Focus increased on Dallas Cowboys training camp earlier this week as cornerback Trevon Diggs and quarterback Dak Prescott were involved in some trash-talking.
After Tuesday’s practice, a video surfaced of Diggs and the defense talking at Prescott as he tucked the ball away and ran downfield before ducking out of bounds.
“I feel like it makes practice fun, just coming out here competing,” Diggs told the media at Thursday’s practice. “At the end of the day, that’s my brother, and I love Dak to death. It’s just competitiveness. It’s just football. It’s just practice. That’s what we do. We talk trash here and keep it pushing.”
“It’s another representation of playing for the Dallas Cowboys,” Prescott added Thursday. “Anything said, done, or viewed and the reach it has…It’s honestly one of those things where you realize not a lot of people have competed in a lot of heated competitions…Words are just words.”
“When you love somebody, and you know who they are, and you compete against them in everything you do…you’ve got emotions and feelings about it,” he continued. “Words don’t hurt and never have hurt me, so I encourage it, honestly. I grew up that way and still compete at a very high level at everything I do, and that’s part of it.”
The incident drew national media attention as analysts from all networks debated whether the Cowboys should be concerned.
“I think there’s something there,” Fox Sports’ LeSean McCoy said on the air on Wednesday. “I played with Michael Vick, I played with Tom Brady, I played with Josh Allen, [and] I played with Patrick Mahomes. Nobody on the team — coaches, trainers — would even fix their lips to say something like that to the quarterback.”
“Two things it tells me,” he added. “One is they don’t respect him, and two is they’re tired of everybody making him the face [and] the guy, and when we get in a tight game, he’s the one who blows it for us.”
Diggs responded to McCoy’s comments at Thursday’s practice, telling the media present, “People don’t need to worry about what we’ve got going on, our relationship, my relationship with my brother, or how we operate. At the end of the day, it’s our team. Dak is the leader of our team. He can go out there and have a great year. I have the utmost respect for Dak…That stuff could never come between us. We don’t even talk about it.”
The incident is one that many have talked about this week, but for the Cowboys, it is all about business and pushing on as they prepare for their preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars at AT&T Stadium on August 12.
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EXTRA POINTS
— ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has a problem with the comments Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy made about Prescott during a press conference earlier this week.
— Atlanta Falcons cornerback Jeff Okudah was carted off the practice field and will undergo an MRI.
— The New Orleans Saints have signed All-Pro defensive end Cameron Jordan to a two-year contract extension.
— The NFL is seeking help from Congress regarding sports betting.
— Tight end Marcedes Lewis is returning for an 18th season.
–ESPN reports Saints running back Alvin Kamara will be suspended for three games to start the season, stemming from his involvement in a fight in Las Vegas in February.
