If there's one thing you can count on the Dallas Cowboys to provide, it's plenty of stuff to point and laugh at. Last weekend's playoff loss to the 49ers provided plenty of chuckles, most notably during the failed "turbo play" that took all the air out of a successful fake punt, and again after the doomed quarterback draw that ended the game. Both of those plays featured enough involvement from the referees that fans in the stadium felt justified in turning their anger on the officials rather than the team that had let them down, and a handful of those fans threw trash at the refs as they left the field. That all brings us to the next thing to laugh at, which was Dak Prescott's postgame reaction to the garbage-tossing.
Prescott was asked what he thought of fans flinging detritus, and at first he thought the fans had been throwing crap at his teammates. "It's sad," Prescott said. "For people to react that way when you're supposed to be a supporter and be with us through thick and thin, that's tough." Prescott was then informed that the crap was being tossed at the referees and not the players, to which he replied, "Well shit, credit to them then. Yeah, credit to them."
The NBA referees' association was not too thrilled with Prescott's comments, and released a statement in support of their NFL counterparts on Tuesday condemning what the quarterback had said. That statement, and what I assume was a stern talking-to from someone in the league office, moved Prescott to send out three apologetic tweets:
I deeply regret the comments I made regarding the officials after the game on Sunday.
— Dak Prescott (@dak) January 19, 2022
I was caught up in the emotion of a disappointing loss and my words were uncalled for and unfair.
I hold the NFL Officials in the highest regard and have always respected their professionalism and the difficulty of their jobs.
— Dak Prescott (@dak) January 19, 2022
The safety of everyone who attends a game or participates on the field of a sporting event is a very serious matter.
That was a mistake on my behalf, and I am sorry.
— Dak Prescott (@dak) January 19, 2022
You could say that this is just another embarrassing mark to add to the Cowboys' recent history, which has been full of goofs and humiliations, but part of me suspects Jerry Jones is very glad to have as much of the conversation as possible about last weekend's loss centered on the referees and Prescott putting his foot in his mouth. The more time people spend talking about those things, the less time they have to think about the fact that Jones has now spent 27 years coasting off the accomplishments of the 1990s dynasty while not delivering anything but disappointment.
Correction (Jan. 20 9:10 a.m. ET): This post originally stated that the NFL referees' association released a statement condemning Prescott's comments. It was in fact the NBA referees' association that put out the statement.
