The Dallas Cowboys' 2023 season ended with a dud when the Green Bay Packers destroyed Jerry Jones' club during Super Wild Card Weekend.
A lot went wrong that day, starting with the Cowboys coming out flat and getting steamrolled early by the Packers. By the time Dallas kicked things into gear, it was already an insurmountable blowout.
Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson joined NFL Total Access on Wednesday and was asked what went wrong in the loss to Green Bay.
"You know it's tough to say," Ferguson responded. "I think for me, it's also the NFL, 32 of the best [teams] in the world are playing one sport against each other but at the same time I always like to think, 'We're the Dallas Cowboys, every team that's going to play us is going to bring their all every single time.' We're not going to get anybody's 'We don't have to bring that hard against them.' They're bringing their all against us. It's a kill-or-be-killed mentality. We've just got to kill them first."
The Cowboys' tendency to lay an egg in a big spot led to questions about whether the latest playoff loss could cost coach Mike McCarthy his job. But Jones stayed the course with his staff for at least another season.
Outside of McCarthy, quarterback Dak Prescott took the most heat for the latest disappointing ending. Ferguson said the Pro Bowl QB is already moving on to the next campaign.
"I know Dak is ready for the next season, that's all you can do," he said. "You can't look back and you know, have any sort of just 'Oh, I made a bad play, so we lost.' No, it's just on to the next, it's over with, so we played that game, clock's zero, it's time to move on to the next week. We've got to get ready for this OTA session coming up, and then also fall camp and just get ready so if we do get in this situation down the road again, where we take advantage and we aren't really looking back, we're just going straight through the wall."
Ferguson played a vital role in the Cowboys' explosive offense, generating 761 yards on 71 catches (both second on the club behind CeeDee Lamb) to go with five touchdowns. His 40 first downs were seventh-most among all tight ends. The 25-year-old said his Year 2 leap came because of the chemistry built with Prescott during the offseason and practice sessions.
"I think a lot of it became a sort of routine after practice," he said. "If we hit something in practice and maybe I don't connect or I don't catch the ball or it hits off my fingers, or a yard too deep or a yard too shallow, with him after practice and making sure we get it right. Hitting those reps. Making sure that OK, when we get here on Sunday, it's lights out, we don't even have to think about it. And when you start to get that chemistry going, and not only that on the field, but also just the brotherhood that you create with your teammates, that's also very good, and I think that had a really big play in our chemistry this season and it's going to have a lot to do in the future as well."
