Despite what some may try to say after his latest slump, there’s a lot to like about Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
The reigning offensive rookie of the year was nearly unstoppable during that rookie campaign, and was putting together a heck of a follow-up act prior to losing both Tyron Smith and Ezekiel Elliott for two games.
Prescott has clearly struggled since that big win over Kansas City, but he started to look himself last Thursday against the Redskins. As I’ve said many times before, I’m not worried about Dak Prescott just yet. He has shown much more good than he has bad during his young NFL career.
The one team which has consistently given him problems, however, is this week’s opponent. The New York Giants are the only divisional foe to hold a winning record against Dak (I’m not counting week 17 a year ago as a Dak-game), and they were actually able to sweep the 13-3 Cowboys a year ago.
Prescott played his worst game of that spectacular rookie season when he traveled to East Rutherford, New Jersey as the Cowboys prolific offense was only able to score 7 points during their key loss.
Now, with the team needing to win out in order to have any chance at snagging a playoff spot, Dak Prescott must exercise those Giant-demons.
Dak took a strong first step towards doing so during the season opener, leading the Cowboys to an impressive first victory. While the defense shined for four quarters that Sunday night, Dak looked comfortable, throwing for 268 yards and a touchdown, and making plays to give his offense a chance to win the game.
As bad as the Giants are this season, they’ve actually been better defensively the last few weeks. They held a Chiefs offense which has been hot-and-cold all year to only field goals, and they just played a solid game against the Raiders a week ago. The biggest question with their defense this year has been effort, something which may be fixed now that Ben McAdoo has been fired.
Regardless, Dak Prescott has got to get back to playing his brand of football soon, or else it will be curtains for the 2017 season. We know he has the ability to do so, and against a 2-10 football team, the time appears to be now for Dak to get it right.
I’ve always said despite not being a very good passer, Dak is, by all accounts accounts a good kid and his best attributes are hard to find such as leadership and poise. Having said that, the same can be said for Tim Tebow. Unless he learns how to throw and develop pocket presence and pocket passing, he will not be the answer st QB for Dallas. Without drastic and rapid passing improvement he will go the way of Tebow, Kaepernicj, RGIII, ect. Does he throw a great 5-10 yard slant? Yes, pretty close to great. Does he throw well on the run? Mostly, yes. That’s all well and good but he is terrible throwing from the pocket and is highly vulnerable to sacks due to holding the ball for way too long. He is also hurt by is unwillingness to challenge a secondary deep. Simply refuses to throw long. These are honest and objective observations from a silver and blue bleeding fan. I hope he wakes up tomorrow and is Roger Staubach. But watch the Dak-offs go nuts at the mention of any criticism of their Dakie-Pooh.