Dak Prescott did something on Sunday that was very out-of-character for the 10-year veteran. But he didn't do it for any of the reasons you might think.
It wasn't because he had broken the Cowboys franchise record for career passing yards, rising to the top of a list that includes Troy Aikman and Tony Romo. And it wasn't because he had set a new Cowboys mark for career comebacks, leading a group that includes both Romo and Roger Staubach.
It wasn't even just that the Cowboys won a 24-21 thriller over the defending Super Bowl champs and division-rival Eagles in a game that seemed like it would turn into a blowout.
No, it wasn't what had just happened that had Prescott making a rare request.
It was what the veteran quarterback believes might happen next.
“After the game, one of the trainers asked me what I wanted to do with the jersey, and I go, 'Yeah, I'm going to keep that one,'” Prescott said in his postgame press conference.
It sure didn't start out like the kind of outing that would warrant a souvenir. But even after falling into a three-touchdown hole after just 18 and a half minutes of play, the Cowboys quarterback refused to pack it in.
“We're down 21-0. You've got to love this,” Prescott recalled thinking. “This is when it gets fun.”
But the power of positive thinking took a little while to get warmed up. Behind by three scores, the Cowboys' next drive, a promising 11-play march that covered 64 yards and put the offense on the doorstep, ended with a Prescott red-zone interception. The “fun” didn't start until the Dallas defense forced a three-and-out and the offense took over again with under three minutes to play before halftime.
But the resulting touchdown throw to George Pickens before the break wasn't just cosmetic; it assured Prescott that the second half could be a whole different game.
He just had to get his teammates to buy in.
“Never blinked, never had any doubt, and 1,000 percent believed from the beginning,” Prescott explained. “There was times I'm telling guys, 'Believe. Believe.' And then there was a moment there in the fourth quarter where [Tyler Booker] goes, 'Believe.' And I go, 'I know. We're done with the believe. We've believed long enough, and we got ourselves back in this game. Now you've got to know.'”
Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys had a magical game.
Enjoy QB1 carving up that Philadelphia Eagles defense. pic.twitter.com/Cw5VuvweW5
— DakMuse (@DakMuse4) November 24, 2025
It certainly wasn't perfect for Prescott and the offense after intermission. A wasted first possession, a missed field goal from Brandon Aubrey, and multiple drops from CeeDee Lamb all threatened to derail the comeback train.
But the defense came up big, holding Philadelphia without points on seven consecutive drives and giving Prescott the opportunity to chip away at what had once looked to be an insurmountable Eagles lead.
Which, as it turns out, is exactly how he prefers it.
“I love being down,” the league's current QBR leader admitted. “I don't know why; I couldn't tell you. Trust me, it's fun when you're up: you can laugh, you can joke. But when you're down, it requires such a unique place that you have to get to in resilience and focus and taking it one play at a time and just trying to lead the other guys and get them to do the same. And when they do and you end up winning a game like this, this can be huge- huge for us moving forward. And it will be.”
At 5-5-1, the Cowboys still face a very steep uphill climb to get into the postseason discussion as legitimate contenders. A very short turnaround to face the Chiefs on Thursday, a follow-up meeting with the Lions, and a pre-Christmas showdown with the high-octane Chargers are only the most obvious challenges that remain.
But Prescott says Week 12's incredible comeback will only help prepare the team for the adversity still to come.
“There's going to be moments when you're down a touchdown. There's going to be moments when you're down maybe two touchdowns. And that's not going to be the last time for the season,” he promised. “And when you have a game like this, talking about the belief or knowing, that's what this allows guys in that locker room to do, is believe we're going to come back or know that we have the team, the brotherhood, the connection to do just that.”
The Cowboys' current probability of earning a playoff berth- even after the dramatic win over the Eagles- is just 10%, so the odds are definitely stacked against them. But then again, their chances of coming back and beating Philadelphia hovered right around 4% for a time on Sunday.
So it's not impossible. But Prescott admits there's zero margin for error.
“We've got to almost go into every game with that mindset, because as we said, it's not a one-game-at-a-time [scenario]. We've got to win every game.”
That streak has already started, by snatching the first victory out of the jaws of defeat. If the Cowboys can believe and hang together long enough to run the table, Sunday's most improbable win will mean even more.
And that's why Prescott asked to save the jersey he wore for it. Not because of what that win meant… but because of what he hopes it will mean two months from now.
“I know it's a game that I won't forget,” he said. “It's a game that hopefully I can look back and say this was the moment, this was the time. This game meant everything to that season.”
Follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys' Dak Prescott on being down 21-0: ' This is when it gets fun'
