OXNARD, Calif. — Changes with leadership among the offense have been a heavy talking point going into the season with head coach Mike McCarthy taking over as the play-caller, and Dak Prescott hasn't shied away from expectations nor has he talked down the importance of bringing in this new system.
It's been a change at offensive coordinator that's only been Prescott's second since taking over as the starting quarterback in 2016.
After the 2018 season, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan was replaced by Kellen Moore who didn't change a lot with the system, but more so with the approach and play-style.
"This is truly only the second system I've been in," Prescott said. "You could say I've had three different coordinators in my time, but from Linehan to Kellen, there wasn't a lot of changeover. There were different ways to get to plays, kind of a different approach about it. This change from Kellen to McCarthy, there's definitely more plays added."
McCarthy, along with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and the offensive staff, have said time-and-time again that there isn't a ton of systematic change with the 2023 offense, but that it's more about making things simpler and installing concepts that play to the strengths of those involved.
For Prescott, even though he says this system is "for sure" a much more substantial change than the change that occurred in 2018, he sees the offense as being further along in picking up the new system at this point in training camp than it was at this point in the first transition.
"There are things [McCarthy] has brought from his past, West Coast-type things," he said. "Guys are much further along [than in 2018], and I am as well. That's credit to Coach [McCarthy], that's credit to [Brian Schottenheimer], just installing the plays with a lot of details and making sure everybody understands the purpose of the play, the details of the play and their role within that."
Simplicity and understanding has been a key focus for McCarthy in constructing the new offensive system, and it's being reflected in how straightforward it's been for the offense to go through the installs and take in the new information.
But the question that remains – and will remain all the way up until Dallas takes the field at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 10 – is just how successful will the change end up being? Whether it's easy to digest or not, it'll ultimately be up to Dak Prescott himself to make the change an accomplishment in 2023.
