Cowboys Trade Deadline: Prescott Says This Roster Can Reach the Playoffs — 'It's on Us. Period.'

The phone can ring or not ring in Frisco on Tuesday. Dak Prescott has already given the Cowboys' answer. Asked after Sunday's 27-23 win at Indianapolis whether there is enough on this roster to be playing games past Week 18, the quarterback said, 'I do,' according to ESPN's Todd Archer — and added that whether the Cowboys make a trade before Tuesday's NFL deadline or not, 'It's on us. Period.'

That is not a quarterback lobbying against help. Prescott credited owner and general manager Jerry Jones and the front office for the team they have built, and said plainly that if a deal makes Dallas better, the club should make it: 'Obviously, credit Jerry [Jones], credit the front office, and those guys of if you can always add, go do it,' he said. 'Even if you think you have enough, if you can make sure you have enough and get better, go do it. I encourage that. But, yeah, they've done a hell of a job with the team they've put together.' The distinction matters on deadline eve: the locker room's position is that the roster is good enough — and that adding to it is welcome, not necessary.

The deadline lands in a loud search climate — 'Jonathan Taylor Trade' sat at No. 3 on the United States trending list read by this desk Monday morning, after the Colts' running back faced Dallas on Sunday — but no Dallas pursuit of any named player was reported in the sources read this run, and this desk does not manufacture one. What is on the record is the standings math: Dallas is 4-5, second in the NFC East, 1.5 games behind the 5-2-1 Giants, with 7-1 San Francisco at AT&T Stadium on Sunday. Whatever Tuesday brings, Prescott's framing is the one the Cowboys will be judged by: the season is on the players already here.