Everything Mike McCarthy, QB Dak Prescott, other Cowboys said after losing to the Dolphins

Everything the Dallas Cowboys said after losing 22-20 to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Quotes courtesy of the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins media relations staffs.

Coach Mike McCarthy

Q. Mike, just your emotions and the ebb and flows of the final five, six minutes where you had that 17-play drive to take the lead and then just watching them push down the field against the defense?

MIKE McCARTHY: Well, number one, it was a juggernaut game. It’s what we expected. Yeah, it’s situational football. The penalty, the face mask, was a big call obviously on the drive, but it’s achallenge in these games because you know it’s going to come down to one play, and they probably made a play or two more than we did. It was a hard-fought game. I think it gives you a good taste where we potentially – we may have to go on the road obviously to get this done. So I think we have a lot that we can draw from this. We’re disappointed, because we had plays that were there. We had some miscues. I had a (expletive) back up plan. We were backed up twice, and it didn’t move the field position, so we didn’t help our defense there. We had the one giveaway, so it’s those big mistakes that you can’t make in these kinds of games. I think the resilience, the battle, the grit that you are looking for, I think we clearly have that. I think just the mode of the week, the pregame, the halftime,the team had a good look, but we need to be better. We have to play better than we did today because you have to play above it on the road, and road warriors we will be.

Q. What did they do after the first two drives that kind of stopped you guys for about four or five possessions?

MIKE McCARTHY: The two backed up series, like I have already stated, were poor. We had some protection issues. They had linebacker run through too many times. It’s part of playing, and we had some change ups in the line and in the hots and so forth. We have to make those plays. The protection part, particularly in those pressures that we saw that we had a couple that we weren’t where we needed to be.

Q. The last drive when they’re driving down, what’s kind of the thought process? Is there any thought process of letting them score and trying to get the ball back to your offense? What was your process?

MIKE McCARTHY: We talked about freeway, would be the call there. Yeah, we discussed it, but I think you have to let the down and distance -- it was too far out, if I recall, in the second and third down we felt. But again, we discussed it as an option.

Q. It felt like the defense kept giving you guys a shot keeping you guys in the game offensively.Did you feel that way? How did you think the defense played tonight?

MIKE McCARTHY: Frankly, this is how I view our team, because these are the games that I personally really enjoy because I know you need -- to think you’re ever going to win a championship, you need these games, especially on the road. To go win games on the road -- great road wins are things that we all remember throughout the years. That’s why the urgency to come in here, we put a lot into the game, but it’s definitely something we can grow from. Yeah, to keep us in the game, to me that’s the definition of complementary football. I thought we battled back and forth. The defense stood up, and we came back. The field position -- I haven’t seen the stats, but I assume we lost the field position battle and the one giveaway was costly, I think that was a 17-play drive. Like I said, those are probably two plays -- those are the difference in these playoff-type games.

Q. You knew coming into this game that it wasn’t going to be a carryover from Buffalo with missed tackles and things like that.

MIKE McCARTHY: Oh, no, I didn’t think so. I’ve answered the questions about Buffalo. I coached poor,we played poor. It was a good wake-up call, but we can play better than we did today, and to me that’s exciting.

Q. Under pressure that they were giving you guys offensively, what was kind of hard to make things kind of go?

MIKE McCARTHY: I just answered it, the protection part. We had some mishaps. I don’t know if you were in here, but just went through it. I think we missed three or four frankly today, so we need to be better there.

Q. How do you turn the grit and resiliency, all that, into a win on the road in these big games when you are in these environments?

MIKE McCARTHY: I think it’s football. You’ve got to make -- we were minus two big play opportunities in the first half, and I’m sure it was probably about even in the second half. That’s what these games– I mean, in today’s NFL you can’t win without big play production. I thought both defenses did a pretty good job keeping these offenses, keeping a cap on them for the most part.

QB Dak Prescott

Q. Can you just talk about how frustrating it was to finally get back into the game and lose in that manner?

DAK PRESCOTT: You just nailed it – frustrating. Frustrating that the dead spot, I guess you can say,right there in the middle of the game for the offense. Right after the first two drives, don’t get anything going again, and then come back the second half, once again, a little dry there. Then finally get it back rolling and get some points on the board, a couple of field goals and a touchdown to take the lead.Yeah, tough, but our defense did a hell of a job. This is completely on everybody, one that sucks, but definitely took a step, I guess you can say, from last week’s game, getting some points, playing a hell of a team here on the road. We’ll have to build off it. We’ll have to use the good, make sure we get better from the things that weren’t up to standard, but use the good and plan to go on the road.

Q. Still feeds that narrative of you guys not being able to win on the road?

DAK PRESCOTT: I guess it feeds it, right? We didn’t come out with the win. I can tell you the confidence is high from that group. This one sucks, it hurts. Especially, as you just said, in the mannert hat we lost this one. But with the confidence, it’s high in these guys, we understand that we can.Obviously we haven’t done it, but we will. Obviously the road forward looks like we’ll be going on the road. We have one more in this regular season to dial it in and improve from this one and get a win and then carry that into the next part of the season.

Q. Where does that confidence come from that you still have the belief even if you guys haven’t been able to win?

DAK PRESCOTT: Hell, this whole narrative change is off of, unfortunately, one play out there. The guy misses the field goal, we’re in here talking about a completely different outlook, so let’s not lose sight of that. That’s the game of football. A lot of times, we flip the script off of one play in that sense, and these guys, we’re not going to do that. It sucks. We hate to lose. Nobody is taking any moral victories from this. We will take some confidence, but we’re not taking any moral victories. But my point is if he misses that field goal or one earlier, we score earlier, you know what I mean, and it’s a different game.We’re going to be committed. To answer your question, this brotherhood, what we’re committed to,we’re committed to one another, holding each other accountable and our goal. We just have to capitalize early, obviously on that first drive and then defense will probably say that they need to get that stop, but they did a hell of a job. We have to find a way to put up more points as an offense, and we will.

Q. You mentioned that first drive. You guys win the toss, receive, go all the way down. How demoralizing is it when you can’t come up with three points, let alone seven?

DAK PRESCOTT: It sucks, but demoralizing isn’t quite the word. You have to move on fast, especially that being the first drive of the game and understand it’s a long game ahead. If that did demoralize us, we wouldn’t have come back and responded like the way we did in the second drive. So being able to do that was huge. Being able to come back next drive, go down there and put seven in the end zone was a big part for us to put that last drive past us. When you look back at it, at this point, yeah, we would love to get any kind of points there. It changes the way the last drive was played, so yeah, it sucks.

Q. How much was Tyron Smith missed today?

DAK PRESCOTT: I’ve got to watch film. Those guys fought their asses off. Obviously had to extend in plays, move around in the pocket a little bit, but those are some great ends that they were playing. I mean, especially (Bradley) Chubb over there. So got to go back and look at the film, but Tyron (Smith),Hall of Famer. He is going to be tough to replace, and when he is in there, it’s always difficult with Tyron.

Q. You already touched a little bit on the defense, but I just wanted to know what your thoughts were coming into the game about how the defense would respond to the way that they played in Buffalo and just what you thought of them in general? It seemed like they were able to keep you in the game throughout.

DAK PRESCOTT: Yeah, they kept us in the game, as simple as that. As I said, the dry spots early are after the first two drives to not get anything going again until the end of the third quarter.

They gave us the opportunity even to take the lead late. With slowing a power, explosive offense down with play makers. They got some field goals, but you turn those field goal possessions or allow them to have touchdowns on the field goal possessions, and we don’t even have a chance to come back right there. So they definitely gave us an opportunity. They’ve got the right leaders on that side of the ball.You see the way that DeMarcus (Lawrence) plays – that’s who he is on and off the field. Guys got to continue to follow him just doing things right. Hell of a player. I saw it all over the field tonight. They have a hell of a leader in D.Q. (Dan Quinn), so no worries about that group. They responded well and gave under the circumstances an opportunity.

Q. CeeDee Lamb said it was strange for him to not be involved in the second and third quarter.What did you see? Was it defense that was doing something? What happened after the first two drives and then until the fourth quarter he wasn’t involved in?

DAK PRESCOTT: Yeah, strange I guess is a good word, but when you have three or four catches and70 yards on him from the jump, you’re playing a defensive coordinator over there that’s been around for a long time. He’s going to find ways to slow you down and maybe fog my reads up a little bit when it comes to your side. That’s all that really happened. Credit them over there, they weren’t going to let the guy just continue to have a career day, which was potential obviously with the way that we started. Yeah and then got them some more catches obviously late, but that’s on us as well is finding a way, even with that happening, getting more catches. We had a screen called one side or another,went to one side, and then looked back out to the play, and it looks like CeeDee (Lamb) would have had a better opportunity. Things like that, that falls on my lap. Yeah, we’ll get better.

Q. I know it’s sour after a loss, but was that drive at the end maybe one of your better drives of your career when you think about the moment and everything?

DAK PRESCOTT: We didn’t win, so it’s hard for me to say that. Got to go back and look at it as well.I’m a guy that takes it one play at a time and understood what that drive meant, what we needed to do. It wasn’t just me – guys fought. I was giving credit to the offensive line, tackles, guys did a great job, receivers getting open and making some big-time catches. (Brandin) Cooks down there in the touchdown. I thought CeeDee (Lamb) was close to having that one. So I mean, got to go back and look at it, but when you don’t win, it’s hard to make something monumental.

Q. What would give this team confidence going on the road in the playoffs?

DAK PRESCOTT: We know who we are, and we know when we get going. You saw it in the first two drives and you saw it late in the game there, and it’s just about being consistent all the way through for the offense. If we stay consistent like that and the defense plays as well as they did tonight, it’s a different story. Just understanding, as I said, we obviously took a jump from the week before up in Buffalo. It’s about not just moving forward, understanding that that’s what’s ahead of us, and we’re going to improve again. Knowing obviously we’re going back home, we have a week Saturday. We’ll play on Saturday. Obviously it’s a place that we’ve been winning, but we have to make sure that we can. (We can’t) lean on, “Oh, we’re at home, it’s going to be easy.’ It’s another great team coming in.We have to defend that and then take that confidence, go out to Washington, get that win, and that will be one that starts the streak.

Q. I think it’s the fifth time this year away from home that you have been less than 40% on third down. Is that when you look at it as a big difference where you guys are?

DAK PRESCOTT: Yeah, for sure. We’ve been one of the best third down teams all season long. You just said it right there. Didn’t quite know those numbers, and it’s something that we’ll look at and, as I’ve told you before, find answers and solution to that. If you’re not getting first downs and you’re not converting third downs, this game is going to be hard. First, it starts with winning first and second downs to keep you in manageable third downs and third downs where you can run the ball or now you play field position, you may go for it on fourth. I think it starts there and from there, it’s just more attempts on the plate. We have to convert that, and we will.

Q. The illegal shift penalty there --

DAK PRESCOTT: I have no idea. No idea. No idea.

Q. CeeDee Lamb looked like he was either lined up offsides and when he moved back, Jake Ferguson went in motion and they didn’t both set it before.

DAK PRESCOTT: Gotcha.

WR CeeDee Lamb

(You guys kept fighting until the end. How disappointing was it to lose in that way?)

“Always want to come up with a win, obviously in those tough games, tough situations. But you learn a lot in these types of games, and I know we’re going to bounce back. This narrative around us not winning away is strange but true, unfortunately. But we know what we got to do – we’ve got to continue to be great, continue to be who we are, and change that narrative down the stretch.”

(What do you take away from the way you guys were able to make so many clutch plays in that go-ahead drive?)

“It proves who we are. We are definitely a team that is ready for those type of moments, those types of games, the big game – no one doubts that one bit. We have great playmakers in all levels of the game, and I trust them boys with my life. So for us to come up short is very unfortunate for us. We know we got to go back to the drawing board. We have to come up with these types of games, that’s just what it is.”

(You guys have said that you believe that you have a Super Bowl caliber team. When you get this close and now with the season coming this close to an end, how much urgency is there to fix those little things before you get to the playoffs?)

“I feel like we are the team that we want to be. It’s just that we can’t have any missed opportunities. And with those missed opportunities, of course you got guys on the opposite side on the offensive side, that are very explosive. We have done a great job defensively. And I don’t knock them boys one bit for what they’ve done in accomplishing scheme but for us to be the team who we got to be, we got to continue to be confident in who we are, stick to the script and go be explosive.”-

WR Brandin Cooks

(Obviously, a lot of ups and downs in this game, you guys go and put together that 17- play drive.Just walk us through QB Dak Prescott leading that and then you making that touchdown catch.)

“When you get in a situation like that, you practice it so much, right? You trust one another. Dak(Prescott) was doing his thing and trust me on that throw that I’ll be able to be there and make a play for my team.”

(How can you describe just the swing of emotions from that moment to walking off this field?)

Yeah, I mean, it’s football, right? You go out there and you score, and we got so much confidence in our defense. And that’s the game of football, it happens. It’s one of those things that you look back at a few plays here and there, you wish you could have back, but you can’t do that. So you just got to get back to work and keep pushing, keep fighting.”

(How do you stomach this frustration and move forward and figure it out?)

“You stomach it by learning from it. You look deep in, you look at yourself, you look at what you can do better individually,as a group and you’re not shy about it. You go to practice and you go to work and you fix those things.That’s stomach it – by leaning from it.”-

DE DeMarcus Lawrence

(How difficult is it now because it looks as if you might have to go on the road for the postseason?)

“That don’t mean nothing. Regardless of if we road or home, we got to win – point blank period.We didn’t come out with a win today. This ain’t the last y’all are going to see us. We have nothing to hold our heads about. We went out there and we fought tough, just ain’t come out with the win.”

(How tough was that final drive knowing you needed a stop and you all couldn’t get a stop on defense?)

“It was very tough. I felt like my brothers definitely believed we we’re going to get the stop. We just didn’t get it.”

(Not to say that you weren’t always into the game, but on your last offensive possession, I noticed that you weren’t even sitting down, you were up on the sideline, screaming the whole entire time.It just seemed like you were really into that whole moment when they came down there and scored. How important was it to try and win this game, and how disappointed are you that you guys weren’t able to?)

“Yeah man, it was very important. We definitely put the work in this week. I felt like our game plan was solid, but it’s a game of inches, man. It comes down to one or two plays that we could’ve made on defense, and we just didn’t handle our business tonight. But overall, I felt like we played tough and we’ve got something to look forward to.”

DB Jourdan Lewis

(How disappointing was it not getting that final stop at the end?)

“The offense depends on us.We always talk about complementary football, and we didn’t execute at the end of that last drive.Kudos to those guys – they played a hell of a game. They executed well on that last drive. We just got to make a stop for them.”

(Overall, you held the top scoring offense in the league to a bunch of field goals. What do you think about the response after the Buffalo game? How would you grade how y’all played?)

“We responded, but we didn’t get the ‘W.’ We definitely want to get a win. We want home field advantage.But like Coach said, we traveled today and we didn’t execute good enough to get the win. But I think it’s not a discouraging loss, we definitely can say that we kind of rebounded from last week.”

(First back-to-back losses since 2021. How do you guys turn the page if you haven’t had to deal with this this year?)

“We got the Lions, honestly. We have to. We have to turn a page. We got to go out there and execute better. We get one more home opportunity, and hopefully, we can execute a little bit better to get that win.”

LB Micah Parsons

(How did you think you did against QB Tua Tagovailoa overall?)

“I think we did good. I don’t thinkwe really gave up anything big. They scored one time, a lot of field goals. Coming into the game, I think everybody know they were going to get some big plays, some big opportunities with the weapons they have, and I thought we did a great job containing them.”

(You mentioned the good things you guys did – five field goals that you held the No. 1 offense in the league to. Can you quantify the frustration of not coming out with a win after that kind of performance?)

“Same thing with the Eagles, same thing now – it’s a game of inches. Games are decided by one or two plays. That’s the league we’re in, it’s hard to win. They won the turnover battle.I think, as a defense, we take accountability because we pride ourselves in getting the ball back, and we didn’t do a good enough job of that.”

(You guys have had to rebound from losses in the past. Now, back to back, it’s kind of stacking out. How do you take this approach into Detroit next weekend, another really good team?)

“We just got to come and bring our best. We’re back at home. We’ve got a great opportunity to win at home and get back in the swing of things. In reality, we just got to get another win, and we just got to win. I hate losing. I hate this feeling. I know we’re such a better team, and it’s frustrating when the results and what you know doesn’t show.”-DO

G Zack Martin

(How were you feeling out there?)

“I felt good, hung in there. I’m proud of our guys for keeping on fighting and going down and getting there at the end. But it’s just frustrating because there’s a lot left out there. I mean we have to watch the tape, but just the feeling is that we left a lot out there.”

(You are going to the playoffs; you’re likely going to be in these games. How do you turn this resiliency, grit and all that into a win as opposed to wondering about if you are going to play here or play there?)

“Yeah, you’ve just got to – I mean although we lost tonight, I think we got some good experience. We were right there, and we made some plays at the end of the game. We just have to make a few more and be more consistent throughout. So still all the confidence in the world in this football team and going on the road, but we just have to make more plays.”

(Some of the issues with the running game, it just felt like it was always just tough sledding therefor the running backs.)

“Again, I’d have to watch the tape. We just got to be more efficient on first and second down. We can’t put Dak (Prescott) and those guys in those situations at third-and-long and obviously clean up some of the penalties there too. It’s still a lot to work on, and that’s the game of football where you’re continuously working to be your best. We’ve got a big one next week, so we’ve got to learn from this, flush it and get onto Detroit.”