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Trying to give yourself the best chance

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FRISCO, Texas – According to Dak Prescott, if he were the only one to make the decision, he would play Sunday night in Minneapolis.

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In his media interview on Thursday afternoon, Prescott made it very clear. If this game against the Minnesota Vikings was a playoff game, or at least a life and death situation for this Dallas Cowboys team, it would be available.

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“There would be no doubt, 100% without a doubt,” he said.

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Therein lies the conversation that will unfold over the next few days. We are at the end of October and the playoffs are a long way off. On top of that, the Cowboys have a commanding lead in the NFC East with a current 5-1 record, and perhaps they can afford to consider the bigger picture more than others.

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So while Prescott acknowledges that he wants to play, he was willing to weigh the other side of the coin when it comes to his calf injury.

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There’s also the simple fact that, at the end of the day, you’re not making this decision on your own.

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“If it was my decision and it was totally up to me, yes,” he said. “But this is something that, I agree with the experts, I don’t want to make it worse. I don’t want this to be what I have to deal with week after week.”

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It’s not a perfect comparison, but Prescott compared his calf to the shoulder strain he suffered at the beginning of training camp. During the Cowboys’ stay in Oxnard, California, he and other team officials insisted that it was not a major injury and that they simply wanted to rest it to prevent it from becoming a recurring problem.

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The same goes for this injury, it’s just that the Cowboys don’t have the luxury of wasting time. That said, Prescott said that he would rather get this issue behind him as quickly as possible.

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“Something that I want to leave behind, make sure I’m healthy and ready to play so I don’t think about it when I’m playing, and have to repeat these conversations beyond today,” he said.

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Prescott is fortunate in that players are only required to speak publicly once a week, so this is likely to be the last time he has to bring up the subject before Sunday night. However, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has been full of questions all week, and it’s a good bet to say that the questions will continue through Friday.

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“I think there are certain things that you do when you are coming out of these injuries,” McCarthy said. “It’s the same for all players, particularly the lower extremities. At the end of the day, the player should be able to play without thinking. That is the ultimate goal.”

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Prescott and McCarthy are two of the voices that will ultimately shape this decision. Perhaps the most informed is Britt Brown, the Cowboys’ athletic trainer and rehab director. It is Brown who helps every Cowboys player return from injury, and it is Brown who has been working closely with Prescott since last week, not to mention last year, during his return from ankle surgery.

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“He knows what I am like, and since I said a lot about this, I think in a sense they are protecting me from myself,” Prescott said. “They know the way I treat this game, the way I play. So it’s a lot about that, just communicating how I feel, what exactly I feel, whether it is a pain, a tightness, a weakness or what. to be”.

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Whatever thresholds Prescott has to cross to be cleared to play, he said the coaching staff has not disclosed it. And as angry as he is if he is not given the go-ahead, he said he would understand the decision.

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None of that has been decided as of yet because the Cowboys still have days to make a decision, which means Prescott still has time to improve. By understanding how he has attacked all the other setbacks over the past year, you can bet he will do exactly that.

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“I don’t know if the decision will be made on Saturday or when it comes, but yes, I am doing everything I can to make sure I give myself the best chance,” he said.

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