News: PFN: Dak Prescott: The NFC's Best Quarterback and a Top-5 NFL QB at His Best

[NotForLong]

Has there ever been a Cowboy player that fans had such strong opinions about one way or the other? And for now most fans pretty much have their opinions formed and set. The only one who could/will move the needle on the opinions one way or the other is Dak Prescott. And he will. Sooner rather than later.

Yes Romo. Cowboy Fans 8 seasons later use His name as an Insult when people disagree over Dak

 

[Pola_pe_a]

I agree with you to an extent. I just don't believe Hurts made strides. He got a better situation around him. He's got an outstanding line and 2 really good wideouts. Their run game is only successful when he is a big part of it. The second he has to throw into coverage, it will be ugly.

Then you don’t watch football. If you actually watch the game you’d see the massive strides he took. I was a naysayer and didn’t think he’d be any better than an average starter and almost every criticism I had after ‘21 he improved on.
Throwing guys open instead of waiting for them to uncover- massive improvement
Throwing outside the #’s- massive improvement
Operating from in the pocket- one of the highest rated QB’s from the pocket

AJ Brown helped but he came back a different player.

The one area he still has work to do is climbing the pocket instead of bailing out the back or to the right. He’s a grinder who is always trying to improve so I’d expect that to get better also.

 

[doomsday9084]

3 types of QBs in my world, ones:
-you win because of
-you win with
-you win in spite of

Very few QB’s in the first category, a lot in the middle and a few in the last.

Dak is a QB you win with not because of.

+1.

IMO, most fans agree that Dak is in the second category. Some think that's good enough, others see no point in having that type of player so they want to jettison him for better. I see very few posters who truly feel Dak is a Mahomes like difference maker or a complete train wreck. The ones that do seem to be REALLY vocal though and tend to drown out the people in the middle for these conversations.

 

[Flamma]

Then you don’t watch football. If you actually watch the game you’d see the massive strides he took. I was a naysayer and didn’t think he’d be any better than an average starter and almost every criticism I had after ‘21 he improved on.
Throwing guys open instead of waiting for them to uncover- massive improvement
Throwing outside the #’s- massive improvement
Operating from in the pocket- one of the highest rated QB’s from the pocket

AJ Brown helped but he came back a different player.

The one area he still has work to do is climbing the pocket instead of bailing out the back or to the right. He’s a grinder who is always trying to improve so I’d expect that to get better also.

When I see him do it in pass coverage, I'll agree. But not until then. It's a lot easier to throw the ball when safeties are cheating up against the run and their very good wideouts are in m2m. When he's constantly in 3rd and long, we'll see how he does. That was rarely the case last year.

I will give him credit for one thing. If you force him to beat you through the air, he will.

 

[Jstopper]

First of all I said maybe in top 10 which means he could be.

Which QB in AFC would I take over Prescott?
Mahomes, Burrows, Allen, Herbert & Rodgers a given. Watson, Jackson and Lawrence probably. That leaves him the possibility of falling somewhere after there.

Tua would be close. Might take Dak over him. And I like the potential of maybe a few of the QB’s just selected in draft over Prescott. 3 of which went to AFC teams .

The hypocrisy of you guys is astounding. You get upset with Dak and his lack of playoffs success but in the same breath will throw Herbert (going into 4th season and still doesn’t have a single playoff win) and Allen (perennial playoff choker) ahead of him. Watson with 1 playoff win in his career and Jackson also with 1 playoff win. Insane levels of hypocrisy lmao

 

[Pola_pe_a]

When I see him do it in pass coverage, I'll agree. But not until then. It's a lot easier to throw the ball when safeties are cheating up against the run and their very good wideouts are in m2m. When he's constantly in 3rd and long, we'll see how he does. That was rarely the case last year.

I will give him credit for one thing. If you force him to beat you through the air, he will.

Can‘t penalize him because the scheme works. I’d actually be interested to see the breakdown on what type of D teams favor against the Eagles. I’d actually guess they see more zone than man or else Hurts will kill you running. Cover 3 for instance can give you an 8 man box without having to play man, where guys end up turning their backs and running leaving you susceptible to a QB run.
This year will be interesting with Steichen gone and defensive staffs having time to break down the offense in depth.

 

[EST_1986]

We shouldn’t. We all know where everybody stands so just gotta keep it civil and respectful

First time here?

 

[Cowboys5217]

Right. If you can’t win the Gold medal you’re a loser. Lol

I think we all understand .

Ironically, though, that is correct. You are a loser in sports if you can't win a title. That is the whole point of sports is to win a championship of some kind.

If you don't have that exact mindset then you will never be a champion. That is simply all there is to it. You may find that silly, but it is the way the world works. It is what it is.

 

[StarOfGlory]

Surely in NFC we’d have to go with MVP Runner Up for top QB in NFC?

After that it’s really a toss up for the best of the rest non Elite QB’s in NFC.

Right now the NFC is very much inferior to the AFC when it comes to QB’s as all Elite QB’s are in that conference .

The NFC is so down now at QB I guess I could see an argument made for Prescott but is he really more talented than Hurts, Stafford and Murray?

Personally I’d put Hurts and Stafford at least ahead of Prescott. But 3rd or 4th isn’t bad even in down NFC for QB’s. It’s much higher than most of his critics would place him.

I put Dak right behind Hurts in the NFC, and sixth overall. For me its Mahomes, Burrow, Hurts (I believe he is going to be that good), Allen (screws up in big games, makes bad decisions at the worst time), Herbert (has done the least with the most), and Dak (regular season beast, but like Allen, fails in the playoffs). Lawrence will probably pass him in a year--Pederson has done wonders erasing the poop show of Urban Meyer.

I always thought Murray was fool's gold. Stafford is on the downside of his career. Rodgers will now have to overcome the Curse of the Jets. Cousins is cut-rate Dak. Watson is in Cleveland, they are QB cursed more than the Jets. I am convinced that the football gods will not allow the Browns or Jets to have good QB play. Jackson is another failure in the playoffs and makes a ton of $$$.

 

[MapleLeaf]

If egirls try to make hurts a pocket qb now he is signed they will fail. Because hurts was running a lot is why they win some games. He will take a nasty shot and get injured. Happens to all running qbs at some point. It’s why Dak had so many picks. When he runs like he used to the threat of running is worse than him running sometimes. But he has to get that threat back. Only way is him to run some. They are going to fill the field with targets and let him set back. Spread the field and let him take off a few times a game. That pick in the red zone in playoffs should have been a run. Would have been a first down and could have changed momentum.

Do we know if he has lost a step due to his terrible injury?

I just feel he is a tad slower coming out of the pocket now.

 

[LysleE]

I don’t think Dak is a bad QB; I just think he has reached his ceiling after 7 years in the league. He is a a player who won’t win games on his own; rather he needs a strong supporting cast around him to be effective. He lacks the consistency and maybe to a lesser extent, the ability to read defenses and process information to truly be a top-tier QB.

 

[Diehardblues]

Ironically, though, that is correct. You are a loser in sports if you can't win a title. That is the whole point of sports is to win a championship of some kind.

If you don't have that exact mindset then you will never be a champion. That is simply all there is to it. You may find that silly, but it is the way the world works. It is what it is.

Maybe in your sports world or one some of the media has overly dramatized but no, great players are recognized without being on championship teams .

And that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a mindset to winning championships but for circumstance sometimes behind their control it just want in the cards and or were beat out by greater teams or talent. That’s all in the spirit of competition.

Are the ones who win championships over glamorized , yes and most deserve their status but that doesn’t mean great players who aren’t on a championship team are losers.

That’s silly or childish and a disgrace to everything honorable in sports. And it’s obviously not how the sports world works as many great players who don’t win championships are recognized by the league and Hall of Fame as being the best in a season or era.

 

[Diehardblues]

The hypocrisy of you guys is astounding. You get upset with Dak and his lack of playoffs success but in the same breath will throw Herbert (going into 4th season and still doesn’t have a single playoff win) and Allen (perennial playoff choker) ahead of him. Watson with 1 playoff win in his career and Jackson also with 1 playoff win. Insane levels of hypocrisy lmao

My assessment isn’t based solely on regular season and or playoff success . It’s also based on raw talent and potential. If I was basing it on pure production then Prescott would obviously be ranked higher .

I just see a potential higher upside to some of these others QB given the same circumstances as we have provided Prescott. I’m not sure he’d of fared any better in some of their circumstances as well.

No doubt based on his stats he’s closer to a top 10 QB than I think his talent level and potential is. Another over achiever like Romo.

 

[visionary]

For that one game? Yeah
But what about the other 16 games?

 

[Flamma]

Can‘t penalize him because the scheme works. I’d actually be interested to see the breakdown on what type of D teams favor against the Eagles. I’d actually guess they see more zone than man or else Hurts will kill you running. Cover 3 for instance can give you an 8 man box without having to play man, where guys end up turning their backs and running leaving you susceptible to a QB run.
This year will be interesting with Steichen gone and defensive staffs having time to break down the offense in depth.

I agree, no one is penalizing him. But I still question whether or not he can throw into coverage if need be. He was not just bad at it in 2021, he was awful.

 

[glimmerman]

Do we know if he has lost a step due to his terrible injury?

I just feel he is a tad slower coming out of the pocket now.

I assumed that type of injury would slow him. But he can still run it enough to keep defenses guessing.

 

[Cowboys1966]

"At his best". Seriously, though. The article makes some valid points. Other QBs have miscues and don't get nearly as much criticism as Dak.

But as much as I have criticized Dak by saying he is really two Daks, Good Dak and Bad Dak, Good Dak is really, really good. When he is making quick smart decisions, seeing the field and spreading the ball around to the open receivers he is as good as anyone in the league not named Mahomes. The problem is, we do not see Good Dak all the time. In fact, we saw him far too infrequently last year. If Dak puts it together and has a year of Good Dak games strung together for the entire season, he will be the MVP of the league.

The opposite side of the coin is that Bad Dak is really bad. If McCarthy can find a way to minimize appearances by Bad Dak the Cowboys will finally make it to the Super Bowl.

Bad dak seems to show up on a far too regular basis.

 

[Momanpr100]

Do you also consider lottery winners successful?

What about people that sue places and get big payouts? Are they successful?

Unfortunately I feel Dak may share your “I’m rich so I’m successful” mentality. That’s why when it comes to football he is a loser and always will be on that field.

A lot of projection in this post. It's OK, let it go.

 

[starfan1]

Bad dak seems to show up on a far too regular basis.

But its not just bad dak that shows up. Ill pinpoint most of the blame on last yeaRS SAN FRAN DEBACLE. Not the year before. That was the OL even when Dak did make a play it was brought back by a penalty. randy gregory had a bonehead penalty if i remember correctly as well. Last year was an anomolly for Dak as he dont typically throw picks like that. So what changed? could it be that he was pressing? Rushed because of so so protection or receivers that dont run routes correctly?

No excuse for him in playoffs last year but for fans to talk about Bad dak when its never just dak. Probably the same folks sing priases for other QBs in the league that havent dont whack either

 

[Momanpr100]

Has there ever been a Cowboy player that fans had such strong opinions about one way or the other? And for now most fans pretty much have their opinions formed and set. The only one who could/will move the needle on the opinions one way or the other is Dak Prescott. And he will. Sooner rather than later.

It was the same with Romo. There's always 2 sides of the extreme and then the ones in the middle.