The Cowboys came into the game wanting to establish the run better than they had the previous six weeks, as they ranked 31st in rushing yards per game with 76 yards. Williams was nine yards shy of that average by halftime against Philadelphia. A big key to that success was getting Williams into a rhythm.
"He's a true pro," Prescott said of Williams. "One of the best teammates, a guy that does everything right. Smart football player, physical football player. He's a guy you got to get in a groove, and I think that's probably one of the frustrating things for him the last couple of weeks, he's not getting that chance again and again to get in that groove or to turn some of those two-yard runs into six-yard runs and so on. And tonight, he had that chance, and he followed the offensive line. Trust them, trust those blocks, that's the product you're going to get."
The drum beat of that rhythm came from Dallas' offensive line, who Prescott shouted out multiple time postgame, and even worse a shirt that read "linemen lead the way." Prescott said Quinnen Williams gave a pregame message about the offensive and defensive lines controlling the game, and it resonated.
"On offense, that's exactly what it was," Prescott said. "We knew we had to create some balance. We had to stick to the run, even if some are negative or not as efficient as we want, and we were able to do that. You saw they got better as the game went on. Those two-yard runs turned to six-yard runs, from six to 12, and from there we were able to stay balanced as then pass off of that. So that's kind of the attack we have to continue."
Their success running the ball didn't take away from Dallas' success in the passing game, but it certainly made Prescott's workload a little lighter than his 54 attempts last week against the Packers, as Prescott went 15/27 for 212 yards and three touchdowns.
One of those was to George Pickens, who Dallas wanted to get more involved this week and did, as he hauled in four catches for 57 yards and a touchdown catch that left Prescott in awe.
"The guy did a good job trying to re-route him, but I saw George was still heading to the back of the end zone, being physical in his route, and I just tried to give him a chance," Prescott said. "And he went and made one of the best catches and toe-taps I've seen in a long time."
Before Prescott held his postgame press conference, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer was shorter than usual with his postgame responses to reporters. Asked if he was okay, Schottenheimer said "I'm great. Excited for our guys."
When asked about Schottenheimer, Prescott said he saw another version of his head coach this week after lots of criticism having been lobbed his way over the last few weeks.
"Definitely hungry, pissed off version of Schotty," Prescott said. "It's not like he's naïve, it's not like he hasn't heard some noise about him, whether it's calling the games or whatever doubt that's been out there. But we've got his back, he knows that. He's a guy that takes a lot of pride in his job, a lot of pride in his team. Everybody handles everything different, so I don't blame him to an extent. We've got his back, more importantly, it's just about us going out there and executing on Sundays."
There's a say that says players often embody the tendencies of their head coach. It could be argued that the Cowboys played that way on Sunday night. Prescott is already motivated regardless of circumstance, but said the team as a whole felt the shift in energy from their head coach and that it fired some of them up.
"I know the team feels it," Prescott said. "I'm sure that players need that to fire themselves up to an extent. It's contagious. At the end of the day, he's our head coach, we're going to follow him. As I said, we've got his back, and we appreciate that."
Now, the task has turned from getting a much needed win on Sunday night to stacking wins, with the first opportunity to do so this season coming on Sunday at AT&T Stadium against the Cardinals.
"Momentum's real," Prescott said. "Especially in this league, especially in what we do. Just understanding the parity and how tough this league is, when you get a win, the confidence it gives your group, the confidence it gives this team, and just being able to build off of that, and the benefit of also going home, having a couple of home games in a row, but only this week matters… We've just got to make sure we've got to have a great week of preparations to make sure that translates into a big win. And from there, you get two in a row, you start stacking."