It’s no secret that the Cowboys have been bad in the postseason. We’re talking about a team that hasn’t even sniffed an NFC title game in three decades. Yet, like clockwork, a few weeks before the season kicks off, Cowboys owners, coaches, and players start preaching about how they’re going to make a deep run.
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This year, it was Dak Prescott, and he did it in a way that left a sour taste in plenty of mouths. Before the preseason matchup between the Rams and Cowboys, Prescott strolled up to the rival owner, Stan Kroenke, and reportedly said, “We’ll meet y’all in the NFC championship game.”
Sounds like a fairly harmless statement, right? Not if you are Stephen A. Smith, a lifelong, card-carrying Cowboys hater who could not let it slide.
“It’s the most useless quotes ever. He says the same thing,” Stephen A. started his banter on the latest episode of First Take.
“I’ve said this on many occasions- you don’t even need to talk to Dak Prescott, all you need to do is grab your tape recorder and make sure you record him from 2018, 2017, doesn’t mater. Same thing every year. Same thing every year. Never reaches fruition,” he added.
The analyst then reminded NFL fans that Prescott, who is entering his tenth season, has never reached the NFC title game. That’s why Stephen A. believes that Kroenke probably “giggled and laughed” at Prescott’s prediction, given that the Rams have reached the Super Bowl twice, won once, since 2018.
In Stephen A.’s view, if anyone’s got a realistic shot at the conference championship, it’s the Rams … not the Cowboys.
“They probably giggled and laughed at him. The Rams have won a Super Bowl since Dak Prescott has been in the league. Kroenke knows a thing or two about championships [Prescott doesn’t].”
“He just makes sure to do everything but win the second it turns into the postseason.”
—@stephenasmith on Dak Prescott and the Cowboys pic.twitter.com/9RbJbmThSD
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 11, 2025
Stephen A. also pulled out a wild stat showing career earnings per playoff win among active quarterbacks, and as you can guess, Prescott doesn’t exactly look great on that list.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, with 17 playoff wins, has made about $10.7 million for each one. Prescott, on the other hand, has pocketed $124.3 million per playoff win. That puts the Cowboys star third on the list, with only Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson ahead of him.
We’re not quite sure if this stat really proves anything, but here’s what we do know: if Prescott finally breaks the curse, takes the Cowboys to the Super Bowl, and actually wins it, all the hate toward him would vanish. It has to.
Sure, he’d still have made more money per playoff win than Mahomes, but it would be the big break he needs for someone like Stephen A. to ease up… at least a little. But, with a new head coach and their biggest defensive star possibly on the way out, that fairytale ending feels like a long, long shot.
