With training camp approaching, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Dak Prescott, has made his expectations clear inside the locker room in leading the team to the Super Bowl title. 

During the mandatory minicamp media sessions on June 18, Prescott said that reaching the playoffs is the bare minimum for the team, as the Cowboys have missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons.

"It sucks," Prescott said, per Tommy Yarrish of the DallasCowboys.com. "Definitely. But we're pushing. That's our goal, that’s a minimum."

Though Prescott is often criticized for the team's lack of postseason appearances, the Cowboys' offense ranked No. 2 in total yards (391.9 average yards) in the NFL for the 2025 season.

Prescott completed 404 of 600 pass attempts for 4,552 yards, 30 touchdowns, and ten interceptions across 17 games in 2025.

"When you have a team like this, and they've done everything they have in the offseason, obviously, we got to push and get better on offense, but when we know we're already improving on defense, that's the minimum," Prescott said, per Tommy Yarrish of DallasCowboys.com. "That's everybody's goal in here." 

The Cowboys' last postseason appearance ended in a 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the 2023 season, and now the team has a record of 14-19-1 over the past two seasons.

The team had a disappointing 7-9-1 2025 season, where the defense ranked at No. 30 in total yards and dead last in points allowed.

“The Cowboys have married an outrageously productive offense with a reconstructed defense that should be significantly better than the 30th-ranked unit that torpedoed chances of playoff contention last season,” Nick Shook of NFL.com wrote on June 23.

Heading into his 11th season with the Cowboys, with a playoff record of 2-5, Prescott faces immense pressure to lead the team to a Super Bowl win.

Brian Schottenheimer says Cowboys are preparing the 'right way' for 2026

The Cowboys' head coach, Brian Schottenheimer, mirrored Prescott's sentiments regarding the changes made during the offseason, which led the team to prepare the 'right way' for the 2026 season.

"I could not be more happy about how the offseason went," Schottenheimer said, per Tommy Yarrish of DallasCowboys.com. "We're hopeful because we're confident. We feel like we're preparing the right way, we feel like we've made the changes that we've needed to make to fix the defensive side of the ball."

He believes that 'defense wins championships' and feels confident about the coaching staff changes and roster additions to the defense unit.

Though there have been relatively fewer changes on the offensive side of the ball, he believes the 'real preparation' begins at the training camp on July 28.

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Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore