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Forget the narrative about veteran Tony Romo coming back and resuming starting duties. Forget Prescott is a rookie. Forget the fact Dallas selected the first-year signal-caller in the fourth round.
None of that matters.
All that matters is Prescott continues to play at a level previously unseen in Dallas Cowboys and even NFL history. If he continues to play this well, Dallas should be considered the favorites to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LI.
Sunday's 35-10 victory against the hapless Cleveland Browns didn't simply show a dominant performance by the entire Cowboys roster. Prescott's looked like an unflappable quarterback who performed exactly how a top-end NFL starter should when facing an inferior opponent.
The Mississippi State product completed 77.8 percent of his passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
"In general, he does a very good job with his feet in the pocket," Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said, per the Star-Telegram's Clarence E. Hill Jr. "He gets himself in a good position to throw the ball on a consistent basis. That's why he's so accurate. I think we saw a lot of that today."
Inevitably, an argument over the surrounding cast will present itself against Prescott. However, the quarterback did what any good quarterback should do: He took advantage of the situation and picked his opponent apart.
Tom Brady isn't any less of a quarterback because he's thrown to dominant targets like Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski. Ben Roethlisberger won't return his Super Bowl rings because he capitalized on the Steelers strong ground game and stout defense from earlier in his career. No one thinks less of Troy Aikman because he played with the game's best offensive line and had the NFL's all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith, lined up behind him.
The same thought process applies to Prescott, even though the Cowboys feature the NFL's best front five and the league's leading rusher in Ezekiel Elliott.
Being anointed a top-notch quarterback doesn't require success without a great surrounding cast. In most cases, a good team is needed for the best quarterbacks to realize their potential.
Prescott is in a similar position now as Aikman was in the early 90s. However, the current Cowboys quarterback is much better at this stage of his career, as NFL on ESPN noted:
Dallas just reached the halfway point of its season, and Prescott already has more passing yards and touchdowns than Aikman as a rookie. The Louisiana native has thrown for 2,020 yards, 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions through his first eight games.
Consistency, poise and overall playmaking ability separate Prescott from a typical rookie quarterback and place him in rarefied territory.
The first-year quarterback threw for at least 225 yards in eight straight games—which is the longest streak for any rookie in Super Bowl era, according to the FOX telecast. He has yet to throw for 300 yards in a game, yet he's still on pace for over 4,000 yards.
After a somewhat slow start, in which Prescott didn't throw a touchdown pass until his third contest, he's continued to play nearly flawless football while getting his team into the end zone and posting strong weekly quarterback rankings.
He broke another record Sunday with a 141.8 passing rating, according to the NFL's director of football communications Randall Liu:
Each week, Prescott looks more and more comfortable for a quarterback deemed not ready for the professional ranks after playing in the same collegiate system that produced Alex Smith and Tim Tebow.
His poise in the pocket is his greatest asset, whether he's sitting there all day against an anemic Browns pass rush or asked to win the contest late like he did against the Philadelphia Eagles last week. Prescott is the same quarterback in either situation.
The Cowboys coaching staff deserves credit for putting Prescott in a position where his comfort level grows each and every week, as Inside the Pylon's Shane Alexander mentioned:
This concept meshes with who Prescott is as a player.
At this point in his career, Romo isn't much of a running threat. The rookie is. As such, he adds more wrinkles to the offense.
Prescott isn't expected to finish with 500 rushing yards. He's only on pace to gain 250 yards on the ground. However, his ability to create extends plays and keeps defenses honest, particularly when they're crashing down the line of scrimmage in an attempt to stop Dallas' potent rushing attack.
Opposition must account for Prescott, because he is a threat. The signal-caller has already registered four rushing touchdowns.
According to NFL Research, this makes the Cowboys quarterback as dangerous as the Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton when he entered the league:
The rookie also deserves credit for his improvement as a passer.
In hindsight, it's easy to make an argument teams were foolish to pass on Prescott.
"I'm sure there are a lot of teams that regret not taking him, but I'm happy he's here," Elliott said after Sunday's contest, per David Helman of the Cowboys official site.
Despite constant improvement throughout his collegiate career, the Mississippi State icon was never viewed as one of the nation's best pure passers.
Yet his performance Sunday showed multiple in-rhythm and perfectly placed throws. The learning curve Prescott displayed in Starkville extended to the NFL. As a result, the quarterback continues to grow with each passing week.
Of course, no one should expect a rookie to be performing at the same level as Brady or Drew Brees. However, Prescott is No. 1 in play-action passing accuracy at 78.1 percent and is among the league's best with a 50.7 completion percentage when under pressure, per Pro Football Focus. He also ranked sixth with a 99.6 quarterback rating before Week 9—which improved with Sunday's outstanding performance.
These numbers translate beyond the regular season. With the Cowboys' overwhelming rushing attack and Prescott's ability to stand tall in the pocket, the offense is among the league's best.
Prescott's performances have helped lead Dallas to winning football. The Cowboys are 7-1 and at least a game and a half better than every other NFC team due in large part to his contributions, and they shouldn't be undervalued.
The rookie is good. He's Super Bowl-caliber good.
Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.
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