FRISCO, Texas — From Dallas Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper’s perspective, there is no reason why quarterback Dak Prescott won’t play in Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Prescott suffered a strained right calf on the final play of the 35-28 overtime victory against the New England Patriots on Oct. 17.
He's made a lot of progress in rehabbing injury.
And while Prescott was limited in practice the past two days as the Cowboys began preparations for Sunday’s game in Minnesota, where they hope to extend their five-game winning streak, he looks as good as ever to Cooper.
“I haven’t even really noticed that he was hurt,” Cooper said. “I don’t know if he is hurt or not. Throwing the ball to me, he looks regular. He looks regular to me.”
Cooper ended his glowing assessment of his quarterback’s status by acknowledging that the final decision is not up to him.
Let Prescott tell it, it’s not up to him either.
It will be collective call made in conjunction with athletic trainer Britt Brown and head coach Mike McCarthy.
And the final call may not be made until Saturday at the earliest, if not not game time on Sunday.
But Prescott is in line with Cooper in terms of how he feels and the progress he has made.
And while he hasn’t participated yet in 11-on-11 drills, he has worked with the first team in walk-through practices.
He has no limitations in regards to running the plays and making all the throws. He purposely pushed himself in practice on Wednesday, going 100% in the drills and came through with flying colors.
“We’ll keep going. I’ve got to keep progressing,” Prescott said. “Obviously, you guys know me, have been around, watched me go at it, you know I will tell you right now I could go out there and play today if I could.”
“Knowing this is a long journey and a long season I don’t necessarily know if this is fully my decision. But I’m just going to keep controlling the things I can to get better. I’ve gotten better each and every day and that’s what is most important.”
Prescott said he has shown enough progress that he feels good to go but he said they are trying to be smart about the decision and make sure there is no chance of a setback.
“I don’t want it to linger,” Prescott said. “I don’t want this to be week after week, are we going through this?”
He said if this was the end of the season and team was in the middle of a playoff push, there would be no question about his status. But at this point in the season, it’s opportunity to think through it and consider all options.
It is also not lost on him that the calf strain is on the same right leg that sustained a fractured ankle last season, causing him to miss the final 11 games of 2020. So he doesn’t mind being extra cautious in how they approach the game on Sunday and he plans to pay more attention to the leg as he goes forward in the season and throughout his career.
“Yeah, obviously what I went through, last year a pretty traumatic injury to the leg,” Prescott said. “I honestly think this calf had something to do with that. I think I still have to be very cautious and conscious of working on it and keeping it right in the right position and strengthening it and staying focused and making sure the mobility is there on it.
“But I think it’s just another wake up, ‘As hey that was pretty bad last year.’ You got to be button up every game and everyday pretty much that I come out here and play such a physical game.”
