Dak Prescott won’t be running the ball this season if Jerry Jones has his way

It’s not a secret that the Cowboys do not have a run game. All their opponents know it, and all of them have taken advantage of it. Even Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joesph told reporters that their gameplan on defense was just to “guard CeeDee (Lamb)” because no one else on the offense is a threat. A good plan, which led to a 47-9 victory for the Lions.

Though there‘s really not much of a passing threat beyond Lamb either, it‘s the run game (or lack thereof) that is Dallas’ biggest problem. They have failed to put up at least 100 rushing yards in five of their seven games this season and their best output was 109 yards. They rank dead last in rushing attempts (152) and rushing yards (74.1 average) in the league.

This problem can be pretty much entirely blamed on Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who decided against drafting a running back or buying an established one in free agency and instead brought on an old player who’s best days were already years in the past.

That‘s put the pressure on quarterback Dak Prescott to carry the team, and that hasn‘t been working out too well either. And as for his own running game, it’s pretty nonexistent as well.

Jerry Jones does not want Prescott running the ball

If Prescott could just use his legs a bit more, the Dallas run game would be helped greatly. And yet, through seven games, he has 24 rushing yards. He had 25 as of Week 6, but rather than gaining any yardage in Week 8, he lost one.

Read more: The staggering Dak Prescott statistic that will blow your mind...and not in a good way

And if Jerry Jones has his way, that‘s not going to change. He spoke on his weekly radio show on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday and said he’d prefer to protect Prescott from injury risks.

“You really don’t want to see him really take off with that ball,” Jones said. “These quarterbacks that run, you know they’re gonna get injured. That happens. It happens to the youngest and it happens to the best. It’s happened to Dak.”

Ever since Prescott suffered a season-ending ankle injury in 2021, which of course happened on a scramble, his rushing attempts have gone way down.

“To the end that we rely on him to stay healthy, that’s an important part of it,” Jones said. “I wouldn’t say it’s up there in red letters at the facility to not run, but I’d say we want him to be smart about it. And he is being smart about it. However, he will, when he sees the opportunity, pull it down and run with it, as we know.”

During the Cowboys' 30-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers last week, they finished with 56 total rushing yards. Prescott finished with one rush attempt which ended up in the one-yard loss. For comparison, Niners quarterback Brock Purdy alone had 56 rushing yards.

“It’s easy to compare, and that’s fair, when the opposing quarterback is really complementing what they’re doing with their offense with his running,” said Jones. “But I’m satisfied with Dak, in terms of his ability to run. It’s there, as far as physically, he can run. We want Dak, in the future, to do the kind of job with his arm and get the ball out to the outside, you see us trying to do that a lot, and make up for anything that we might want to do [with his legs]...I don’t want to see him take those kinds of hits.”

In that case, perhaps some decent running backs could be of help...