Want to bet? Dak Prescott, DeMarcus Lawrence raise stakes for Cowboys with game-based wager

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.— DeMarcus Lawrence posed the bet to Dak Prescott on Saturday.

The Cowboys defensive end wagered: Could the defense continue to force more turnovers than the offense could score touchdowns?

“DeMarcus Lawrence mentioned it to me, and I said ‘of course,’” Prescott said after the Cowboys’ 21-6 win over the Giants. “They obviously won this one, but we’ll make sure it carries over (as) an ongoing thing.

“Defense is kicking our ass.”

Prescott’s statement wasn’t merely an attempt to be humble. In the Cowboys’ last three games – each wins, on the road – the offense has managed just five total touchdowns. The defense has collected 12 takeaways, the franchise’s first three-game stretch since 1994 with four takeaways each week. In comparison, the Cowboys’ early-season complementary football had featured 14 takeaways in their initial six games. But in that stretch, the offense contributed 17 touchdowns.

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With the 10-4 Cowboys on the cusp of a playoff berth, head coach Mike McCarthy presents a multifaceted set of December goals. Win first, he instructs. But also “you do want to improve,” McCarthy said Sunday from MetLife Stadium. “You want to gain momentum.”

What better way than internal competition?

No doubt, Prescott and the offense want their defense to continue gifting the club more possessions. Lawrence and his defense want their offense to run up the scoreboard to meet Lawrence’s goal of “shoot, really, blowing people out.” But a team that started hot early on offense and has steadily soared recently on defense wants to round into peak form in this late-December, playoff-seeding-implication football stretch. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones believes the offense vs. defense competition will help.

“I love that,” Jones told a handful of reporters on the sixth level of MetLife Stadium. “I’ve seen some of the most productive growth in teams when they’ve been doing a little wagering.”

Jones reminisced on Cowboys players in the 1990s, when Dallas won three Super Bowls, instituting similarly formatted stakes. Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders and Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin did not hold back.

“Deion and Michael and the defense and offense used to bet 50,000 (dollars) a practice on 2-minute drill as to who won the 2-minute drill,” Jones said. "We had to stop that. (But) that’s why they could say it was tougher out there in 2-minute in practice than it was in the game.”

Prescott often points to practice as why he’s not surprised by the defensive transformation under newly hired coordinator Dan Quinn. The Cowboys routinely lost games in 2020 in large part due to a defense that ranked second to last in rushing yards per game (158.8 per contest) as well as bottom-five in scoring (29.5 points allowed). While this year’s Cowboys defense has allowed intermittent big plays, the unit's knack for flipping possession has helped limit opponents to 20.9 points per game. Entering this week, the group ranked 12th in points allowed.

The Cowboys’ three straight road wins, however, mark triumphs over opponents who lost their starting quarterback. But those victories against the Saints, Washington Football Team and Giants have further reinforced defensive trends that helped lift the Cowboys over earlier-season opponents such as the Chargers and Patriots.

The Cowboys have enjoyed a standout year from rookie first-round draft selection Micah Parsons. In 14 games, the linebacker has raked in 12 sacks, 75 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 27 quarterback hits, two pass deflections and three forced fumbles. Against the Giants at MetLife, Parsons’ stat line listed just one assisted tackle. And yet, his impact was felt via plays rarely seen from linebackers at any stage of their career.

Perhaps the most notable came on third-and-5 in the final minute of the first quarter, Parsons demonstrating sharp instincts and change of direction to drop back in coverage as Giants receiver Kenny Golladay raced down the right sideline toward the end zone. At the 4-yard line, Parsons spread his rangy arms to effectively box out Golladay. The Giants settled for a field goal, ultimately kept out of the end zone the entire contest.

“There can’t be anybody like me,” Parsons said. “The fact I can do those type of things, sometimes your impact doesn’t need to be made in the backfield. Sometimes it will be made somewhere else, and I think that’s where my impact was made today.”

The Cowboys had plenty of success in the backfield and downfield. Veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who missed 10 games after breaking his foot in September, batted a pass loose from quarterback Mike Glennon to set up an interception cornerback Jourdan Lewis then returned 18 yards. Lawrence also punched loose a carry by running back Saquon Barkley, the first lost fumble in Barkley’s 41-game career. Add in interceptions by safety Malik Hooker and cornerback Trevon Diggs, the latter a key stop in the end zone, and the 10-interception Diggs was emboldened to proclaim: “We’re the best defense, for sure.”

The soft-spoken cornerback’s tone belied his decisive proclamation, Diggs clarifying that this unit is not a championship defense until it earns Super Bowl rings but noting that teammates believe the group has title-caliber potential, talent and chemistry.

“We’ve got a special team, a special defense, special offense,” Diggs said. “We can go far.”

Jones agreed, the Cowboys owner saying he cannot remember a better defense in 33 years of ownership. Jones called the division win “extremely meaningful.”

“We’re a better team going home tonight than when we got here,” Jones said on his way out of the stadium Sunday evening, “and boy, if we can do that here for two to three weeks and then get in these playoffs, that’s where we’ve got to try and get to: have real improvement and really be sharp as a tack.”

Prescott didn’t counter the argument that the Cowboys flew home a better team than they arrived. Their 100 first-half rushing yards established more offensive balance than of late. And for the first time in a month, Prescott completed more than 70% of passes.

But Prescott’s primary concern wasn’t whether the Cowboys flew home a collectively better team than they posed on their arrival charter. Rather, Prescott thinks back to before that flight departed Dallas, as the Cowboys wrapped their Saturday launch practice and Lawrence spoke for his defense.

Touchdowns vs. turnovers. Lawrence wagered, and Prescott accepted. The sixth-year quarterback spread the word, eager to fire up teammates on a bet that they anticipate tracking through however deep a postseason run the Cowboys can ride.

"We’ll catch up," Prescott said. "Well, hopefully not. Hopefully we don’t catch up, honestly, because I hope they keep rolling them like that."

Prescott said he envisioned a cheerful flight home with teammates after their 10th win but also a critical look at film to diagnose a 2-of-5 red zone performance that improved just nominally from their 1-of-6 visit to Washington. Prescott will further analyze decisions, such as when he eschewed a hitch to receiver Michael Gallup in hopes of a more ambitious ball to Amari Cooper. Instead, Prescott was stripped outside the pocket and lost the fumble. “Greedy,” he deemed it. And a lost opportunity to score.

Touchdowns vs. turnovers.

The defense “obviously won this one but we’ll make sure it carries over,” Prescott said. “We’re trying to peak at the right time, make sure we’re heading into the postseason with momentum, playing some of our best ball. Our defense is doing that. Our offense still has some growth to do.

“Our expectations, our standards are way up there. So we’re going to keep pushing it until we get there. And then push past that.”

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein.