SAN ANTONIO — Does everyone understand that there are very few "elite" NFL quarterbacks?
There was Tom Brady, and that guy has come around all of once. There may never be another like him.
The vast majority of NFL signal-callers will never taste Super Bowl success. Even the legends. (See Dan Marino, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly.)
Also see: Dak Prescott? Judge by everyone else's reactions, it sure seems like we know for certain that the Dallas Cowboys quarterback gonna end his career without a ring.
The conversation and comments were in full effect before last weekend's dismal loss at Arizona. They’ve been rolling off the social media assembly line for several years now. But I’ve never been of those people. I’ve never jumped on the bandwagon that Dak is just another guy.
And that’s the question I pose to you, reader: What am I missing? Has he really been that bad? Eternal Dallas Cowboy lover (and shock television jock) Skip Bayless tweeted just this week that it might be time for the Cowboys to consider moving on from their starting quarterback.
I’ve been unable to make the math work that he’s been more bad than good. Has he really? I mean, we’re all selfish when it comes to football, right? Every player on your favorite team needs to be good enough to be enshrined into the Hall Of Fame eventually. Isn’t that the way it works? The bad moments in big moments are always magnified in professional sports, as they should be—it’s part of what pro athletes sign up for.
Maybe, for me – someone who doesn't root for Dallas in my spare time – it's because he always represents with such class, and always says the right thing. Maybe something is missing "between the ears," as they say, beyond his physical football tools? I just don’t see that you can find something really that much better than what you always have. Are the Dallas Cowboys emboldened to trade him just because they’re the Dallas Cowboys and they deserve better? The answer would be no in every which way.
Dak Prescott has thrown for, as of the first three regular season games this year, nearly 26,000 yards in his career. His TD-to-INT career rate is 169/66. His career completion percentage is almost 67%. His passer rating is almost 97. What conversation are we having here? Has he been that soul-crushing in critical game moments?
There are some I can point out, absolutely. The end of the 49ers playoff game two years ago in Arlington will always be a headscratcher. Are we sure Cowboys faithful aren’t unloading on Dak just because they’ve been bounced from the playoffs the last couple of seasons by the hated San Francisco 49ers? That probably has something to do with it, save the fact that San Fran’s defense is absolutely off the charts in recent years.
But Dak should be better in those big game moments, right? I’m not gonna argue with that. I’d say you’re correct in that assumption. Seven full seasons with no trips to the NFC Championship Game does not look stellar on the resume.
But moving on from Prescott? Really? I’ve seen the sentiment time and again on every social media site. I’ve heard it in conversation after conversation. Most NFL signal-callers are regular-season-good, and that’s about it if you really think about it. Only those select few reach rarified air.
I’m not unconvinced that Prescott won’t eventually reach those heights. He is under the most intense of microscopic scrutiny wearing the helmet for America’s Team. We know that, and more importantly, he knows that.
Maybe it’s that Prescott is Kirk Cousins-ish. He does things that will make you sing and dance in the middle of the night, but then he does those other things, too. Those infuriating things. And it seems like most hardcore fans have resigned themselves to the idea that Dak is just good enough to get his team to the playoffs and not any further. You know what they say about those fourth-round picks, don’t ya?
My argument will continue to be that the idea of ditching Dak Prescott for something else borders on crazy talk. Has he been great in every big-time moment? He has not. But he’s also been really darn good in countless other moments. Have the Cowboys had a top draft pick since he’s been under center? They have not, and Zeke with the fourth overall selection is the highest they’ve had in the Prescott era. The margin of error for any NFL star QB is razor-thin. Everyone will have an opinion, regardless of how good the players on the opposing line of scrimmage might be.
Dak Prescott is 30 years old. That’s not NFL preschool, but it’s also not time for the football retirement home just yet. He needs to conquer when the game is on the line. I’ll never deny that because he’s not done enough of it. And he just got paid cold hard cash money in the spring of 2021, in the form of $160 million ($126 million of that guaranteed). That is the first and foremost reason to be critical of every Prescott decision in between the lines.
And it should. But before everybody signs the circulating handbill that the Cowboys would be better off without him, have you really thought that all the way through?
Are you sure?
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