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Not that it is much of a surprise...
The Dallas Cowboys are racking up awards and accolades as the season progresses, and today brings another one. Quarterback Dak Prescott was named the Offensive Rookie of the Month for November. You might recall that in October, Ezekiel Elliott won this same award.
Prescott’s stats speak for themselves during November.
Prescott was 87-of-119 for 1,062 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions in the four games. He also ran for a touchdown in the team’s Thanksgiving win over the Commanders, giving him five on the year to go with his 18 touchdown passes.
As we noted in this morning's news links, there is actually a push by some stat-heads at ESPN to give Prescott a bigger award. The NFL MVP. Here is their take on Prescott’s recent run, focusing on what he’s done late in games.
In fact, on his past 11 drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, Prescott has completed 30 of 33 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders. Those completions weren’t coming in blowouts, either, with 29 of the 33 passes coming in one-score games against the Eagles, Steelers, Ravens and Commanders.
Prescott’s ability to adapt to the NFL has been nothing short of phenomenal. Much has been made of all the “coaching up” Dallas had to do of Prescott because he came from a spread offense at Mississippi State. But two people kind of dispute that notion.
Prescott’s college coach Dan Mullen:
“I’m not surprised by what he’s doing,” Mullen insists. “He was prepared for this. Even though we’re a spread team, we run a lot of pro concepts with our passing game and protections and responsibilities. And he developed more every single year.”
And Dak Prescott:
During the summer, Prescott told USA TODAY Sports’ Lorenzo Reyes: “The offense we ran at Mississippi State was nothing short of an NFL offense. The only thing that was different is that we didn’t go under center. I swear to you, in (pre-draft) visits, every play they showed me, I could name it.”
The Cowboys contend they haven’t “dummied down” the playbook for Prescott. Mullen believes it’s true.
Mullen said that his scheme dictated that Prescott had five reads in his passing progression, which can equate to “whole-field” reads in the NFL, and the responsibility of choosing from roughly 15 different offensive-line protections. Prescott started for three years in college, and progressively earned more freedom to switch plays at the line of scrimmage.
Watching Prescott confidently call protections at the line of scrimmage and audible out of plays has been eye-opening for many observers, it’s just not something rookie QBs usually do so well. Perhaps we should stop being surprised at Prescott’s success, it sound like he’s been preparing for it for a long time.
Congrats on the award, Dak.
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