Leave it to Dak Prescott to provide a bit of spicy theatre to set the stage for the Sunday night showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.

I mean, who else?

The highly scrutinized Cowboys quarterback certainly had a downright salty response following last Sunday’s blowout win against the New England Patriots, asked about his motivation for a rematch against the rival that eliminated Dallas from the playoffs in each of the past two seasons. It was all internal.

"I mean, you just want to (tick) me off going into the week," Prescott said to a reporter who pressed on the theme, mindful of the two interceptions that the quarterback threw in the divisional playoff loss at San Francisco in January. "I appreciate that. I do. Actually, I do."

Then he ended the news conference and walked off.

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Before the final comment, Prescott colorfully shed light on how the loss drove him in the offseason.

"I mean, every (expletive) day," he said. "Every day. Every day. Every day."

Love him or loathe him, you can’t blame Prescott for sharing some raw passion. He knows. If the Cowboys (3-1) are going to achieve the vision of ending the franchise’s 28-year Super Bowl drought, they will probably have to prove that they can beat the 49ers when it counts, assuming that another playoff rematch is in the cards.

This weekend’s tilt at Levi’s Stadium provides a fitting measuring stick as the 49ers (4-0) roll along as one of the NFL’s two unbeaten teams. More measuring sticks for Dallas loom in the coming weeks with the two NFC East matchups against with the Eagles (4-0). But first things first.

For Prescott, Sunday night is an opportunity to write a new narrative that contrasts the crunch time gaffes the last two times. His turnovers in January were likely the difference in the 19-12 loss. Two seasons ago, the 23-17 NFC wild-card round setback at AT&T Stadium ended with Prescott (and coaches) unable to effectively manage the clock while positioning for a potential game-winning touchdown.

During his midweek session with Dallas media, Prescott reflected on his postgame moment a few days earlier. But he hardly walked back the sentiments.

"I don’t want to say I was joking, but after the game we were celebrating the win and that gets brought up," he said. "It was, 'Damn, thanks for reminding me.'"

There are many enticing swing factors in play for Sunday night. Among them: Can the Dallas defense that contained Christian McCaffrey in January do it again as the sizzling MVP candidate leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage? Will a healthy Tony Pollard, who suffered a fractured ankle in the second quarter in January, provide explosive plays that takes pressure off Prescott? Which pass-rushing stud – Micah Parsons or Nick Bosa – has the bigger night?

Since that loss in Santa Clara, the Cowboys tweaked the offense. Coordinator Kellen Moore is gone, with coach Mike McCarthy taking over the play-calling and Prescott getting even more responsibility at the line of scrimmage. Some of it has been working. Prescott has the NFL’s second-best completion percentage (71.3%) and Dallas has sparkled with long drives fueled by the league’s best third-down conversion rate (51.6%). But the ugly stain on the stats has come with a penchant to bog down when closer to the end zone. The Cowboys rank 30th for touchdowns (36.8%) after getting inside the red zone – not the best trend for getting the best of San Francisco’s defense.

Still, the half-full approach for Dallas is that it’s about the present. Fallout from the past?

"We’ve stopped listening," Prescott told Dallas reporters. "That’s in the past. We know what’s out there. We know what the history is. So, I can’t say this is about proving to the world as much as this is about going out to get our Week 5 win that we know is a big win that’s going to propel us throughout the season."

Either that or the result will just turn up the heat.

The code

Of all the reaction to the remarks in July from Broncos coach Sean Payton that alluded to his predecessor, it seems rather strange that New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett contended that an unwritten "code" was violated because a coach spoke less than favorably about another coach.

Then again, if I’m the attorneys pursuing the class-action racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL initiated by Brian Flores, I’m exploring whether such a "code" factors into why some African-American coaches with stronger resumes are too often passed over for head coaching jobs. The Flores lawsuit was triggered, remember, when Bill Belichick congratulated "Brian" – he meant to send the message to Brian Daboll rather than Flores – for getting the New York Giants job in 2022 while Flores had yet to interview.

Decades after an unwritten "gentleman’s agreement" existed in the NFL to ban African-American players for 12 years, it’s striking (albeit not totally surprising) to think there’s a privileged mindset that maintains such "codes" still exist.

In any event, as Hackett returns to Denver to face his former team, it’s worth nothing that Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson’s revival under Payton’s watch is palatable. Wilson, coming off career lows last season for passer rating (84.4) and completion percentage (60.5%) is tied for second in the NFL with nine TD passes and tied for third in the league with a 106.7 passer rating.

Big Ben lets it rip

It’s good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers that their quarterback, Kenny Pickett, is expected to start on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens after leaving the Week 4 loss at Houston with a knee injury.

Pretty bad, though, that Pickett was hurt on a play that was such a stretch from the Steelers identity.

Late in the third quarter, Pittsburgh faced a fourth-and-1 from Houston’s 33-yard line. Rather than pound away with a power run from, say, Najee Harris (who averaged more than 5 yards per carry on the day), Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada put Pickett in the shotgun and called for a pass.

Bad move. Pickett was sacked for 9 yards and knocked out of the game. And the Steelers, trailing by 10 at the time, never recovered in losing 30-6.

The sequence fueled another heap of second-guessing for the embattled Canada, most notably from the franchise’s all-time leading passer, Ben Roethlisberger.

"I hated the play call," the former quarterback said during his podcast, "Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger." "Probably 99.9% of Pittsburgh hated the play call."

Roethlisberger explained that beyond his problem with calling for a pass from the shotgun, he took issue with the type of play as Pickett was looking to connect with a "choice" route.

Good thing the credible analysis wasn’t silenced by any "code" that would have prevented Big Ben from criticizing the decision by his former coordinator.

Quick slants

As if being part of a unit that allowed Giants quarterback Daniel Jones to absorb 11 sacks against the Seahawks on Monday night wasn’t enough of a downer, second-year tackle Evan Neal made matters so much worse by lashing out at “fair-weather” fans who expressed their displeasure with the results with some serious booing. "Why would a lion concern himself with the opinion of a sheep?" Neal said to NJ.com. "The person that’s commenting on my performance, what does he do? Flip hot dogs and hamburgers somewhere?" Neal has apologized twice … and hopefully learned a long-term lesson. Giants running back Saquon Barkley applauded Neal for apologizing but added, "The advice I would give him, and any other teammate is never pick a battle with the fans. You’re never going to win that one." … One thing wrong with an Atlanta passing offense that ranks dead-last in the NFL: Limited opportunities for tight end Kyle Pitts. During the loss against Jacksonville in Week 4, Pitts caught just two passes for 21 yards (four targets) and wasn’t even thrown to by struggling quarterback Desmond Ridder until late in the second quarter. Pitts was the highest-drafted tight end in history when chosen fourth overall by the Falcons in 2021. But for the season he has just 11 catches for 121 yards, with zero TDs. … Here’s a measure of how bad it has been for Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who signed a record five-year, $275 million contract before the season but has been nagged by a calf injury: Burrow’s passer rating of 69.1 is lower than the numbers for Zach Wilson and Daniel Jones. In other words, it’s the worst in the league.

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