'Naive' Or 'Stupid'? Dak Prescott Dismisses Cowboys' Rivalry Motivation vs. 49ers

Things didn't pay off for the Dallas Cowboys the last time they spoke of a matchup's history going into the game. Think back to the Cardinals in Week 8.

So, as Week 10 approaches with Dallas hosting its longest-standing rival, players are dismissing the idea that the Cowboys' history is feeding extra motivation into their pursuit of a win.

"Can’t make it a personal situation," said wide receiver CeeDee Lamb before Dallas plays the NFC-leading San Francisco 49ers.

"The rivalry is going to be the rivalry, regardless. It’s 49ers-Cowboys," he added. "Yeah, they’ve had some success [against] us, but we have an opportunity to change that on Sunday."

The tone felt similar going into the Arizona game, though Dallas was unable to snap the Cardinals' win streak in the series.

San Francisco has won the last four games its played against the Cowboys, including the 2021 Wild Card and 2022 Divisional playoff matchups.

"I want to beat them absolutely, and I'm not naive to what's happened or my history against them," said Dak Prescott, one of the few Cowboys tenured long enough to see each of the four recent losses to San Fran.

Prescott has averaged 222 passing yards in six career games against the 49ers. He combined to throw three touchdown passes and five interceptions in the last two matchups, both coming in the playoffs.

"But to put that on the rest of these guys or put that on the locker room, I think that's stupid. This is about us going in and getting a win and us trying to win this game and get some momentum going and get back-to-back wins for the first time this season and build off of that.

"And so what a great opportunity to do it against a 7-1 team. It just so happens that it'd be the Niners. So yeah, obviously I want to get a win, and everybody and anybody in this building does, for sure, a bunch of different reasons. But at the end of the day, it's a 7-1 team coming in here, and we've got an opportunity to beat them."

Not only would a Cowboys win prove that the roster can manage external narratives such as these to perform well, but it would also make up substantial ground in an NFC East that is still up for grabs. (Dallas is 4-5 and chasing 5-3-1 New York).

"It would prove us right and how we think of ourselves throughout this building," Lamb added.

"A lot of people would be shocked, obviously, because of the records and things that have happened leading up to this game. For us, we know we haven’t played our best game. We gotta go out there and do that. If we play complementary football, our defense gets stops and our offense scores the ball, we’ll have a different conversation."