perfect sync by the time the season rolls around, and McCarthy says Prescott is answering the call.

At Wednesday’s minicamp practice, McCarthy praised his quarterback for “knocking it out of the park” so far this offseason. The Cowboys had former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in the facility on Tuesday and likened the former three-time Pro Bowler to Prescott.

“Dak and Matt (Hasselbeck), one thing that’s consistent is you can’t challenge these guys enough,” McCarthy said. “Changes, adjustments, input, the QBs need to ‘own the offense.’ … It’s not about me.

“At the end of the day, the quarterback needs to own the offense. I have no interest in being known as some guru coach or a smart coach. I want smart, Hall-of-Fame-type quarterbacks. The only way to get there is to make them own the offense. … He’s done a really good job of taking ownership of that. He’s knocked it out of the park.”

As one of the league’s most veteran starting quarterbacks, the news that Prescott is handling the changes in the offense well should be no surprise. However, the former Mississippi State star still has numerous doubters after he posted a career-high in interceptions in 2022.

McCarthy praises Cowboys QB coach Scott Tolzein

In his role as the team’s play-caller, McCarthy is spending more time with the offense this offseason. However, he’s also finding areas where he can delegate work to his assistant coaches. One coach picking up slack is quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzein.

McCarthy coached the new quarterbacks coach himself in Green Bay, then hired him onto his staff, so it’s no surprise that the Cowboys skipper likes what he’s seeing so far.

McCarthy praised Tolzein’s work with Prescott and the rest of the quarterbacks during his press conference at OTAs last Thursday.

“The QB room is a critical room in your coaching operations in terms of the design and the responsibility of it,” McCarthy said. “The QB coach is a very important component of that… he does the heavy lifting, that’s the way I’ve always set it up.

“All the extra time on the phone, little things, Scott is built for this. He was the QB as a player that if everybody was averaging 150 min on his iPad, Scott was at 480. He has a magnetic personality. Brian Schottenheimer has a magnetic personality. It was a little different with Kellen (Moore) and Doug, but I look at it as a continuation. Scott’s done a tremendous job so far.”