During the Eucharistic prayer he is praying to God on our behalf.  But NCR and its followers cannot stand the idea that a priest has a special role that the laity do not have.  We have our role and priests have theirs.  Having the priest face the people really confuses things. I've had people think that the priest is conversing with the congregation during the Eucharistic prayer. I've seen priests ad-lib during the prayer, as if as written is just not good enough.  Therein is the problem.