Leadership aside, is Cowboys Dak Prescott ready to fix issues in 2018?

waving monkey

waving monkey

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The narrative on Dak Prescott has been he was figured out in 2017, he was a one-year wonder who was exposed as a fluke and made by the offensive line.

There is truth in there, but that isn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Prescott was incapable of lifting his run-centric team when they lost their star running back to a six-game suspension and his stalwart left tackle and blindside protector.

The first eight games of the season, Prescott was playing at an MVP level. Then Ezekiel Elliott and Tyron Smith were lost and he played like a backup quarterback. Which is the real deal?

It’s probably somewhere in the middle, but in the middle is enough to lead the Cowboys to the promise land providing he doesn’t have to play behind a patchwork offensive line and without Elliott. The Cowboys went out and signed Cameron Fleming to make sure “Chaz Green, in at left tackle” never happens again. Now Prescott just needs to feel secure in the pocket again.

https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/2018/05/31/dallas-cowboys-dak-prescott-2018-performance-preview/
 
Kaiser

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waving monkey said:
There is truth in there, but that isn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Prescott was incapable of lifting his run-centric team when they lost their star running back to a six-game suspension and his stalwart left tackle and blindside protector.
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IMO its a middle ground between "the offense made Dak" and "Dak couldn't lift the team over the Zeke suspension".

There is no doubt Dak benefited from being surrounded by superior talent in 2016 but he still made the jump to the NFL better than any rookie QB in history. But in terms of Zeke's suspension, the team went 3 - 3. One of those was a blowout to the Eagles but one was the Falcons game that Chaz Green basically lost by himself and the third was the Chargers game. That game had every bad call go against Dallas while the refs "missed" every hold against the Dallas DL.
 
waving monkey

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Kevinicus said:
People really need to stop saying he was playing at an MVP level the first 8 games. I can't take anyone who says that seriously. It's as if they are new to the NFL and never seen MVP QB play before.
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what would be your description of Dak's first 8 games
 
waving monkey

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Midseason MVP: Prescott. He entered the season with some wondering how he would follow up his rookie season. He has not disappointed. He had a stretch of three straight games with three touchdown passes, something only Don Meredith and Tony Romo have done in team history. He has made big plays from the pocket and outside the pocket and become one of the biggest team leaders. Sometimes it is easy to forget he is only in his second season.

http://www.espn.com.au/blog/dallas-...ns-but-cowboys-first-half-lacking-consistency
 
Northern_Cowboy

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Captain-Crash said:
yep nobody could survive this.. oh yeah the eagles did and they lost their starting QB.........
his pocket awareness and fear is what costed us. the glitch
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No No, the Eagles lost their Franchise QB (Wentz) for the season, they lost their AP right tackle (Peters) for the season, they lost their best LB (Hicks) for the season, they lost 2 FG kickers for the season and they lost Sproles for the season. If Dak doesn't improve his pocket presence this season we will be lucky to in 9 games in 2018
 
Captain43Crash

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I think it’s a ridiculous narrative floated around on this site, and other places, that Dak was “figured out” last year. The mediocre play of the O line, injuries to the O line, and the terrible coaching decisions because of the injuries to the O line were the main reasons why Dak struggled AT TIMES last year. The Atlanta game and Seattle game last year were two perfect examples of this. Dak had no chance in the Atlanta game with Chaz Green getting dominated play after play, and the coaches, not chipping for him. In the Seattle game, Tyrone went out after the first series, and Bell was a turnstile as his replacement and again the coaches seldom chipped for him. I don’t think Dak has issues to fix any more than any top QB. If the O line plays better as a whole, which I think they will due to the drafting of Williams and signing of Fleming, and the coaches learn from their stupid mistakes and chip if they have an overmatched T( which is less likely to happen with our much improved depth at T), Dak will play at a very high level. Similar to his rookie season.
 
Northern_Cowboy

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waving monkey said:
The narrative on Dak Prescott has been he was figured out in 2017, he was a one-year wonder who was exposed as a fluke and made by the offensive line.

There is truth in there, but that isn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Prescott was incapable of lifting his run-centric team when they lost their star running back to a six-game suspension and his stalwart left tackle and blindside protector.

The first eight games of the season, Prescott was playing at an MVP level. Then Ezekiel Elliott and Tyron Smith were lost and he played like a backup quarterback. Which is the real deal?

It’s probably somewhere in the middle, but in the middle is enough to lead the Cowboys to the promise land providing he doesn’t have to play behind a patchwork offensive line and without Elliott. The Cowboys went out and signed Cameron Fleming to make sure “Chaz Green, in at left tackle” never happens again. Now Prescott just needs to feel secure in the pocket again.

https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/2018/05/31/dallas-cowboys-dak-prescott-2018-performance-preview/
Click to expand...


If you take an honest look at Dak numbers and play thru the 1st 8 games you will see that in pretty much every category his numbers were down from 2016 (and they were down a significant amount). As for losing Zeke and Tyron (who only missed 2 and an half games), if everything has to be picture perfect for Dak to succeed then the Cowboys are in trouble. What bothers me is after we lost Zeke Dak was unable to lift his game at all, (infact he went the other direction). It would have been one thing to see Dak play lights out and we were losing it was an entirley different thing to see us lose 3 games in a row 27-7, 37-9, and 28-6. I am willing to give Dak his 3rd year to see if he can be the guy he was in 2017 but i just don't think he can
 
zerofill

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Northern_Cowboy said:
What bothers me is after we lost Zeke Dak was unable to lift his game at all, (infact he went the other direction).
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Wasn't like we didn't have a good RB there either... There are plenty of QBs that could win with Alfred Morris in the backfield...

But, I do have to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to coaching. Because that was just as non-existent as his play, in many cases.
 
Verdict

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waving monkey said:
The narrative on Dak Prescott has been he was figured out in 2017, he was a one-year wonder who was exposed as a fluke and made by the offensive line.

There is truth in there, but that isn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Prescott was incapable of lifting his run-centric team when they lost their star running back to a six-game suspension and his stalwart left tackle and blindside protector.

The first eight games of the season, Prescott was playing at an MVP level. Then Ezekiel Elliott and Tyron Smith were lost and he played like a backup quarterback. Which is the real deal?

It’s probably somewhere in the middle, but in the middle is enough to lead the Cowboys to the promise land providing he doesn’t have to play behind a patchwork offensive line and without Elliott. The Cowboys went out and signed Cameron Fleming to make sure “Chaz Green, in at left tackle” never happens again. Now Prescott just needs to feel secure in the pocket again.

https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/2018/05/31/dallas-cowboys-dak-prescott-2018-performance-preview/
Click to expand...

I think you are going to see Dak Prescott bloom now that he doesn't have to **** with Dez anymore.
 
Northern_Cowboy

Northern_Cowboy

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Captain43Crash said:
I think it’s a ridiculous narrative floated around on this site, and other places, that Dak was “figured out” last year. The mediocre play of the O line, injuries to the O line, and the terrible coaching decisions because of the injuries to the O line were the main reasons why Dak struggled AT TIMES last year. The Atlanta game and Seattle game last year were two perfect examples of this. Dak had no chance in the Atlanta game with Chaz Green getting dominated play after play, and the coaches, not chipping for him. In the Seattle game, Tyrone went out after the first series, and Bell was a turnstile as his replacement and again the coaches seldom chipped for him. I don’t think Dak has issues to fix any more than any top QB. If the O line plays better as a whole, which I think they will due to the drafting of Williams and signing of Fleming, and the coaches learn from their stupid mistakes and chip if they have an overmatched T( which is less likely to happen with our much improved depth at T), Dak will play at a very high level. Similar to his rookie season.
Click to expand...

It's not that he was figured out it was that opposing D's took away what we did best and Dak wasn't able to make them pay for it. All teams and QB's have tendencies and that is what game tape shows. Teams tried to take away our running game last year and our short passing offence, only way to beat that is to either keep beating them with the run (which we couldn't do with or without Zeke) or to beat them downfield with the intermediate passing game which does not seem to be Dak strong point. A short passing game will only work if you have at least the threat of going downfield or deep sometimes. Our offensive passing game scared nobody last year and it really won't scare anybody this year either
 
Verdict

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zerofill said:
Wasn't like we didn't have a good RB there either... There are plenty of QBs that could win with Alfred Morris in the backfield...

But, I do have to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to coaching. Because that was just as non-existent as his play, in many cases.
Click to expand...

Alfred Morris was DONE. He was a liability last year. Anyone who thinks differently isn't being honest with themselves.
 
DasSchnitzel

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Idk why everyone thinks a QB in his second year should be able to overcome the hole at LT and RB, two cornerstones of the running philosophy of this team.

I'm sure some second year QBs have done it but it's unreasonable to expect it or be mad that Dak didn't. Lots of great QBs haven't had the rookie year Dak had, either.

Just give him another season, worst case scenario you can make the argument that his second year contradicted his first year enough that year three is the tiebreaker.
 
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