DALLAS — Throw four touchdowns in a prime time throttling of your franchise's arch rivals, and the world will take notice.
The NFL announced Monday Dak Prescott is one of three nominees for the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week following the Dallas Cowboys' 56-14 thrashing of Washington on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium.
Prescott summarily ended any talk of the two-time Pro Bowler or the offense being in a slump as he completed 28 passes on 39 attempts for 330 yards and four touchdowns. The 28-year-old posted a 131.4 passer rating and a 71.8% completion percentage.
"I’ve told you throughout the two months that I want to make sure we are peaking at the right time," Prescott told reporters after the win that improves Dallas to 11-4. "We’ve just encountered great situations to learn from. We went through great experiences to learn from and to make sure we got better from those."
The other FedEx Air nominees include Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who went 37-of-46 for 525 yards and four touchdowns with a 143.2 passer rating in the 41-21 win over the Baltimore Ravens. Burrow’s yardage total marked the fourth-most in league history as the Bengals moved to 9-6.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen completed 30 passes on 47 attempts for 314 yards and three touchdowns with a 104.4 passer rating to earn a nomination as the Bills' 33-21 win over the New England Patriots allowed Buffalo to reclaim first place in the AFC East.
Coach Mike McCarthy said after the win that he believed Prescott "was in total control."
"I think his numbers in the first half reflected that," said McCarthy. "He had some shot opportunities, was patient, took the checkdowns. I thought the intermediate throws, he was on-point there. I thought he had a really nice two-minute drill there to end the half. I really like the way he played tonight.”
Fans can stump for Prescott until voting concludes on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time at NFL.com/FedEx (please link: https://www.nfl.com/voting/air-and-ground/) or via the published polls on the league's official Twitter (please link: https://twitter.com/nfl) or on the NFL Mobile App. FedEx will make a $2,000 donation in the name of the winning quarterback to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which will go towards needs-based scholarships to deserving HBCU students.
Whether it is picking up his fourth FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week award or clinching the NFC East, Prescott is not going to get comfortable with two games left in the regular season.
"We’re not going to hang our hats on this game," said Prescott. "We’re going to learn from the mistakes. We’re going to take from the good and we’re going to continue to go in the right direction and make sure we get better from this.”
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