‘4 Downs’ with Rich: the Dallas Cowboys’ Biggest Questions Heading into the ‘26 NFL Season

Dak Prescott showed up to training camp in Oxnard wearing a Dallas Cowboys championship T-shirt from Super Bowl 30. Last season was Super Bowl 60. Cut that number in half and you have the last time this franchise won the whole thing, which is rough arithmetic to wear on your chest voluntarily.

Prescott is not treating it as nostalgia. He is treating it as a dare.

"We want stuff in life a lot of times, but then when people start talking about it, you kind of hesitate, like should I say that, if they're going to hold me to it," Prescott said. "Playing in this organization, being in it 10 years, going into year 11, I'm not going to shy away from it. When you don't have it, it sucks. When you don't get to play for it, when you're watching other teams play in the playoffs, there's nothing worse than that."

He called his shot at six years old and then went and became it. "Why shy away from asking people to hold me to the same standard that I believe that I can accomplish?"

Rich admitted all four of his questions could have been the same question, the Super Bowl one. So he got granular.

First down is whether George Pickens and Javonte Williams can do it again. Pickens obliterated the record for receiving yards by a Cowboy in his first season with the team, a mark held by Terrell Owens at 1,180. Pickens finished with 1,429, which explains the franchise tag and why the fully guaranteed money has not arrived. Dallas wants to see it twice. Williams ran for 1,201 yards, the most by a Cowboy in a season since Ezekiel Elliott in 2019.

Second down is the defense, where the mood changes. Dallas finished dead last in points allowed. No team in NFL history has gone from last in points allowed to winning the Super Bowl the next season. Eight of the last 10 champions finished in the top 10 in fewest points allowed. The Cowboys managed 35 sacks a year ago, and the last time they fielded a top-five defense was 2023 under Dan Quinn, when Micah had 14 sacks and DaRon Bland picked off nine passes.

Reinforcements are real enough. Quinnen Williams gets a full season, Rashan Gary is in, DeMarvion Overshown is healthy, and Caleb Downs already looked like a 10-year pro at the combine. The complication is that new coordinator Christian Parker is 34 and has never been a defensive coordinator at any level, anywhere.

Third down asks what Schottenheimer 2.0 looks like. Year one meant sitting CeeDee Lamb and Pickens for a quarter of a Monday nighter in Vegas, and it meant holding a room together through the circumstances around Marquise Goodwin, bringing people together and letting them grieve at the same time. Rich called it emotionally brilliant. Whether year two demands more discipline or just more comfort in the job is open.

Fourth down is the one with no precedent attached. No Cowboys quarterback has ever won MVP. The only Cowboy to win it at all is Emmitt Smith.

Matthew Stafford took it last season with a league-best 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns against eight interceptions. Prescott has thrown for more in a season, 4,902 in 2019, and has bettered Stafford's 65 percent completion rate in six of his seven full years.

So he needs the interceptions and wins of his rookie year, the yards of his fourth, the touchdowns of his sixth, and the accuracy he already owns. Rich handed over the road map. The shirt is optional.