Cowboys starting quarterback Dak Prescott missed the entire preseason with a pulled muscle in his shoulder, but team owner and president Jerry Jones declared him “good to go” against the Bucs in the 2021 season opener. Dallas travels to Tampa Bay to kick off the 2021 campaign on Thursday, September 9 at 8:20 p.m. in a nationally televised game.

Cowboys beat reporter Rob Phillips reported Jones’ quotes on Twitter on Sunday afternoon.

Prescott didn’t play in any of Dallas’ four preseason games this August and missed the first two weeks of practice before being eased back into action. Prescott participated in 7-on-7 drills this past week as the Cowboys concluded training camp. He’s expected to get reps in 11-on-11 drills in the week leading up to the season opener. Prescott was taken off his pitch count two days ago, and Jones said, “He really turned it loose and was none the worse for it” this week in practice.

Prescott led Dallas to a 2-3 start last year before his ankle injury. The Cowboys finished Mike McCarthy’s first season in Dallas with a 4-7 record and had to turn to Andy Dalton, Garrett Gilbert and Ben DiNucci to start games down the stretch. Dalton left for Chicago in free agency. That leaves Gilbert, DiNucci and Cooper Rush as the available quarterbacks in Dallas behind Prescott.