The Dallas Cowboys' season came to an early end, as they couldn't keep up with the San Francisco 49ers at AT&T Stadium.
Mike McCarthy's team had a shot at tying the game and even winning, but he called a QB Draw with no timeouts left.
The Cowboys tried to line up quickly and blocked the official from touching the football as the rules state. The game was over and fans were far from satisfied with the referees, throwing thrash at them from the stands.
When asked about the situation, Dak Prescott thought the fans were throwing debris at the players. He called them out and claimed that no one wants to win more than them:
“No, I didn’t see that. It’s sad. You’re talking about a team, you’re talking about men coming out each and every day of their lives and give everything to this sport, give everything to this game of football," Dak said after the game, as quoted by FanSided.
"Nobody wants to succeed more than we want to succeed," Prescott added. "I understand fans and the word ‘fan’ for fanatic, I get that. But to know everything that we put into this, day in and day out, try our hardest, nobody comes into the game wanting or expecting to lose, and for people to react that way when you’re supposed to be a supporter and be with us through thick and thin, that’s tough.”
But when someone clarified that the fans were throwing trash at the referees, not the players, Prescott had a somewhat shocking response:
"Credit to them then. Credit to them," the QB said."
Some in attendance were in disbelief of Prescott's words, so they asked him thoughts on the situation again. Instead of backpedaling, the gunslinger doubled down on his controversial take:
"If the fans felt the same way as us and that’s what they were doing it for, yeah, I’m guessing that’s why the refs took off and got out of there so fast," Dak added. "Yeah, I think everybody is upset with the way that this thing played out. I’m sure a fan would feel the same way that we do."
Needless to say, Prescott's comments drew plenty of criticism around social media and the sports community, which is why he had no choice but to change his stance and issue an apology on Twitter:
"I deeply regret the comments I made regarding the officials after the game on Sunday," Prescott wrote. "I was caught up in the emotion of a disappointing loss and my words were uncalled for and unfair."
"I hold the NFL Officials in the highest regard and have always respected their professionalism and the difficulty of their jobs," he added on a follow-up tweet. "The safety of everyone who attends a game or participates on the field of a sporting event is a very serious matter. That was a mistake on my behalf, and I am sorry."
The NFL has yet to make a statement regarding Prescott's comments but he's likely to be fined.
The NBA Referees Association, however, did call him out for inciting violence:
"The NBRA condemns the comments by Dak Prescott condoning violence against game officials," they wrote in a statement. "As an NFL leader, he should know better. We encourage the NFL to take action to discourage this deplorable behavior in the future."
Dak should've known better than this. Nobody likes to lose, but there's no place for violence in sports.
