Cowboys’ Brandin Cooks labels criticism of Dak Prescott ‘unbelievable’ and ‘blasphemy’

FRISCO, Texas — Right or wrong, quarterbacks are given the lion’s share of the credit and the brunt of the criticism depending on how their NFL team performs on game day. It makes some sense considering it’s the position that has the largest impact on a given game’s result. 

The Dallas Cowboys know that better than anyone given the venom-filled critique that comes Dak Prescott’s way, particularly after the team’s 48-32 NFC wild-card playoff disappointment at home against the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers in January. However, Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks, an 11th-year veteran who has registered over 1,000 receiving yards with four different teams, is putting his foot down on the unyielding criticism going Prescott’s way as the 2023 Second Team All-Pro quarterback is in the midst of a very public contract negotiation. 

The 30-year-old wide receiver has caught passes from the likes of Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Jared Goff, Deshaun Watson and Davis Mills throughout his career, which includes stops with the New Orleans Saints (2014-2016), New England Patriots (2017), Los Angeles Rams (2018-2019) and Houston Texans (2020-2022) before being traded to the Cowboys in 2023. Never before has he seen a quarterback of his get attacked to the level Prescott does. 

“It’s blasphemy. It’s unbelievable,” Cooks said on Wednesday when asked about the criticism Prescott takes. “The guy shows up every year, year in and year out. Putting up numbers, leading his team. He can’t do it all by himself. A lot of those great quarterbacks that I’ve been with, Tom[Brady] and Drew [Brees], don’t get me wrong, they won a lot of games, won a lot of Super Bowls, but they had a lot of help around them as well, right? Us players around [Dak] also got to step up. So when we hear that disrespect, I take that personally and as his teammates we should take that personally, because at the end of the day, somebody has got to be able to help him get over that hump so we can go win one.”  

To Cooks’ point, the Dallas defense allowed the youthful Packers offense, led by first-time starting quarterback Jordan Love, to score touchdowns on six of their first seven drives, including five consecutive drives in a row. Prescott put together what was arguably the best year of his eight-year career in 2023, throwing for an NFL-best 36 touchdowns and registering the best passer rating of his NFL life (105.9, the second-best in the league last season). That production also led to receiver CeeDee Lamb earning the first First Team All-Pro selection of his young career after catching an NFL-best 135 passes for 1,749 yards (the second-most in the NFL) in the first season of coach Mike McCarthy serving as the Cowboys’ offensive play-caller. Lamb’s receptions and receiving yards totals broke Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin’s single-season team records in those metrics set back in 1995, the last Super Bowl season for the Cowboys. As a result of Prescott’s efforts, Dallas possessed the No. 1 scoring offense in football, averaging 29.9 points per game. 

Dak Prescott 2023 Season

* First in Cowboys history to be outright NFL pass TD leader in a season

Yes, Cooks admitted the team is aware of the commotion surround Prescott, but the team doesn’t have the ugly remarks at the top of its mind. 

“We locked in,” Cooks said. “I think the big focus is tuning out the noise, focusing on what we got inside this locker room and taking it one game at a time and not get caught up in the roller-coaster of a season or, what people are saying.”

Some may perceive Cooks standing up for his quarterback in a public manner just days before their Week 1 opener at the Cleveland Browns on Sunday as pandering, but the wide receiver maintains his defense comes from a place of love and respect for how Prescott lives his life, not just as a football player. The three-time Pro Bowl quarterback overcame the death of his mother Peggy Prescott in 2023 after she lost a battle with colon cancer, and he beat the odds of making it in the NFL as a fourth-round pick back in 2016, now entering his ninth season as the Cowboys starting QB. Prescott also established a foundation (Faith, Fight Finish) that funds colon cancer research, mental health advocacy, law enforcement and community funding and hardship assistance. His philanthropy earned the quarterback the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2022, which is given to the NFL player who displays exemplary, humanitarian commitment to charity and community service. 

“Like I’ve told Dak before, and I’m not saying this because I want the ball, but I have so much for love for that guy,” Cooks said. “Just his story, forget being a player. So you cherish those moments with guys like that. Our receiver room, like I said our locker room and everything year in and year out changes. To be able to have that relationship that goes past football, and it’s going to last a lifetime, but these moments don’t last forever.”

McCarthy spoke with Prescott on Wednesday morning just prior to his regular press conference, and he raved about his quarterback’s focus ahead of the 2024 season. 

“I think he does an excellent job of it,” McCarthy said of Prescott’s ability to compartmentalize. “I think he’s got a tremendous support system. Just frankly just left him in the quarterback and center meeting and yeah, he’s all football. He’s dialed in. He’s always been that way, so I think he does an excellent job of that.”

Prescott himself admitted he even tunes out Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones’ public comments to the media in an effort to remain locked in ahead of a make-or-break season in Dallas in which 24 players, including himself are entering the final years of their current contracts (according to OverTheCap.com), along with McCarthy and his entire coaching staff. 

“Yeah, for sure. You’ve got to love it, honestly,” Prescott said on Aug. 29 of the uncertainty ahead. “You’ve got to love it. You’ve got to embrace it. That’s the challenge. We as the players or the coaches don’t have the full say in whether we’re here or not. So it’s about us controlling what we can. Right now it’s about sticking together, making this locker room, embracing this culture, embracing one another, not putting necessarily pressure on ourselves but understanding that this team won’t be the same after this, whether it be the coaches, whether it be the players, whether it be some of the key pieces, I just doubt it will be the same. And that’s just the business of it. Yeah, it’s now. Period.”