Dak Prescott Called His Cowboys Offense GOTI The Greatest Offense There Is Is Setting Up a Fall
Dak Prescott is not tempering expectations. He is setting a very high bar and daring anyone to tell him he is wrong.
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback has coined a new acronym for the offense: GOTI. Short for “Greatest Offense There Is.” Prescott introduced it to his skill players during offseason workouts, and by his account, the group has fully embraced it.
The math sort of backs him up. Dallas ranked second in yards per game and seventh in scoring last season under first-year playcaller Brian Schottenheimer. They had a 4,000-yard passer in Prescott, two 1,000-yard receivers in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, and a 1,000-yard rusher in Javonte Williams. That is a rare combination. That is a dangerous offense with the right coaching.
Prescott is not shy about the goal. “Why can’t we be, you know? Let’s be the greatest offense there is,” he told reporters. “You’ve heard the ‘Greatest show on turf’ and all the other different nicknames.” He also showed up to Oxnard wearing a vintage Super Bowl XXX T-shirt, the last time the Cowboys won a Lombardi Trophy. Subtle he was not.
The problem with declaring you are the greatest anything in the NFL is the history of teams that did exactly that. The 2011 Philadelphia Eagles were the “Dream Team.” They finished 8-8 and missed the postseason. Andy Reid got fired the following year. The Dream Team became one of the biggest cautionary tales in modern football.
Dallas fans are hoping GOTI does not become the sequel. The Cowboys have missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. Jerry Jones has been more meddlesome than usual. And the roster, while talented on offense, has real questions on defense and along the offensive line.
Prescott is aware of all of that. He said the team needs to lean into big goals rather than shy away from them. “To go into training camp and to go into the season to say that those are our goals, I mean, it’d be stupid or we’d be remiss not to own that, and take accountability in that,” he said.
Fair enough. Fear of failure is not going to win the Cowboys a Super Bowl. But saying you are the greatest anything without having the trophies to back it up is a great way to get roasted for 17 weeks.
The good news for Prescott and Dallas is that they have the pieces. Lamb is one of the best receivers in football. Pickens brings a legitimate deep threat. Williams gives them a real bell-cow back. The line is average but functional. And if Prescott plays like the guy who has been an MVP finalist multiple times, this offense can be everything he says.
The bad news is the NFL is loaded on offense right now. Every good team has a quarterback capable of putting up 30 points. Buffalo, Kansas City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Miami. There are enough elite offenses that calling yourself the Greatest Offense There Is invites a lot of comparison.
Prescott is comfortable making the claim. Now he just has to back it up. Otherwise GOTI is going to become another Dallas meme, and there are already plenty of those.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
