Addressing Dak’s “Sophmore Slump”

[DakBringMeBack]

Before Zeke was suspended, these were Dak’s numbers over the first eight games:

Total Yards - 2,013
Total TDS - 20
Interceptions - 4

Project those stats over an entire season:

Total Yards - 4,026
Total TDs - 40
Interceptions - 8

Compare that to his rookie year:

Total Yards - 3,949
Total TDs - 29
Interceptions - 4

So even with some early struggles from the offensive line and a worsening connection with Dez, Dak’s trajectory was pointing way up.

So had Dak & Zeke played the entire season together, we’d be talking about what a monster year Dak just had.

If you take away his best weapon, injure his best offensive lineman [and do nothing to compensate for it] and leave him with receivers who struggle to get open, your QB is bound to struggle.

But since Zeke will be playing a full season next year and the front office is using draft picks to make the offense “Dak friendly”, we have absolutely no reason to believe his trajectory won’t go back to pointing up.

Dak is the man and we’re fortunate to have him.

Good post

It was still a really good year statistically over the full year. We are the only people in football who don't fully acknowledge him as a superstar and one of the future faces of the league. All fan bases do this though to their QB, I've seen it with whoever you name.

 

[Valorius]

They are both starting QB's in the NFC. Why on Earth can you not make a comparison?

I brought Rodgers and Wilson up because they are examples of QBs that do what Prescott failed hard at last season. It's what makes them elite starting QBs and him a mediocre one. Can he improve? Likely but the blind bias that I see in his favor is delusional.

It is rather baffling. Prescott lost one lineman and had a really good RB replace Elliot. Alfred Morris played extremely well in Elliot's absence, and is himself a longtime starter who has had a lot of success in the NFL. It's not like some green rookie low round draft pick had to step in when Elliot got himself suspended.

Prescott completely tanked when he faced adversity, and that is not a good sign moving forward.

Especially when you contrast it with what Foles did in Philadelphia...he had even more adversity and not only took the Eagles to the Superbowl, but won the MVP.

 

[Valorius]

Good post

It was still a really good year statistically over the full year. We are the only people in football who don't fully acknowledge him as a superstar and one of the future faces of the league. All fan bases do this though to their QB, I've seen it with whoever you name.

You're definitely not the only people who do not acknowlege Prescott as a super star. I would never use that word to describe him up to this point, and i doubt any fan in any other NFL city outside of Dallas would either. The term i would use to describe Prescott so far is "flash in the pan."

 

[DakBringMeBack]

You're definitely not the only people who do not acknowlege Prescott as a super star. I would never use that word to describe him up to this point, and i doubt any fan in any other NFL city outside of Dallas would either. The term i would use to describe Prescott so far is "flash in the pan."

Oh you might but you would be wrong. Everything you said here is wrong. It's okay though. I've got family members in the Steelers, Packers, Giants, and Eagles fan base on a short list. Oh and the Saints. They all were wanting to run off Brees, Roethlisberger, Manning, Foles (in a similar situation) and RODGERS because they were flashes in the pan. But the thing is there's a reason you work in a cube and not in an NFL front office. Same goes for most of us. Time will tell the story. Dak will still be a Cowboy, putting up numbers, and having them in most games on Sundays 10 years from now, barring injury.

 

[DakBringMeBack]

My brother in law the Panthers fan said Cam Newton couldn't play. Was a bust. Then he won MVP. He was calling him a bust after he set NFL records to start his career (Dak is right there with him on everything through 2 years). It was comical to watch unfold. But that other girl is always hotter, you know?

 

[Valorius]

I was actually quite distressed when Kelly shipped off Foles...and DJack, and LeSean McCoy, and...you get the picture.

Since you bring up Foles, in his 2nd year as a starter for Kelly, his line was a shambles, they cut Djack and Foles still went 6-2 as a starter.

My prediction: Next year will be Prescott's last as a starter for the Cowboys.

 

[DakBringMeBack]

I was actually quite distressed when Kelly shipped off Foles...and DJack, and LeSean McCoy, and...you get the picture.

Since you bring up Foles, in his 2nd year as a starter for Kelly, his line was a shambles, they cut Djack and Foles still went 6-2 as a starter.

My prediction: Next year will be Prescott's last as a starter for the Cowboys.

Maybe you felt that way but 99.9% of philly fans wanted Foles gone and the posts are on your message boards to prove it and I remember the conversations with my friends then about how he couldn't play (I knew he was good, just like I know Dak is good) and even in December this year after the raiders game you were all ******** your pants about how Foles was terrible. And oh look, he's good. I guarantee you Dak plays 7-10 more years as a Cowboy.

 

[DakBringMeBack]

Too many basing on opinion, not fact.

Here's the truth

 

[ghst187]

While I'm a big Dak supporter, he cannot escape all responsibility. Watching the season unfold Dak's accuracy, decision making, and field vision regressed and were very poor at some points. He played really loose with the ball sometimes. These traits are independent from Zeke absence (and we still had a very good running game during the suspension). The OL issues contributed more to his struggles, but a good QB has to overcome. Luckily, thiswas in his 2nd year and he can improve.

I mostly agree but having the OL healthy and Zeke meant the D was heavily focused on stopping that plus when Dak did drop back to throw he had lots of time to wait for guys to come open. His rookie year he just waited and took the easy completion. He didn't have a lot of those luxuries this past season and Defenses didn't mind our run game once Zeke was out plus Dak seemed to lock onto Dez maybe to keep the baby happy and Dez hasn't been able to get any separation in several years now.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Nope won’t spare you. Sorry

And the funny thing is with your extreme point of view that people believe "Dak can do no wrong" is that I haven't seen anyone with that extreme view. I've seen them admit Dak has improvement opportunities. I have see other players like Dez and Zeke's problems being pinned all on Dak though.

I've been calling out blindzebra for him never criticizing anything Dak does for over a month now. Still no criticism.

As for you "just having a good time on the internet," that does not mean you aren't trolling.

 

[Darthkuriboh]

Dak worshipping nonsense.

You do realize that every time an opponent concentrated on taking the run away and make Dak beat them through the air, we lost, right? Such as the drubbing by denver? That was before Zeke's suspension. We were 5-3 but very easily could have been 3-5 without a couple of key defensive stops, because Dak wasn't just lack luster, in a lot of games he was flat pathetic.

 

[Cowpolk]

He was good and then he sucked if he's good there will be trouble if he's bad there will be trouble he was good and then he sucked

 

[Captain-Crash]

he's the best ever, it's not his fault the receivers, offensive linemen and the coach can't get it together for two years.... go ahead and get his size for his yellow jacket... :\

 

[Aviano90]

I've been calling out blindzebra for him never criticizing anything Dak does for over a month now. Still no criticism.

As for you "just having a good time on the internet," that does not mean you aren't trolling.

You call it whatever your little heart desires. Trust me, not going to lose sleep over it when the first time I interact with you, I get a couple paragraphs of “you guys” BS.

As for Bkind Zebra, it appears he admits Dak “regressed” and states it occurs with the timing of the loss of Zeke and Tyron. He has just been disagreeing with other claims like Dak can’t go deep. I don’t see him as thinking Dak can do no wrong. Most of the time he has just been in a catch/no catch debate and not in the many Dak threads that pop up though, so I will watch out for his postings.

 

[gmoney112]

I've been calling out blindzebra for him never criticizing anything Dak does for over a month now. Still no criticism.

As for you "just having a good time on the internet," that does not mean you aren't trolling.

The polarity is pretty ridiculous. It seems like here, most gravitate to the respective poles of "Dak is terrible" and "Dak is awesome". Or it could just be theyre outliers and louder than the rest.

I'm not as down on Dak as some. But, he still has a lot to prove this season. I think he'll bounce back but there's no guarantee of that.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

They are both starting QB's in the NFC. Why on Earth can you not make a comparison?

I brought Rodgers and Wilson up because they are examples of QBs that do what Prescott failed hard at last season. It's what makes them elite starting QBs and him a mediocre one. Can he improve? Likely but the blind bias that I see in his favor is delusional.

I understand what you're saying but comparing a second year player that's still developing to elite Superbowl champions is silly. Of course Dak isn't on their level....... Yet. They have been in the league much longer and are in their prime

 

[glimmerman]

Looking forward to a bounce back year. If not then he will be replaced. I refuse to believe after such a descent rookie year that he will simply just suck. Kid has leader qualities, let’s see if someone in our staff can put him back in position to win.

 

[percyhoward]

I've read your narrative before percy, but as I said last time it's not that cut and dry.

So show how it's not that "cut and dry."

And I have no idea why you just throw out those high pressure games like he should just get a pass for letting his mechanics and reads going into the toilet. Getting hit as you are throwing is one thing. Spitting the bit and doing what he did is egregiously bad.

One might even say "terrible."

Dak's problem has been when he is pressured on 40% or more of his dropbacks in the game. In those games, he's been terrible, whether or not he was pressured on the play.

 

[starcity214]

Most qb aren’t very good when under pressure all game.

I'm sick and tired of fans pushing false narratives...

"Under pressure all game"

Dak was the 16th most sacked QB in the league last year!! Not even close to being the most sacked!!

Wentz, Wilson, Brady , Stafford were sacked more times than Dak and they didn't turn into Tim Tebow..

What does Dak need? An OLine that doesn't give up any sacks? Get real..

Also, the Oline gets alot of blame but I think most of the sacks were on Dak because he was gun-shy and held on to the ball on some plays, stepped into sacks on other plays ,(instead of maneuvering in the pocket) and since teams didn't fear getting burnt deep they went blitz crazy on third downs..

teams don't Blitz guys like Brady or Rodgers often because they make you pay...

Some fans really don't understand football..

 

[Aviano90]

Looking forward to a bounce back year. If not then he will be replaced. I refuse to believe after such a descent rookie year that he will simply just suck. Kid has leader qualities, let’s see if someone in our staff can put him back in position to win.

The book is still out on him. I think people rush to judge too quickly, and more are rushing to judge Dak so quickly due to who he replaced. Otherwise, he would get more benefit of the doubt from more people.