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The Dallas Cowboys fell to the lowly New York Giants in Week 18 of the 2025 NFL season, dropping them to 7-9-1 on the year and ending a wildly frustrating 2025 season for fans.
But star quarterback Dak Prescott, who is the highest-paid player in the entire league, says nobody should look at him when it comes to figuring out what went wrong.
And honestly, Prescott has a pretty good point.
Dak Prescott Subtly Throws Dallas Cowboys Defense Under The Bus
While the Cowboys as a whole were wildly disappointing, Prescott had perhaps the best year of his career after returning from hamstring surgery a year ago.
He completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 4,552 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, while finishing among the league leaders in adjusted expected points added per play and completion percentage over expectation.
Which is why Prescott is pointing the finger at others, rather than himself, when it comes to his team’s struggles.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott reiterated a frustrating element of this season after the loss to the Giants: “One of the first seasons … I can’t necessarily correlate my play to the wins or losses.
Prescott said they were one of the NFL’s best offenses and they scored a lot. pic.twitter.com/sa49OeruNK
— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) January 4, 2026
“One of the first seasons — if not the first of my career — I can’t directly correlate my play to the wins or losses, or the end of the season, or overall success of the season,” Prescott told reporters after the loss to the Giants. “So that makes it frustrating. One of the best offenses in the league, explosive. Now, sure, not always to our standard. Didn’t play like that every week, week in and week out, but put up a lot of points. Unfortunately, just didn’t win all the games that we should have.”
While Prescott didn’t directly blame Dallas’ defense for the team missing the playoffs, it isn’t hard to read between the lines. And he’d be justified in doing so.
— nicky (@PFF_Nicky) January 5, 2026
The Cowboys finished the season ranked dead last in the NFL in EPA per play at .162, per RBSDM. The good news for Prescott, however, is that help could be on the way.
Quinnen Williams Believes In The Dallas Cowboys
Prior to the season, Dallas traded superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. The loss of Parsons was felt immediately, as the Cowboys’ defense was an absolute disaster to begin the season.
However, the Cowboys then used one of those picks to trade for New York Jets star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. The addition of Williams didn’t immediately fix Dallas’ defense, but it did make the unit slightly less horrendous.
When asked how he feels about Prescott and the Cowboys’ offense moving forward, Williams expressed his belief in the star quarterback and his desire to help the defense reach a similar level.
“Extremely confident, man,” Williams said Sunday. “They’re a Super Bowl–winning offense. And that strikes a match upon me, especially as a leader on the defense and a player that can help this defense turn this thing around and get it going in the right direction. That sense of urgency is going to be through the roof when we come back, to be able to get that turned around, because we do have a Super Bowl–caliber offense.
“I’ve been on a couple teams with top-five defenses and the offense struggled, and I’ve been on the other side of that, man,” Williams added. “That’s not a good feeling. The sense of urgency for me personally is through the roof this offseason, and getting this defense to go in the right direction.”
Dallas holds the No. 12 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, as well as Green Bay’s pick, which could fall anywhere between No. 19 and No. 32. The expectation is that both those picks will be used to shore up a defense that badly needs the help.
If they are, the Cowboys could be back in business in 2026 with a few additional shrewd moves.