Dak, Diggs: Trash talk ‘just competitiveness’

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterAug 3, 2023, 06:26 PM ET
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OXNARD, Calif. — Sometimes trash talking can cross a line. Sometimes it’s just two teammates having fun.

On Tuesday, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs was seen on video yelling to Dak Prescott to “shut your b—- ass up” after a play with Prescott lightly throwing the ball back at Diggs. While some saw that as being disrespectful toward the eight-year quarterback, Prescott said Thursday it is something he invites.

“Maybe that’s how most other quarterbacks are, [but] I start a lot of it,” Prescott said. “In the locker room, pre-practice, that’s a form of my leadership. I open the door and make people feel comfortable to talk trash to me, to be able to do that, and that’s why I start it is, I’m encouraging these guys and I know some of these guys need that to play their best. And that goes back [to what] I’ve told you guys before; I like to know my teammates more than just their jersey number and who they are. I understand that some guys, you got to talk trash to get them to play their best, and I want their best in practice. That’s why, as I said, I spark it a lot of times.”

Diggs and Prescott have playfully gone back and forth since 2020 when the Cowboys selected the cornerback in the second round.

“I feel like it makes practice fun,” Diggs said. “At the end of the day, that’s my brother. I love Dak to death. There’s nothing behind it. It’s just competitiveness. It’s just football.”

And what about the reactions to the video?

“Stay out of our business. People don’t need to worry about what we got going on, our relationship, my relationship with my brother,” Diggs said. “Dak is the leader of our team. He’s going to go out there and have a great year. I have the utmost respect for Dak.”

Coach Mike McCarthy said he doesn’t “referee” the trash talk and that it is something that has been going on since he entered the NFL.

“The fact that they do talk so hard to each other, it shows the connection,” McCarthy said. “So to me it’s the complete opposite. When you’re competing and it’s like your brother, no one goes harder against your brother than you. I think it shows their connection is tighter when they go out to each other harder.”

Growing up as the youngest of three boys, Prescott was hardened by what he heard from his brothers. He said he views Diggs as the little brother he didn’t have. He also said the reaction is something he has become accustomed to over the years.

“It’s another representation of playing for the Dallas Cowboys, anything that’s said, done or viewed, the reach I guess it can have and obviously the opinions and everything follows,” he said. “But as far as what people say, how people perceive it, it’s honestly one of those things that you realize not a lot of people have competed or been in very heated competitions, whether it be with their family or with their brother, friend, teammate. … Words are just words. When you love somebody and you know who they are, you compete against them in everything you do, rock-paper-scissors, card games, football, you name it, yeah, you’ve got emotions and you’ve got feelings about it. Words don’t hurt me, never have hurt me.”