Dak Prescott has heard the number enough times to know it by heart: it’s been 30 years. Three decades since the Dallas Cowboys last hoisted a Lombardi Trophy, a drought that has outlasted three head coaches and the team’s golden run. Asked directly about it this week, Prescott dropped the same answers he usually gives reporters and said plainly what the losing has done to him.

“It pisses me off,” he told Michael Irvin on The White House Podcast, airing on Netflix. “And I think it should. Anybody wearing this jersey, anybody that’s a part of this organization, because you should be doing everything you can to give yourself a chance to get to that game and to win it. And, you know, not every year is the same. But I’m super confident in what our front office has done, what the team has done, the players, the men that we’ve got coming into this year.

“Every year, I think that, right, if you’re not thinking you’re going to win that game, you probably shouldn’t be playing football. But, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more confident with the group of guys around me. … To hear [the] other guys say in just their drills and breaking down the huddle, the team, it’s a real sense of belief.”

Dallas hasn’t reached a Super Bowl since the 1995 season, and Prescott knows the weight of that number better than anyone. Still, he’s not putting the pressure on anyone but himself and his teammates. Prescott himself had five opportunities to take the team to that game, having made the postseason that many times. However, the team has been held back because of their own flaws.

Last season was perhaps never in the cards for the Cowboys right from the start. Before their bye week, the record stood at a troubling 3-5-1. They finished the year 7-9-1, with a defense that never matched the prowess on the offense. Prescott finished among the Top 5 QBs last year, but the defense was the league’s worst.

That contrast is beyond striking.

The Cowboys’ defense wasn’t just bad; it was historically bad. Dallas finished dead last in pass defense, giving up 4,276 yards through the air, and were second-worst in the league in touchdown passes allowed with 35.

Their run defense numbers looked slightly better at 23rd overall, but that ranking hides the real issue. According to Sports Illustrated’s Randi Gurzi, opponents didn’t need to run much against Dallas because they could just throw it whenever they wanted. And when offenses did lean on the ground game in crunch time, the Cowboys couldn’t get stops, finishing 31st in the league with 24 rushing touchdowns allowed.

All of that added up to another missed playoff appearance and a fan base running out of patience.

So the front office went to work. Dallas used its first-round pick on Caleb Downs. Downs will see time both in the nickel package and at safety, and he’s got plenty of company with new faces like linebacker Dee Winters, cornerback Cobie Durant, safety Jalen Thompson, and defensive tackle Otito Ogbonnia all joining the starting lineup.

They didn’t stop there either, adding Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary, and Von Miller to the mix.

Jerry Jones talked about wanting to be aggressive in fixing the defense, and it looks like he followed through. That overhaul is a big part of why Prescott is sounding more optimistic than usual heading into this year.

“At the end of the day, the pressure is what you put on yourself,” Prescott said last month. “I think our standard is to win. It’s as simple as that. We hold ourselves to a high standard and high expectations. Nobody wants to end this drought more than the guys in this locker room. I can promise you that.”

Dallas just needs its defense to finally show up.