‘He Was Insulting Me’: Dak Prescott Gives His Version of Spitting Incident

Philadelphia Eagles star defensive tackle Jalen Carter was ejected from last night’s NFL opener before the first play from scrimmage for spitting on Cowboys QB Dak Prescott.

The incident occurred following an apparent injury to Eagles fullback Ben VanSumeren on the opening kickoff.

Now, Prescott is giving his side of the story.

“I probably spit a thousand times throughout the game. I mean, especially game day, maybe even in general, and something I guess I’m not proud of. But in that case, (Carter) was trolling, I guess you could say, trying to mess with (Cowboys right guard) Tyler Booker. I was just looking at him. I was right here by the two linemen, and I guess I needed to spit, and I wasn’t going to spit on my lineman, and I just spit ahead.

“I would say he was back there and was in that sense, and he goes, ‘Are you trying to spit on me?’ At that point, I mean, I felt like he was insulting me. I wouldn’t spit on somebody. ‘I’m damn sure I’m not trying to spit on you.’ We’re about to play a game. I’m wondering why you’re trying to mess with the rookie, and so when I stepped through, I actually said the words like, ‘Why the hell would I -’ excuse me, but I’m probably even more colorful. ‘What would I need to spin on you for?’

“He just spit on me in that moment; it was more of a surprise than anything. Refs obviously saw it through the flag. I was like, ‘Hell yeah, we get 15 yards to start the game off.’ Didn’t realize he was getting ejected. Unfortunate that he did.

“He is a hell of a player. It changed our plan and our blocking scheme, as I’ve told you before, the week that we’re going to protect against him. So it helped in that manner. I don’t wish for anybody to get out of the game. I’m sure he probably regrets that to some extent. I’m pretty sure he knows that I didn’t try to spit on him or wasn’t even aiming to spit on him.

“So something that’s probably going to get a lot of coverage and a lot of attention that I feel sorry for him in the sense of, yeah, I mean I know how excited each and every one of us are right to kick off the season and the season opener, and hell of a player like that doesn’t even get a chance in the first play. Unfortunate circumstances.”