NFC Notes: Cowboys, Giants, Washington

Cowboys

• Regarding Cowboys QB Dak Prescott (shoulder), executive Stephen Jones said the quarterback feels like he’s “ready to roll” but they will continue to limit his throwing this preseason: “In his mind, he’s ready to roll. We gotta almost protect him from himself, in a good way. He’s such a fiery competitor … He‘ll be just fine. As we said, just do it our way and this thing is gonna work out perfect.” (Jon Machota)
• Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy confirmed that they will limit Prescott’s workload this week “We’re just trusting the training staff on this one. They’re counting every throw. This is a volume regulation, endurance. There’s a big-picture outlook to this. He’ll definitely be involved in some form of practice more than this week.” (Jon Machota)

Giants

Giants’ WR Sterling Shepard spoke to the media prior to boarding the team bus after he was seen exchanging punches with Browns’ CB Troy Hill during a dustup in joint practice.

“No, it’s a friendly competition,” Shepard said, via Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com. “That’s what we came out here for. It’s a competition. It’s going to get into a talking match; it’s going to get physical out there. This is football. This is what we do. They understand that on that side; we understand that over here.”

• Giants OT Nate Solder (shoulder) hasn’t participated in team drills since last week, but HC Joe Judge expects the veteran lineman to return soon. (Dan Duggan)

Washington

Washington QB Ryan Fitzpatrick connected on 24- and 22-yard passes to WR Terry McLaurin and the duo thinks they are beginning to get more comfortable with each other. 

“Those were probably the two best throws that highlight the fact that we’re feeling a little bit more comfortable on offense with each other,” Fitzpatrick said, via John Keim of ESPN.

Fitzpatrick mentioned he’s getting acclimated with Washington’s receivers. 

“There’s a couple reads and throws the way they do things here that made me scratch my head at first, that I totally get them and I’m on board with now,” Fitzpatrick said. “They look at football differently than I ever have.”

McLaurin praised Fitzpatrick for his anticipation when throwing and understanding the deeper details of routes. 

“He has a lot of anticipation. When I came out of that in cut, the ball was right there on the opposite side of that backer,” McLaurin said. “Which was nice for me, because you get a chance to catch the ball and run. Obviously he knows the scheme. But the anticipation, the details of the routing, and then getting the chemistry with the rest of our receivers, that’s what we’re continuing to work out. When you see him making those anticipatory throws, those back-shoulder throws that he’s been hitting with Logan, those are tough to defend.”

Fitzpatrick added that he’s not letting his age get in the way of learning Washington’s system. 

“As an older guy, a lot of times it’s, ‘Well, that’s not the way I’ve done it. I don’t think that’s going to work.’ And it did take OTAs and some training camp reps to kind of see some things that I hadn’t looked at in a particular way before,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s hard. And the older you get, the harder it is to [not] take a step back and say, ‘No, no, no, no, I’m right, you’re wrong’ and you get into that game a little bit. You take the ego out of it and it takes reps and time to understand it.”

Washington HC Ron Rivera said he wants their offense to take chances downfield with the speed they have at receiver. 

“With the players we have, with the speed we have, we’ve got to consider throwing that ball downfield,” said Rivera.