Breaking Down Every Single Dak Interception

[Kevinicus]

Im supporting taking the calculated risk of trying to score before half by being aggressive if there is a low chance of turning the ball over leads to points for the other team.

That being said...If that is what the Cowboys are/were doing with the 10 Dak INT's, aka BEING AGGRESSIVE, I am all for it.

Dak haters can use those turnovers as ammo to say he sucks or is a turnover machine...I dont care.

Again...I dont know if the 10 INT's before half were because of what I am supporting.

I dont have the numbers...but I am confident the historic stats are low for teams being aggressive before half and turning the ball over which lead to points for the other team. If my speculation is correct...there is a higher chance of your risk/mistake NOT MAKING THE SECOND HALF HARDER FOR YOU. Its just a turnover. Nothing more, nothing less.

Am I being a bonehead?

No, you're not, but that's not really what I'm talking about at all.
I'm talking about the generalized statements of "when it counts" "cluch" etc. that provide greater weight to the later portions of a game than what came before it.

 

[Kevinicus]

That's exactly what it means

No. It's not. Not even remotely close to it.

 

[starfan1]

Do you know how many posts and threads I've created to support Dak? (Hint: Lots)

This thread is my best to be on-point objective about Dak's interceptions. He hasn't been a high turnover guy through his career-I wanted to scrutinize what's going on.

That wasn’t the one I was referring to but it’s all good I’ve seen your Dak threads as well

 

[FanofJerry]

No, you're not, but that's not really what I'm talking about at all.
I'm talking about the generalized statements of "when it counts" "cluch" etc. that provide greater weight to the later portions of a game than what came before it.

Im not trying to be a prick at all...

But werent we talking about mistakes right before half? You might be talking about mistakes that lead to turnovers that lead to points for the other team. I made the statement of it being easier to come back and win a game after a mistake that lead to other team scoring the more time you have on the clock...I stand by that even if the outcome of the game is the sum of all plays. But...I think the main take away we were discussing was that being aggressive before half seems to make sense(I provided a scenario)...especially if the chances are higher that the risk you take wont lead to points for the other team or make the second half more of an uphill climb.

 

[Kevinicus]

Im not trying to be a prick at all...

But werent we talking about mistakes right before half? You might be talking about mistakes that lead to turnovers that lead to points for the other team. I made the statement of it being easier to come back and win a game after a mistake that lead to other team scoring the more time you have on the clock...I stand by that even if the outcome of the game is the sum of all plays. But...I think the main take away we were discussing was that being aggressive before half seems to make sense(I provided a scenario)...especially if the chances are higher that the risk you take wont lead to points for the other team or make the second half more of an uphill climb.

No. I was never talking about mistakes right before half specifically.
Obviously it's easier to come back (IF you're down) with 35 minutes to go, than 35 seconds. But overall the game isn't easier one way or the other.

Perhaps I misunderstood your exact point.

 

[DandyDon52]

This is partly about dak, but also about coaching and game mgmt.
Each game is different, but the worst thing a team can do is turn the ball over late in 1st half, it gives the other team
the momentum going into half and a score or chance to score.
Better to go into halftime with a lead or be tied or close behind.

IMO it would be stupid to be aggressive before half in every single game you play.

 

[blueblood70]

I'm generally of the opinion that Dak is an average QB in an era where the average QB is pretty dam good. I think the team can win with him but he isn't going to out gunsling Patrick Mahomes. He needs a good defense, O line and run game.

I also don't give all of the credit or blame to QB's for wins and losses. Cooper Rush's 5-1 record as a starter doesn't make him an elite QB.

Passer rating ranking / QBR ranking for the active QB's you just brought up:
Mahomes 2nd / 1st
Allen 8th / 2nd
Burrows 6th / 10th
Prescott 16th / 12th

The reason why people say that Mahomes, Allen and Burrows are better than Dak is because they ARE better than Dak. Bringing them up in regards to Dak and throwing in Peyton Manning is NOT being the voice of reason. If anything, its just inciting the Dak haters (of which, I am not one) to pile on.

Let's get this straight the biggest knock on Prescott is they waited till he had one of his down years in interceptions and that's what they keep bringing up if I bring up Peyton Manning is because he had twice as many interceptions over the same amount of games and he had a two and four playoff record actually went to three and six the next year before things started clicking that's why we bring up the comp because that's what we hear about Prescott correct he's not winning in the playoffs fast enough and he threw too many interceptions last year so you're trying to tell me I'm not allowed to compare Peyton Manning 's first 97 games when that's all this place talks about is the playoffs and the interceptions

again, bringing back mahomes and Burrows the last two seasons Prescott only has one more interception than them and Josh Allen leads the league since he was a rookie in total turnovers at the quarterback position so again I am tired of reading about how bad he was because of his interceptions last year without looking at those first six or seven games he came back after a broken hand by the way and was immediately took our sputtering flaccid offense at Cooper rush was running and immediately shot up from bottom 10 to top two in the league and scoring red zone percentage third down percentage plus the man started to put up points at a very high rate.

just because the rest of the team around him create a situation where his interception totals went up we saw the thread that we're on right now I'm using the interceptions because last time I read it said breaking down every single dak interception and then there's about 75 people that don't want to to hear it.

so you're gonna hear it I'm only bringing up those names because we're talking about the interceptions Prescott has 62 touchdowns and 25 interceptions over the last two years. I believe Joe Burrows has 69 touchdowns and 24 interceptions... By the way did you happen to notice Joe Burrows weapons he's like 3Deep at wide receiver and did you look at what Prescott was forced to play with most of the year and in the playoffs? That goes to the other threads oh why do we gotta surround Prescott with mortality he should be able to win with what he had really? Noah brown was his number two last year for most of the year until Gallup came back and he wasn't even as good as a number 2..

so that's why somebody has to be the voice of reason sorry I'm standing by my other thread I don't care the QBR rankings but again he had an off year last year that messed those rankings up I don't care Prescott to me he's still a top ten quarterback in this league that's not average...

lastly,I guarantee you bring in wins and losses if Prescott wasn't top five since he's coming to league in wins as a quarterback has no losing seasons and the fact is he's been to the playoffs four out of the six seasons he's been healthy but oh we can't bring in that because it's a positive thing to say about him but I guarantee if he had a 500 record they sure would bring up his win loss record that's a fact

 

[doomsday9084]

Let's get this straight the biggest knock on Prescott is they waited till he had one of his down years in interceptions and that's what they keep bringing up if I bring up Peyton Manning is because he had twice as many interceptions over the same amount of games and he had a two and four playoff record actually went to three and six the next year before things started clicking that's why we bring up the comp because that's what we hear about Prescott correct he's not winning in the playoffs fast enough and he threw too many interceptions last year so you're trying to tell me I'm not allowed to compare Peyton Manning 's first 97 games when that's all this place talks about is the playoffs and the interceptions

again, bringing back mahomes and Burrows the last two seasons Prescott only has one more interception than them and Josh Allen leads the league since he was a rookie in total turnovers at the quarterback position so again I am tired of reading about how bad he was because of his interceptions last year without looking at those first six or seven games he came back after a broken hand by the way and was immediately took our sputtering flaccid offense at Cooper rush was running and immediately shot up from bottom 10 to top two in the league and scoring red zone percentage third down percentage plus the man started to put up points at a very high rate.

just because the rest of the team around him create a situation where his interception totals went up we saw the thread that we're on right now I'm using the interceptions because last time I read it said breaking down every single dak interception and then there's about 75 people that don't want to to hear it.

so you're gonna hear it I'm only bringing up those names because we're talking about the interceptions Prescott has 62 touchdowns and 25 interceptions over the last two years. I believe Joe Burrows has 69 touchdowns and 24 interceptions... By the way did you happen to notice Joe Burrows weapons he's like 3Deep at wide receiver and did you look at what Prescott was forced to play with most of the year and in the playoffs? That goes to the other threads oh why do we gotta surround Prescott with mortality he should be able to win with what he had really? Noah brown was his number two last year for most of the year until Gallup came back and he wasn't even as good as a number 2..

so that's why somebody has to be the voice of reason sorry I'm standing by my other thread I don't care the QBR rankings but again he had an off year last year that messed those rankings up I don't care Prescott to me he's still a top ten quarterback in this league that's not average...

lastly,I guarantee you bring in wins and losses if Prescott wasn't top five since he's coming to league in wins as a quarterback has no losing seasons and the fact is he's been to the playoffs four out of the six seasons he's been healthy but oh we can't bring in that because it's a positive thing to say about him but I guarantee if he had a 500 record they sure would bring up his win loss record that's a fact

So, basically, when the team wins Prescott should get the credit but when things go poorly, you blame his teammates.

Yup. That's the voice of reason. No bias there at all. /s

This basically the complete inverse of the "blame Prescott for losses and give the team credit for wins" Dak haters who are also blatantly biased. Even worse, this is a COWBOYS website so when Prescott fans throw the Cowboys under the bus to protect Dak, its going to engender a lot of negative reactions from fans who aren't really anti-Dak, like myself.

Side note 1: The complaints about WR really rings hollow. Dak took off when Amare Cooper came to Dallas. In 2021 Dak didn't throw it to him enough and Dak fans were Moore than happy to attack Amare. End result was that Coop was dumped and Dallas had crap WR's. Dak made that bed. He should have no issue sleeping in it.

Side note 2: The "he's a top 10 QB!" is just propaganda/spin. While technically true, its also accurate to say that he is somewhere in the 10 to 20 range for QB's. Why? Because there are a lot of metrics that say is about the 10th best QB in the league. His detractors should just start referring to him as a "bottom 20 starting QB" because they have the stats to prove it and it sounds more negative than it really is.

 

[blueblood70]

So, basically, when the team wins Prescott should get the credit but when things go poorly, you blame his teammates.

Yup. That's the voice of reason. No bias there at all. /s

This basically the complete inverse of the "blame Prescott for losses and give the team credit for wins" Dak haters who are also blatantly biased. Even worse, this is a COWBOYS website so when Prescott fans throw the Cowboys under the bus to protect Dak, its going to engender a lot of negative reactions from fans who aren't really anti-Dak, like myself.

Side note 1: The complaints about WR really rings hollow. Dak took off when Amare Cooper came to Dallas. In 2021 Dak didn't throw it to him enough and Dak fans were Moore than happy to attack Amare. End result was that Coop was dumped and Dallas had crap WR's. Dak made that bed. He should have no issue sleeping in it.

Side note 2: The "he's a top 10 QB!" is just propaganda/spin. While technically true, its also accurate to say that he is somewhere in the 10 to 20 range for QB's. Why? Because there are a lot of metrics that say is about the 10th best QB in the league. His detractors should just start referring to him as a "bottom 20 starting QB" because they have the stats to prove it and it sounds more negative than it really is.

That's precious because it's exactly the opposite around here anything that goes well it's the team anything that goes bad it's Prescott good try though trying to flip it to make your point and no I'm not trying to compare Peyton Manning to Prescott I'm just comparing their first 97 games it's very much along the same lines and Prescott has half the turnovers this is what's being discussed in this very thread they both have the same playoff record but truly Prescott has better stats overall I mean when you talk about half the turnovers I mean we are talking about turnovers interceptions that's exactly what we're talking about and you keep trying to push it to another agenda I've said it 2000 times in here if I've said it a million times it is a team game I'm saying stop blaming the quarterback when we lose there's at least five things we can go back to as to why we lost not just the quarterback and the fact is last year's the only bad game Prescott has actually played in the playoffs and he had a lot of reasons for it is my point he wasn't the only one

you're sitting in here trying to blame Prescott for having to play with a defense that couldn't stop Aaron Rodgers then with a defense that couldn't stop the run in the form of 276 yards plus there was no run game on the other side and guess what 20/21 he had to play with 14 penalties no quarterback can overcome that 111 of them are up front on your line once again getting destroyed by the 49ers defense our offensive line has been the biggest issue the last three playoff losses I mean 11 penalties we played behind the chains the entire game big plays got called back play calling it skewed because of it I mean when you're playing first and 21st and 15 second and 14 et cetera et cetera you're not gonna be successful on offense and you don't have a running game because of it it almost takes to run out of it but we still didn't even run well in that game and then last year where was the actual run game I mean even with Pollard 3 yards per carry and a cloud of dust our offensive line was getting their **** kicked and it affects the entire offense

and yes it does matter how many good players you have around you that show up to play. No I'm not protecting Prescott I'm an actual Tony Romo fan and it took a long time for me to accept Prescott so I was always in the middle but I've watched him play since 2016 and I could promise you outside of last playoff game he hasn't even been top five in the reasons why we lost those games now last year he was in the top five but there were five there weren't just one player that played poorly and his name was Prescott there was other players who didn't make plays who didn't play well

our biggest issue is once we get to the playoffs our running backs are offensive line and our coaches are not showing up and playing their best game either that's a problem it's been a bunch of things not just Prescott especially last year yes his worst game in the playoffs but also there was no talent outside of CD Lam doing anything the line was getting stood up pushed back there were no holes there was no run game I mean how many times I gotta tell you this I am not making excuses for Prescott I'm saying the team failed this is a bunch of team failures

the deficiencies you're asking him to overcome I have a problem with... That's what I'm trying to get across it is a team failure the wins and the losses can be attributed to the team either playing well or not playing well it's not just one player..

I find it ironic that you have an issue with me talking about turnovers and the fact that a lot of the skilled players around Prescott were lacking were part of the problem well that's the exact reason we're on this thread with that in the title and the word interception after it there were about 40 or 50 of them since last February so yes I'm gonna keep coming in and being the voice of reason and I don't care what you think he's our quarterback and I don't believe he's our issue he was part of the issue last year in the playoffs in the 49er game but there were a lot of other issues

 

[CowboyoWales]

Im supporting taking the calculated risk of trying to score before half by being aggressive if there is a low chance of turning the ball over leads to points for the other team.

That being said...If that is what the Cowboys are/were doing with the 10 Dak INT's, aka BEING AGGRESSIVE, I am all for it.

Dak haters can use those turnovers as ammo to say he sucks or is a turnover machine...I dont care.

Again...I dont know if the 10 INT's before half were because of what I am supporting.

I dont have the numbers...but I am confident the historic stats are low for teams being aggressive before half and turning the ball over which lead to points for the other team. If my speculation is correct...there is a higher chance of your risk/mistake NOT MAKING THE SECOND HALF HARDER FOR YOU. Its just a turnover. Nothing more, nothing less.

Am I being a bonehead?

That's a fair point, however, the come back may still be that when he does try taking risks that's when he comes up short....as seen in the number of 3rd D and long yardage pick-offs.
Personally, I'd prefer he moved the chains and do what he does (and a more WCO aporoach will help).
I'll admit I haven't gone through every interception to see the clock/down situation.

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

Each game is different, but the worst thing a team can do is turn the ball over late in 1st half, it gives the other team
the momentum going into half and a score or chance to score.

It’s even more compounded when the opponent gets the ball to start the second half.

 

[FanofJerry]

The chances are low that the other team will score when youre turning the ball over with 3 minutes left in the half. I dont have the data but I am confident its low. Dallas also had a super impressive defense most of the regular season. What was it...like giving up 10 points a game or less?

I believe in momentum...but not after one INT before half. If it was the 3rd turnover of the game created by the other teams defense...yeah...maybe then I wouldnt risk giving them another one and inflating their confidence.

Just seems like the situation was right for Dallas to be aggressive last year if that is what they were doing before half. Their defense was on fire.

Maybe if T-Ro is willing...he can provide the game situation(and who gets ball back first after half) and snap shots of the 10 INT's Dak had with 3 minutes left in the half.

 

[DandyDon52]

It’s even more compounded when the opponent gets the ball to start the second half.

good point.
even more reason to not have a turnover at end of half and give the other team a easy score, and then they get the ball 1st and add another score boom!

 

[FanofJerry]

good point.
even more reason to not have a turnover at end of half and give the other team a easy score, and then they get the ball 1st and add another score boom!

lol

 

[mattjames2010]

How many interceptions were not made because of something Dak did well like a presnap call or read? If you are going to adjust reality, you don't do it all in a self serving way.

Apparently not as well as most other starting QBs with the rate at which he was throwing them.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Apparently not as well as most other starting QBs with the rate at which he was throwing them.

That is not what I was talking about and I agree it is an issue. One the team and player have detailed how they are addressing.

I am talking about revisionism and how it was one sided. I could just as easily point to the passes that clanked off Brown and Schultz's hand and waved my hands. It would be just as disingenuous.

 

[T-RO]

Each game is different, but the worst thing a team can do is turn the ball over late in 1st half, it gives the other team
the momentum going into half and a score or chance to score.

The worst thing? No. 4th Q and OT Interceptions are the worst.

 

[T-RO]

I still want to finish up reviewing the last few interceptions.

Do want to emphasize this:
Dak's 2022 interception rate is about TWICE what he had prior to 2021. Interceptions have not been a big problem through his career.

 

[America's Cowboy]

If the intent is truly to objectively analyze what is going on with Dak, you have to also look at the throws where he threw it right to a defender and the guy dropped it. There was more than one of them.

Overall, I agree with T-RO that Dak has largely been a low turnover guy through his career. I largely blame Moore for the interceptions. That said, it should also be a lesson learned that if the team puts everything on Dak's shoulders that he will be a high turnover guy. The team needs a good run game all game long, not just when Pollard is in.

One guy has been praised as being among the best passers ever who could carry his team under any circumstance, regardless of his career long history of INTs, and could put up the best/most passing game numbers...

While the other guy has been labeled as not being a natural or good passer, is a high turnover guy, especially when everything is put on his shoulders, can't carry the team/wilts under pressure, and does not have the talent to put up the best/most passing game numbers...

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

good point.
even more reason to not have a turnover at end of half and give the other team a easy score, and then they get the ball 1st and add another score boom!

In essence giving them a bonus bite at the apple.