All eyes will be on Dak Prescott when the Cowboys take on the 49ers on Sunday night

FRISCO, Texas – What did quarterback Dak Prescott do during the Dallas Cowboys' bye week?

He got engaged.

But he did much more. He's been to The Star a few times, working off-campus with receivers including CeeDee Lamb to try to improve after a mediocre start to the season.

“I can’t stagnate. That’s hard for me, so I have to work,” Prescott said. “If there are times where I have a couple of hours in the day where I can fit it in, especially whether it's the bye or whatever, I'll make sure I get it done. Obviously just the self-scout who wants to figure it out. “What I need to do better personally and individually to make this team, this whole unit better, I wanted to get ahead of it.

It was no surprise to the coaches that Prescott would be there.

“If anything, your concern with Dak is probably that he's overworking and over-practicing,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said.

As the Cowboys (3-3) open what head coach Mike McCarthy calls the “second trimester” of the season on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), all eyes will be on Prescott. They always have been, but as he is the highest-paid player in NFL history, the spotlight is increasingly on him as he signed a four-year, $240 million contract extension just hours before the season opener.

That's hard to imagine for the “America's Team” quarterback, who has watched his every move from his time as a fourth-round pick and 2016 Offensive Rookie of the Year to five playoff appearances without advancing to the NFC Championship Game.

But it's true.

If the Cowboys make the playoffs for the fourth straight season – something they haven't done since Super Bowl runs in the 1990s – it will be with Prescott at the helm.

“I would say I played average and that's not good enough at all right now,” Prescott said. “It was never good enough for me. I can't say I was happy or excited after any of these games I played. But I understand that there are more plays out there that I can make, whether it's in design or not. (I am) capable of it.

So far this season, Prescott has thrown for 1,602 yards, but in three of six games he has completed less than 60% of his passes. He only had one game like that last season. He has never had more than four games in a season with a completion rate of less than 60%.

Prescott has six interceptions, on pace to tie a career-best 17. Twice he had six in his first six starts (2019, 2022). In 2019, he finished with 11 INTs in 16 games, but in 2022, his 15 INTs in 12 games (he missed five with a broken thumb) were the most in the NFL.

“Obviously these stats don’t add to the overall performance,” coach Mike McCarthy said.

Since Troy Aikman's public criticism, there has been a lot of focus on the Cowboys' wide receiver running routes. According to ESPN Research, the Cowboys' pass catchers have an average separation of 2.9 yards. Only the 49ers were worse (2.8 yards).

Last season, when Prescott led the NFL in touchdown passes (36) and posted its best completion percentage (69.5%), the Cowboys' pass catchers managed 3.1 yards of separation, which was just 31st in the league.

This season, the Cowboys have the highest shooting percentage in tight windows at 23.4%. In 2023, it was 18.8%, third in the NFL.

“There’s more to these statistics,” McCarthy said. “The situational integration is also very high in these evaluations. It's six games. That’s a different matter.”

Whatever the reason, no one cares about the weight of the contract.

“The way games go sometimes, and we've had some one-sided games this year, things happen, but no, I don't think so,” Schottenheimer said. “I think every play is different. Interceptions happen for different reasons. Ball losses happen for different reasons. But I don't think he's putting pressure on him. I think he knows who we are. I think we just didn't manage to play a lot of football, which was very complementary football.”

The Cowboys trailed by three points in each of their losses (New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions), which affected the way the Cowboys ran their offense. It made it easier to defend Lamb and harder for Prescott.

The bye week gave Prescott a chance to breathe after his proposal and review his performance. The picture is clearer to him, even if he doesn't share what it shows.

“Like I said, I feel like I saw it well and I wouldn't take that back, but there are some things out there that I can obviously do better. And then some of that, some of the things I haven't done, what I've done in the past,” Prescott said. “I’m looking forward to activating, opening up some things in this offense, staying ahead of the chains and, yeah, getting it going.”

The Cowboys need him. More than ever.

“Damn excited,” McCarthy said, “and glad he’s our quarterback.”