Dak Prescott wasn't the problem against the Houston Texans

[LocimusPrime]

He had to step forward to make the pass, regardless. He should have done it before the defender latched on to him. He got scared, lowered his head, defender has time to get ahold of him. Should have stepped up. He's large enough to fight off hand grabs and clutches from the opposing DL. He gets scared when he senses any of that, let alone feels it, and bottles up. Like that play.

It's not an easy play to make, there are only, perhaps, 10 QBs in the league who can do that consistently. But ours isn't one. We need a guy who can make those plays. Hopefully finding a franchise QB (along with **** canning the staff) is at the top of the list going forward.

 

[RonnieT24]

Dak supporters, please list all of the starting QBs in the league that you feel Dak is better than. I made a thread requesting this but none of you guys showed up to do it, and I'm genuinely curious to see who you guys place him ahead of.

Better than or "Playing better than?" At the moment Dak is not PLAYING better than more than 5 or 6 QBs league wide. However I do believe he is CAPABLE of playing miles above where he is now. We know that because we have seen it for most of the first 24 games of his career. In the 24 games BA (Before Atlanta) Dak was easily a top 10 QB knocking on the door of top 5 .. In the 13 games since he has been a bottom 10 QB knocking on the door of bottom 5. The real question is whether we have the coaches on staff to get him back to that former level. At this point I honestly don't think they can. But I don't think he can be judged fairly with this receiving corps. I counted 6 INTs off receivers' hands (or chests) last year and at least 2 more so far this year. That's 8 of his 21 career INTs that frankly had no business being. How different is this conversation if he doesn't suffer the tipped ball pick sixes against the Rams and I think Packers? One off Dez and one off Williams.. last year.. Without which we probably win both games. How different if Austin catches that ball against the Lions or the one last night? Both plays were there to be made and if Austin makes them Dak is not playing any better or worse but we probably have one more win (last night) to go with two more wins last year. And Dak has done absolutely nothing different. Just better play by his receivers and the narrative completely flips. I guess that's a long winded way of saying the QB isn't playing 1 on 11. Much of his success or failure depends on the other 10 guys around him. And right now Dak is not getting a ton of help from those 10 guys. Is he playing lights out? Absolutely not.. but he didn't make Zeke fumble in Seattle nor did he cause the ball to bounce off Gallup's chest. You can't evaluate the QB or any position in a vacuum. I would contend that if you give Dak Houston or Detroit's receiving groups his numbers and our offense would look markedly better.

 

[RonnieT24]

Babe is either lying or blind.. Just look at the trajectory of the ball as it comes down into Austin hands and when it leaves. That ball clearly HITS his hands and changes directions. It did not just "touch his hands." Even in the pic posted you see the ball starts to tumble after hitting Austin's hands.

 

[Captain-Crash]

wow now we are rooting for "Rudy", the try hard guy, with little to no skills. How you going to develop "Rudy". Watch any QB in the NFL then watch Dak, big difference. Rah Rah RUDY.

 

[Aviano90]

wow now we are rooting for "Rudy", the try hard guy, with little to no skills. How you going to develop "Rudy". Watch any QB in the NFL then watch Dak, big difference. Rah Rah RUDY.

Rudy is Romo. You need a new nickname so they don’t get confused.

 

[Captain-Crash]

So I guess Dak is "radio"... "I got me a radio"... rah rah radio..


it's so sad, how some will try to cover for some "try hard guy" and not care about how the team is playing. Once you start blaming everybody on the team for playing bad, to cover up for one guy, then you know you have an agenda.

 

[HowardC]

I see other WRs on every other team catch those same balls every Sun and yes even on Sat in college and in HS on Friday nights. Those are routine catches, everywhere but here, where if it ain't between the numbers it ain't catchable.

Regardless of what other receivers do the probability of any receiver catching a ball thrown high like that goes down. There was no reason for the ball to be thrown like that other than Dak having mediocre accuracy.

 

[Aviano90]

I see other WRs on every other team catch those same balls every Sun and yes even on Sat in college and in HS on Friday nights. Those are routine catches, everywhere but here, where if it ain't between the numbers it ain't catchable.

Hopkins made a catch like that and then did 3 spin moves to gain 15 more yards.

 

[Haimerej]

Easy. Dominant running game. A dominant running game can cover a host of problems. And it did.

I don't use "common refrains" as excuses. Rather, I take phrases and if they fit, I use them.

Take Dak, for instance. Dak does some things well. And some things not so well.

One thing Dak does not do well is handle pressure during long developing routes. And that is what we run. Just think about that, and fit it into the fact that Dak has stunk this year.

Instead of scapegoating, look for reasons behind the obvious.

Is it Dak? Yes. Is it coaching? Yes. Is it questionable playcalling? Yes.

There is simply no reason to put it all on one. Just because Dak stinks, that does not mean the playcalling is good.

During Dak's rook season, they simplified the playbook for him. Which means shorter routes. It worked. Sooooooooooooo, they then went away from what was working. Bad coaching/playcalling. And then, to compound matters, they've stayed w/ the same long developing routes that got Romo hurt.

Dak may be bad no matter what I truly don't know. But our OC and playcalling definitely sucks, and of that there is no doubt whatsoever.

You can't isolate a few plays and paint a picture of the whole. A common refrain now is that they only run curl routes, which aren't long developing. Every playbook has a few plays that take time to develop. Several stat crunchers have shown Dak has more time to throw than most. You know how timing based routes work. This assumption that the coaches don't understand these concepts is just easy criticism because most fans don't understand the concepts.

Dak isn't getting through progressions to his checkdowns, either. Just about every pass play has multiple routes designed to attack different defensive concepts.

The run game can still be dominant, but even the best run game struggles when teams don't respect the pass at all.

I also disagree that they were running shorter routes his rookie year. They haven't totally overhauled their system, defenses are simply shutting down his comfort zone. Rewatch that rookie season. They weren't running West Coast concepts.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Here's a tip...

Do you see the helmet of the DB on the bottom of that picture? It's right in line where the football and receiver were. Dak had to throw it high in over to get it over the zone coverage DB standing in the way. Plus, add in the fact that Austin stands only at 5'8" and has shown a tendency to frequently drop passes that hit him in his hands. Who is the genius who puts a 5'8" receiver with bad hands out wide to run a deep inner route with a much taller DB standing in the line of sight of where the throw is to be made? This play was set up to fail from the very beginning by having the wrong size of receiver run that route. Where was Brice Butler? Why was he on the sidelines, instead of he running this route on this crucial down/play???

You can't make this **** up for the stubborness and stupidity of setting up Dak and this Offense to fail. Coaches need to be fired.

P.S.: This is something Babe Laughenburg should understand since he played some QB in the NFL. Even now, Laughenburg still doesn't get it, which is why he sucked when he played. Some people get it. Some people don't .

 

[Crosbie]

I don't defend Dak, because I know he's at least one part of the problem right now, but I also understand you can't solely blame any specific individual piece of the puzzle. A centipede can keep running at close-to full speed with one broken leg, when half its legs are busted though...

In lighter and more amusing news; anybody else noticed that the Commanders fans seem to have mysteriously stopped talking **** overnight? Very strange

 

[Doomsay]

On that crossing pattern to Tavon,thats 90% on him. NOT DAK. Yes he could have thrown a better ball...but the dude had guys hanging all over once again all night. He did good to see him at all. SOMETIMES the wideouts just need to step up. THEY DID NOT. I love how the tightend group looked tonight. That's a huge positive. Linehan did well getting them involved.

The Austin pass could not have been caught by any receiver his size & he had great separation, no need for that throw to be so off.

 

[ClintDagger]

The Austin pass could not have been caught by any receiver his size & he had great separation, no need for that throw to be so off.

I put that one on Dak from the beginning but said Austin could have bailed Dak out with a great catch. Now watching it again and seeing other angles Austin isn’t catching that ball once in 100 tries. I’m impressed he got his finger tips on it.

 

[RoboQB]

OK. ladies and gents...if Dak aint the answer and you don't wanna resign him at years end, who will you replace him with? Mike White? Rush? lol..another rookie? You see my point?

I'd call the Ravens and see what they want for Flacco. People like to rag on him but he
can make every throw an NFL QB is expected to make. Guess I'll duck now... lol

Hell, Josh McCown can score 20 points a game for us. I'll duck again.

 

[Rayman70]

ANYTIME SOMEONE starts out with the words "trust me" ...I am skeptical.

 

[charleshaleyfan94]

OK. Goff in his 1st year under Fisher was awful. The way I feel about him and Dak as young QBs are the same.. I have a lot of sympathy for both of them... they need a fair shot under a really good coaching staff, with really good weapons around them with schemes and playcalling to help them become the BEST they can be. The full package. Look at Goff now.
Troy Aikman did not thrive at all early until Jimmy full endorsed him & brought on Norv Turner. Trust builds confidence and it translates on the field.
We are now the last place O in the NFL.

 

[Blackrain]

Romo was in the league 4 years and was a starter before JG got here. He was coached by Sean Payton and Parcells beginning of his career. He already had a good foundation. If JG was his first coach from the get go, I'm sure Romo wouldn't be the same Romo we all know.
I'm sure he'll be the first to tell you that.

Romo even said he went to the Cowboys because Parcells was the coach

 

[Doomsay]

Babe is either lying or blind.. Just look at the trajectory of the ball as it comes down into Austin hands and when it leaves. That ball clearly HITS his hands and changes directions. It did not just "touch his hands." Even in the pic posted you see the ball starts to tumble after hitting Austin's hands.

Lol

 

[Blackrain]

Here's a tip...

Do you see the helmet of the DB on the bottom of that picture? It's right in line where the football and receiver were. Dak had to throw it high in over to get it over the zone coverage DB standing in the way. Plus, add in the fact that Austin stands only at 5'8" and has shown a tendency to frequently drop passes that hit him in his hands. Who is the genius who puts a 5'8" receiver with bad hands out wide to run a deep inner route with a much taller DB standing in the line of sight of where the throw is to be made? This play was set up to fail from the very beginning by having the wrong size of receiver run that route. Where was Brice Butler? Why was he on the sidelines, instead of he running this route on this crucial down/play???

You can't make this **** up for the stubborness and stupidity of setting up Dak and this Offense to fail. Coaches need to be fired.

P.S.: This is something Babe Laughenburg should understand since he played some QB in the NFL. Even now, Laughenburg still doesn't get it, which is why he sucked when he played. Some people get it. Some people don't .

AC Im going to go all the way back to preseason and say Dak was set up to fail when we got a load of new WRs and didn't give him every chance possible for one to emerge in preseason and build some chemistry and confidence .

If there was ever a time we needed to use preseason to our advantage it was this year and we squandered the opportunity . Now we have this snowball of crap rolling down hill at warp speed
The receivers give Dak NO CONFIDENCE to throw into small windows as they flatout cant make plays and have many times tipped it to the other team when the ball is there and should be caught
The Oline is middle of the pack giving suspect protection and not enough run blocking for Zeke to get some yrds on first down . This keeps Dak constantly behind the chains throw in the occasional holding penalty and its drive stalled .

Dak improvises and wins on enough plays to keep us in it to the end but he needs people to do there jobs so he can do his . Im not even going to comment on the coaching and play calling suffice to say it came over with Noah on the Ark . Its very simple The Oline by hook or crook needs to win on 1st Down and get us 3 or 4 yrds . 3rd and 9 = FAILURE with this group .

 

[HowardC]

Babe is either lying or blind.. Just look at the trajectory of the ball as it comes down into Austin hands and when it leaves. That ball clearly HITS his hands and changes directions. It did not just "touch his hands." Even in the pic posted you see the ball starts to tumble after hitting Austin's hands.

It was a **** throw. It looks like he's throwing to the defender instead of Austin. Mission accomplished.