OXNARD, Calif. _ If there was one criticism of Dak Prescott's remarkable rookie season _ let's face it, no matter how good an athlete is, there will always be prattle about how much better he would be if only _ it's that he didn't take enough shots down the field.
Prescott is aware of where he needs to improve more than any critic or observer. In the opening days of training camp, the quarterback spoke of how he wanted to push himself outside his comfort zone in some practices, throw a pass here, test his arm strength there in ways he normally won't in a game.
He did that. Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan felt this group connected on more deep balls in camp than in his previous three years with the Cowboys.
"We get a lot of respect with our running game," Linehan said. "Being able to do that, especially not just one-on-one throws but downfield, I think we improved our ability to do that in a lot of ways."
Linehan points to a back-shoulder pass Prescott made to Cole Beasley in Wednesday's practice, a day in which the quarterback was 18 of 18 against the Cowboys' defense.
"Probably the best throw I've seen him make in a long time," Linehan said. "You have to throw that in one place and you have to have a guy like Cole who can adjust and keep his feet in.
"I'm not sure he would have tried that last year."
How has Prescott gone about throwing a better deep ball?
"Just more time working with the guys," Linehan said. "He was working with these guys this time last year maybe 10 plays a practices. Now it's every play.
"That's part of it, a lot of one-on-one, a lot of red zone, lot of in-the-field competition, that's how you learn to throw it."
No one expects Prescott to transform into a gunslinger. That's not his style. The second-year quarterback relies on execution and makes precious few mistakes. He threw only six interceptions during the team's four weeks in Southern California.
Prescott did this while completing more deep passes along the way.
"He has shown physical improvement," Linehan said. "The anticipation and his arm strength looks better and it was good to begin with.
"He has had a great camp."
