SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Somehow with three minutes left the Dallas Cowboys still had a chance to win Sunday night, trailing by six. That seemed highly unlikely when the fourth quarter started.
But that’s as close as Dallas would get as the next four plays resulted in incomplete passes by quarterback Dak Prescott. For the fourth consecutive time in the last four years, the Cowboys came up short against the San Francisco 49ers, this time 30-24 at Levi’s Stadium.
“Me, personally, I’m frustrated,” Prescott said. “I’m frustrated with myself and my play. I imagine the rest of the guys are, not getting a win, sitting at 3-4. But I can definitely tell you that nobody is shaken or giving up. Frustration is very high, but it’s a long season. A lot (is) still ahead of us. Frustrated is the best way that I can put it. … I’ve got to make the plays, period.”
Prescott said last week that he has been average through Dallas’ first six games. To beat the 49ers, the Cowboys needed an above average QB. For two series, Prescott was exactly that, connecting with star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb on a pair of fourth quarter touchdown passes that capped 70-yard drives.
But when they needed a third consecutive drive, starting at their own 25-yard line, Prescott couldn’t come up with any more big plays.
“That’s all I can ask for is an opportunity,” he said. “Ball in our hand, down six, to go win the game.”
Frankly, none of the four plays were very high-percentage. The first throw hit the hands of 49ers star linebacker Fred Warner, nearly ending the game with an interception. Prescott moved out of the pocket on second down looking for TE Jake Ferguson, but was forced to throw out of bounds. On third down, Prescott chose to take a chance on a deep ball to KaVontae Turpin down the left sideline. The ball hit Turpin in the hands but he was unable to make the catch. It appeared that he wouldn’t have had both feet in bounds even if he had secured the ball. There was early pressure on fourth down, so Prescott targeted Jalen Brooks, hoping for a highlight grab or pass interference call. Neither happened.
“I’ve got to make throws, pressure or not, and I’m capable of doing it,” he said. “So, I’ve got to do it.”
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy: “We got to keep working. We did some things, but we got to stop the run and stay committed to the run for four quarters. Until we get that pattern working cohesively together, we’re not playing to our strength.
“That’s a huge part of complementary… pic.twitter.com/yh7hbFplCw
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 28, 2024
For the first time in his career, Prescott had a third consecutive game with multiple interceptions. He now has eight this season. He threw nine all of last season.
“I don’t have to be perfect,” he said, “but I damn sure can’t be having the turnovers.”
The first one looked like a poor decision, throwing to a double-covered Turpin on Dallas’ second possession of the game. Prescott saw single coverage, but his arm was hit while making the throw, so it caused it to be underthrown, allowing 49ers safety Ji’Ayir Brown to make the play.
“If I get that off clean, it’s going to be outside away from the safety,” Prescott said, “probably front pylon somewhere. Would’ve been a whole different story to it. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Left the ball inside and the interception happened. Such a great play by the front up there. Potentially I can just get off of it, eat it, thinking I could release the ball before I got hit. … A lot of times, a sack is better than that.”
He called the second one, “as boneheaded of an interception as I feel like I’ve had.” San Francisco opened the second half with a 60-yard touchdown drive. The last thing Dallas needed was a turnover three plays later. Prescott was rolling to his left when he thought he could fit a ball over the head of 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir. The pass was intended for Lamb, but the ball never got past Lenoir, who made an impressive leaping grab along the Cowboys’ sideline.
“Trying to make a play and too much confidence in myself in that moment right there,” Prescott said. “Obviously should’ve just thrown it away. Wish I would’ve put a little bit more like heat on it and it would’ve been (complete to) CeeDee or out of bounds.”
INTERCEPTION! Deommodore Lenoir went up and got it for the @49ers 🙌
📺: #DALvsSF on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/USPh5soS18— NFL (@NFL) October 28, 2024
The 49ers scored another touchdown seven plays later, building a 20-10 lead.
“Once again, we put ourselves behind in the turnover battle and that’s on me,” Prescott said. “Can’t have that if you’re planning to win games. I’ve got to clean that up, period.”
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said he wished he could have the play call back on that interception.
“The spot wasn’t clean and I called it too early,” he said. “The leverage wasn’t there and he’s trying to make a play. We got to throw that ball away there.”
If there was any positive to take away from the loss it would have to be that there were multiple stretches where Prescott and Lamb looked more like their old selves. After struggling at times to get on the same page during the first six games, the two connected on 13 of 17 targets for 146 yards and two touchdowns. It was Lamb’s first 100-yard game of the season.
“We’re about to get this thing rolling,” Lamb said. “We’re about to get this thing rolling, for sure.”
Prescott has been playing without anything that resembles a quality running game. His offensive line hasn’t done him many favors. But ultimately he has to be better. The Cowboys’ schedule isn’t getting any easier. They should get defensive help in the coming weeks, but that might not matter if their QB is turning the ball over multiple times per game.
“We just got to take it one at a time,” Prescott said. “Everything is still in our control. We’ve lost four, but we can get hot, and that’s the plan. We just got to keep building.”
(Top photo of Prescott: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
