FRISCO, Texas -- A week ago, Dak Prescott looked sharp as he walked the red carpet at the ESPYS in Los Angeles in a shiny gray tuxedo jacket with black lapels and a black bow tie. He added the stylish sunglasses too, looking everything like a star in a town of stars.
Before he was named the winner of the Best Breakthrough Athlete, Prescott was asked about the NFC East in 2017 and gave a quick answer.
"We're the Cowboys. We're gonna win the NFC East," Prescott said.
This wasn't exactly Joe Namath guaranteeing a Super Bowl win, but Prescott's prediction was met with confidence by Dallas Cowboys fans and ridicule in some circles, as expected, from opposing fans. Some even wondered if Prescott should have been so bold as he readies for his second season with the Cowboys.
What is he supposed to say? Would "I really hope to win some games this season," be acceptable?
History does not support Prescott's proclamation. The NFC East has not had a repeat winner since 2004 when Andy Reid was coaching the Philadelphia Eagles and Jason Witten was in his second season with the Cowboys. The Cowboys have not won back-to-back division titles since 1995-96. They have not made the playoffs in back-to-back years since 1998-99, when Chan Gailey was the coach.
In 2007, the Cowboys won the division with a 13-3 record and followed that up with a 9-7 record and third-place finish in the East. In 2009, the Cowboys went 11-5 and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs, only to drop to 6-10 in 2010 with Wade Phillips becoming the first coach of the Jerry Jones era to be fired in the middle of the season.
In 2014, Jason Garrett finally got over the 8-8 hump with a 12-4 record to win the division, but the Cowboys cratered to 4-12 in 2015.
The Cowboys finished 13-3 last year and are set to defend their title with training camp beginning next week.
"Man, we've got to have that confidence," fullback Keith Smith said last weekend at the National Fantasy Football Convention. "If you don't go with that confidence, then you're not going to do it. I feel like it's a mix of belief and confidence that you've got to have in what you do. Yeah, I'm fully behind him on that statement."
The Cowboys play a more difficult schedule in 2017. They are matched up with the AFC West and NFC West. They have games against the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers, who won their divisions last year. They lost both games against the New York Giants a year ago, and depending on the status of Ezekiel Elliott could be without last year's rushing champ for the season opener against New York.
As impressive as last year's 13-3 record was, seven wins were by seven points or fewer and one victory required overtime. In their 4-12 finish in 2015, the Cowboys lost two games in overtime and had six losses by seven points or fewer.
"I just think we've got to get back to work," linebacker Anthony Hitchens said. "We've got to start from ground zero. If you just think you're automatically going to win 13 games and you're just going to do it again, it doesn't work like that. There were a lot of close games we won last year, and then the year before we lost a lot of close games. A lot of people don't look at it like that."
Prescott's proclamation will likely be revisited many times. You can be sure the Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins took notice, but they undoubtedly feel the same way about their chances in 2017.
"I've got to back up my quarterback," safety Kavon Frazier said. "I definitely believe we've got the talent. We've just got to go out there and play how we know we can play. We always say our biggest competitor is ourselves. If we go and play the way we know how we can play, we feel like we can beat anybody."