Dak Prescott wants to play in Week 18. Should the Cowboys let him?

A few weeks ago, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott met the media and behind his left arm, just above the elbow, was a purple bruise.

Just part of the business of playing in the NFL.

Quarterbacks get hit.

Quarterbacks get up.

Cowboys

Quarterbacks make plays.

That’s what Prescott has done in 2025. He was rewarded for a strong season with a fourth Pro Bowl selection.

Prescott has thrown for an NFL-leading 4,482 yards, and is 249 yards ahead of the Lions’ Jared Goff. Prescott leads the league in completions (397), passing attempts (589) and yards per game (280.1).

Now, it’s time to sit him down.

There’s nothing left for Prescott to prove this season as the Cowboys enter the regular season finale against the New York Giants next weekend.

Prescott was part of the MVP conversation earlier in the season, but as the Cowboys’ season sputtered at the halfway point, the best award he can hope for is Comeback Player of the Year.

In Prescott’s last game, one of his worst of the season, he was sacked a season-high six times and hit 11 times overall. He did throw for 307 yards, but completed 19 of 37 passes with two touchdown passes in doing so. Yes, the Cowboys defeated the Commanders on Christmas Day. It was a nice way to conclude the season for Prescott, with a win.

Now, the Cowboys talk about building momentum for next season, playing everyone in the finale, and winning over the hapless Giants.

With NFL rosters and coaching turnover a constant presence every offseason, can momentum truly be sustained year over year?

“Even though there is turnover, there is a lot of fundamental pieces that are going to stay the same,” Prescott said, “especially on this offensive side of the ball. Me, myself, CeeDee (Lamb). Find a way to keep a guy like George (Pickens), find a way to keep a guy like JaVonte (Williams). A lot of the guys up front are going to be the same. Confident taking that momentum into the offseason, and making sure that we finish strong.”

Just look at the Lions. They went 15-2 and were the No. 1 seed in the NFC last season. The offseason saw them lose both coordinators to head coaching jobs. In 2025, the Lions will miss the postseason. Of course, injuries have played a factor in this.

The Kansas City Chiefs represented the AFC in the Super Bowl last season.

They’ll sit at home watching the postseason now.

Things change year-to-year, so building momentum doesn’t necessarily compute.

What the Cowboys need to accomplish is getting Prescott through this season healthy.

He wants to play, which is something every competitive person seeks to do. And maybe he’ll start and sit after a series so Joe Milton can take over.

What’s the point in even doing that? Just start Milton.

The conversation to sit or play Prescott will take place and he’ll make the final decision difficult.

“I’ll have some fight back,” he said. “Again, it depends on what’s the purpose, what’s the reason. You know obviously, I understand being approached about it. The conversations that we have already had about it is for me to play. The season being where it is, trying to make sure we finish 8-8-1. That’s important to me, a lot of pride in that. So, I want to go out there and win. I feel like me starting gives us the best chance, so I want to play.”

The Cowboys shouldn’t be scared to play their players. No team should and based on the culture being established by coach Brian Schottenheimer, supported by owner and general manager Jerry Jones, there is plenty of confidence at The Star for the future.

In the present, Prescott should take a break for the final game.

After Prescott got hit 11 times, Schottenheimer said, “I don’t want Dak to get hit like that.”

According to Pro Football Reference, going into the final two games of the season, the Giants have 35 sacks and knock down quarterbacks 9.7% of the time.

But don’t let those middle-of-the-pack numbers sway you. The Commanders had just 33 sacks heading into the Cowboys game on Christmas before getting their numbers up.

This conversation is about building momentum for 2026 with a win over the Giants compared to sitting out the final game of 2025.

“You weigh that against how valuable it was to win the game (Christmas Day),” Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM). “And I don’t mean to sound like a motivational talk here. That win was big for us and to go up against the Giants and finish with the kinda taste we have in our mouth (on Friday), to go do that there’s a tremendous carryover and I’m not just talking about the players, I’m talking about everybody.”

Which Cowboys players should sit and who should play in Week 18 vs. Giants?