OXNARD, Calif. — After a feisty Dallas Cowboys practice earlier this week, coaches needed to talk to the “A-No. 1 violator” of their practice ethic.
That violator wasn’t the player whom much of the internet might guess.
Linebacker Micah Parsons hitting quarterback Dak Prescott? That was an issue of discipline.
Cornerback Trevon Diggs playfully lobbing expletives at Prescott after a team-drill snap Tuesday? That, according to players and head coach Mike McCarthy, was just the combination of competitive passion and healthy brotherhood.
“To me, that shows you the passion within the practice and the comfortability and the connection that guys have across the ball,” Prescott said Thursday after practice. “Me and Diggs just got done trash-talking again, in a sense. So it’s fun. The best teams I’ve been a part of have that and have that in a healthy manner.”
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Diggs’ chirping wasn’t out of the ordinary even if the use of words so close to cameras caught some fans and media off guard. Since offseason practices of the 2020 second-rounder’s rookie year, Diggs and Prescott have challenged each other in the passing game and ribbed each other accordingly. During a 2021 training camp practice, Diggs intercepted Prescott on the first play of 7-on-7. Prescott bet the young corner $1,000 he’d rebound then completed a pass to Diggs’ assignment the next snap.
Diggs went on to power an 11-interception All-Pro campaign that season. Prescott similarly threw for 4,449 yards and 37 touchdowns to 10 interceptions as the Cowboys won the NFC East.
After a league-worst 15 interceptions in 2022, Prescott has spent this offseason dialed in more on his mechanics, including timing his footwork with receivers’ routes more precisely. Practicing against the reigning fifth-toughest scoring defense should only make Prescott and his teammates better, they figure. And if trash-talking further lights the competitive fire? Bring it on.
“I might honestly talk the most (trash) and I bring it on, honestly, when it comes to that,” Prescott said. “I start it, usually in the locker room before practice. So when it’s thrown at me at practice, I expect it.”
Prescott dismissed the notion that a quarterback should be treated as more sacred than trash-talking, the eighth-year pro preferring to be among teammates rather than above them.
“That’s a form of my leadership is I open the door and make people comfortable to talk trash to me,” Prescott said. “I’m encouraging these guys and I know some of these guys need that to play their best (so) I spark it sometimes.”
Diggs, for his part, said Thursday that he has “the utmost respect for Dak,” calling Prescott his brother while adding “I love Dak to death.” The cornerback whom the Cowboys awarded a five-year, $97 million extension at camp’s start said the creative emotion “makes practice fun.” His message to those interpreting the exchange as disrespectful?
“Get out of our business,” Diggs said. “At the end of the day, it’s our team. Dak’s the leader of our team. He’s going to go out there and have a great year. I have the utmost respect for Dak. Whatever narrative people want to run with, that’s just what it is. But we know and we know how we are and we know it’s nothing.
“That stuff can never come between us.”
McCarthy, who likes to say his Pittsburgh upbringing taught him conflict is good, said trash-talking has been a staple of NFL practices since he entered the league in the 1990s. The fabric of a competitive culture breeds this. The Cowboys don’t want to stifle that energy.
“You want the competitive spirit,” McCarthy said. “You want the play style to be a certain level. Now you’re going to say, ‘Oh, he said a couple of bad words’?’ S***, I want as much of that as possible. I think it shows their connection when they go at each other.
“I don’t referee that. (Trash-talking) goes on in the lunch line.
“Dak is pretty good, too.”
