Dak Prescott Camp Update — August 16: Four Red-Zone Touchdowns in One Practice
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 17
Prescott threw four red-zone touchdowns in the joint practice against the Rams, then watched the preseason opener from the sideline while Sam Howell and Joe Milton handled Seattle. The accuracy case from June is doing fine without game reps.
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Dak Prescott threw four red-zone touchdowns in one joint practice against the Rams on August 10, two of them to CeeDee Lamb and one each to KaVontae Turpin and Brevyn Spann-Ford. That is from Patrik Walker and Tommy Yarrish in the team's own practice coverage, and it is the week's headline, because Prescott did not throw a pass that counted. He sat out Saturday's 17 to seven win in Seattle, where Sam Howell started and played the first half and Joe Milton took the second, per Randy Gurzi at Cowboys On SI, with the starter news first reported by Jon Machota.
The June read on Prescott was built on the throwing itself. He graded as one of the league's three most accurate passers by completion rate over expectation, on heavy volume, with two alpha receivers locked in. The cautions were structural: he wins from the pocket with almost no rushing production to cushion a down year, he is entering his age-33 season, and a rebuilt Dallas defense could shrink the shootout scripts that fed his passing totals.
Camp is answering the part camp can answer. The red-zone command against a real opposing defense was sharp. His connection with Jake Ferguson keeps showing up: back on August 7, Anthony Miller at Heavy, citing ESPN's Todd Archer, counted four completions to Ferguson in a single Thursday practice, on intermediate and seam throws. The one blemish in the window came at the final practice before the opener, when safety Markquese Bell intercepted a throw intended for George Pickens, per the team's Practice Points. One pick in a padded August practice is not a trend. The health is clean, the reps are full, and holding him out in Seattle was a plan, not a problem, since few expected starters played for either team.
Does the June read hold? CONFIRMED. The accuracy and the weapons were the argument, and every credible practice report this window shows both.
Next week: whether Prescott makes his preseason debut or Dallas keeps him wrapped until September, and how the Lamb and Pickens target split looks whenever the starters do play. We'll check next Sunday.
_Data via nflverse._
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