It doesn’t matter, he says. Bring Tom Brady and the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I’m definitely ready,” Prescott said on Friday. “I put a lot of work into getting to this point. Whether it was months ago to rehabilitate the ankle, up to the last couple [weeks] to let my feet work while I let my arm rest. “
Prescott was in the process of pushing his twice surgically repaired right ankle to the limit in the office when right shoulder strain arose early at camp in California. He had to settle for a month of mental repetition behind the offensive before the training staff let him throw him at full force last week.
Now the Cowboys say there are no restrictions on the 2016 Offensive Rookie of the Year as the club adjusts to the game week routine leading up to Thursday’s Tampa kickoff.
“You have to acknowledge the process he went through himself,” said coach Mike McCarthy. “It’s not that he just stood in the back and didn’t do anything while he wasn’t throwing. He stays on the footwork. His condition couldn’t be better. “
Little did Prescott know if throwing too much led to shoulder problems early in camp as he recovered from the complicated fracture and dislocation of the ankle. Regardless, when he got to throw that hard again, Prescott wasn’t worried about limiting the speed or frequency of the throws.
“I think that’s how I play the game,” said Prescott. “I just went out and played at the moment, tore passes, didn’t think about it, just played the games I had to play.
“After two days like this, when I realized there was no after-effects and I was in no pain, I stuck to the plan and everything worked out. Yes, from shoulder to leg in my head, I’m ready to go. “
Days after he was able to play again, Prescott refused to say that it had been blurry in the more than 10 months since he was driven off the field on a cart crying after the ankle injury. But he also said that time did not stand still.
Prescott said the days and weeks seemed to be moving quickly as he focused on the details of his recovery, first with the ankle, then with a more methodical approach to warming up for the throw.
There was also plenty to do outside of football after Prescott signed a four-year $ 160 million deal in March. Prescott was the face of the franchise with lots of marketing opportunities and growing even before the big payday.
Behind it all, Prescott lurked preparing to be hit again and to flee again and decide when to start alone again, the latter being the kind of game that led to the ankle injury.
Prescott had hoped to get used to all of these things in a preseason game. Instead, it will be featured on the NFL’s nationally televised opener, possibly on a hot and humid night in central Florida.
“I’ve just trained out here, individuals, doing each rep like a replay and transferring this to every rep they allow me out here in training so I know I’m conditioning myself and getting ready.” said Prescott.
REMARKS
WR Noah Brown is the only remaining Dallas player on the COVID-19 reserve list after being added this week. G Connor Williams was struck off the list on Friday but was restricted in training. In time for the return from the training camp break, the other WRs CeeDee Lamb, S Damontae Kazee and DT Carlos Watkins activated. … RT La’el Collins is still limited in practice after a neck problem occurred in the training camp.
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