USA Today: One Play that Proves Dak Prescott is the Future

[nobody]

Who in the heck cares about Romo's rookie season? The real fact is that we have two good QB's. One who has the experience and one who needs it. It's a win win for the Cowboys. There is no need to argue.

 

[BigD16]

Romo may be better at reading defenses and is probably a better NFL quarterback at this point BUT isn't it nice to have a calming influence behind center? Again, don't get me wrong, I'm a Romo fan and feel he's been underappreciated for most of his career, but he always brought a sort of chaos to the offense. Making changes until the play clock hit :01 and just a generally chaotic presence was very infectious to the rest of the team, just as much as Dak's calming influence has been through 2 weeks. I must say it's got a calming influence on me as I sit and watch the game.

I wish I could like this post more than once. Spot on.

 

[Maxmadden]

I wish I could like this post more than once. Spot on.

This chaos that the poster spoke of is called lightning. And if you just so happen to catch it in a bottle, it can propel you to the Superbowl, regardless of a mediocre defense. It is just as chaotic to the defense.

Dak's jockstrap is so full right now and he hasn't even thrown an NFL touchdown. I just wished people would tap the brakes just a little bit. I think Dak has been awesome, but it has just been 2 games. He has proven that he can drive the bus and that is encouraging.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

OMG he turned his head! Go Cowboys!

Please. This is routine stuff for Carsus. Who is PFF's top rated QB in the league right now. Their ratings suck but they nailed that one.

The jury's out on Rayne Prescott and I'm the foreman of that jury.

The jury is out on Carsus too. Whoever that is.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

Dak's jockstrap is so full right now

 

[Maxmadden]

Hey!

You totally took that the wrong way.

 

[theogt]

IF the Wash LB played that properly then the LB and Hall had the middle of the field. The Will had the RB. IF that is true then Hall and the Will executed poorly. IF Hall had the middle then the Mike played it wrong. My guess it was a traditional 4-3 Cover 3 with a deep drop by the Mike who did his job. The Will played it poorly getting caught outside.

I think the OP has it right in Hall had that half of the middle and executed poorly. He ended up trying to cover and already covered TE and failed to cut the deep middle off. How much of that is on Dak is uncertain without asking him but his eyes seem to influence Hall.

Wasnt it 3rd and long? The will on the near quarter would have had responsibility for the RB coming into the zone but he dropped out a bit to prevent the quick out to the sideline. The idea would be that after clogging that passing lane for a moment he could get to the back on a dump off and hope to make the tackle before he gets to the first down marker. Witten did what he does best and sat down right between the zones covered by the safety and Mike, but obviously they chose to keep Witten from getting his eleventy billionth first down on that route -- a smart decision -- but it leaves more room for Dez and Zeke.

If the high safety was playing shallower, taking away Dez, Dak could have dumped it off and let Zeke do his thing in space.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

 

[AdamJT13]

Wasnt it 3rd and long? The will on the near quarter would have had responsibility for the RB coming into the zone but he dropped out a bit to prevent the quick out to the sideline. The idea would be that after clogging that passing lane for a moment he could get to the back on a dump off and hope to make the tackle before he gets to the first down marker. Witten did what he does best and sat down right between the zones covered by the safety and Mike, but obviously they chose to keep Witten from getting his eleventy billionth first down on that route -- a smart decision -- but it leaves more room for Dez and Zeke.

If the high safety was playing shallower, taking away Dez, Dak could have dumped it off and let Zeke do his thing in space.

Yep, it's obviously zone, with two in the flats, two in the middle, corners deep on the outside and a single safety in the middle. Witten turned around right at the first-down line (the 39), but there were guys on either side of him. With only a single safety deep, Dez is the correct read, and Elliott is available underneath if necessary. Nice play, but Dak was simply reacting to Hall, not showing "control over Hall's mind."

 

[drawandstrike]

My impression is Hall is trying to ball hawk here, thinking he's reading a rookie QB's eyes and he can anticipate where the ball will go. I actually do think the author of the article has it right, Dak looked at Witten, Hall runs toward Witten....wait now Dak turns to where Elliot is stopping and turning, so Hall starts over there.

If he'd stayed where he was and covered the original area, he'd have been in position to contest Dez's catch of this pass. Instead he moves himself twice, taking himself out of the play.

 

[DogFace]

My impression is Hall is trying to ball hawk here, thinking he's reading a rookie QB's eyes and he can anticipate where the ball will go. I actually do think the author of the article has it right, Dak looked at Witten, Hall runs toward Witten....wait now Dak turns to where Elliot is stopping and turning, so Hall starts over there.

If he'd stayed where he was and covered the original area, he'd have been in position to contest Dez's catch of this pass. Instead he moves himself twice, taking himself out of the play.

You are correct. Hall is aggressive and Dak plays to that. Thus playing Hall.

 

[percyhoward]

My impression is Hall is trying to ball hawk here, thinking he's reading a rookie QB's eyes and he can anticipate where the ball will go. I actually do think the author of the article has it right, Dak looked at Witten, Hall runs toward Witten....wait now Dak turns to where Elliot is stopping and turning, so Hall starts over there.

If he'd stayed where he was and covered the original area, he'd have been in position to contest Dez's catch of this pass. Instead he moves himself twice, taking himself out of the play.

Right, defenders are human, and they won't always play it by the book if they can use a veteran trick to get an edge. Back in Romo's rookie year when he was QB of the scout team, the thing that impressed Darren Woodson about Romo was that he would look off the defender. Woody told Parcells that Romo was the best QB on the team already (2004).

Our backup has a pretty decent QB coach right now.

 

[jday]

Dak's jockstrap is so full right now

 

[CowboyRoy]

But I read from our resident Eagles fans that Dak doesn't read defenses? Weird

Interesting because I have heard that EXACT same thing from Cowboys fans on this VERY site. I think someone started a thread about how this was one of his weaknesses.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Romo may be better at reading defenses and is probably a better NFL quarterback at this point BUT isn't it nice to have a calming influence behind center? Again, don't get me wrong, I'm a Romo fan and feel he's been underappreciated for most of his career, but he always brought a sort of chaos to the offense. Making changes until the play clock hit :01 and just a generally chaotic presence was very infectious to the rest of the team, just as much as Dak's calming influence has been through 2 weeks. I must say it's got a calming influence on me as I sit and watch the game.

At this point Romo isnt better at anything sitting on the bench for the last two years.

 

[CowboyRoy]

This article was buried inside a different article in another thread. It deserves better.

At the start of the play, Prescott is keying in on Hall, who’s sitting right in that passing lane. Hall is the one guy Prescott has to beat to make this throw possible.

What happens next is why I think Prescott is going to be very good. Prescott toys with Hall using just his eyes. He wants Bryant for the first down all the way but looks at Witten to the right. That gets Hall moving that way.

Then his eyes move back to the left, that gets Hall running toward Elliott. It’s like Prescott has control over Hall’s mind.

continued...

Saw all this during the game. He did stuff like this in the Giants game as well. When people are biased they dont even want to look.

 

[Diehardblues]

Hopefully with Romo's return we can put our future on hold for a few years.

 

[Crown Royal]

Hall did exactly what he was supposed to do on that play. The whole bit about Dak using his eyes to make Hall run around in circles is hogwash.

Again, Dak made a good read and a good throw, but the article makes it sound like he was using some type of jedi mind tricks. He wasn't. He was ... GASP! ... taking what the defense gave him.

Looks like he saw the FS float to the deep middle and Hall come up to the box, so he immediately recognized with the corners playing off it as a likely cover 3, then adjusted to a route combination that can beat the cover 3. Good read, good adjustment, good throw. I didn't think the look to Witten really did much, given that would have been Hall's principal responsibility in a cover 3, regardless.

Pretty much this. It's a cover 3 Buzz and Halls' primary responsibility is the seam. The Cowboys called two attacks to the seam with witten and elliot coming out. The linebacker buzzed out which would cover the comeback, and the DB on Bryant was playing the deep third. But Bryan ran a dig, which created a 3 on 2 scenario - you only had the deep LB and Hall covering the seam, with the buzzed linebacker in no-mans land covering nobody.

The only thing I don't know is what the down/distance was - if it was 3rd and long you can argue that Hall should have been less aggressive to jumping the route, but who knows.

This isn't to discredit Dak btw - where I do agree with the article is that if he had known he was going to bryant the whole time and stared him down, that window perhaps never opens up because Hall doesn't jump (even though it's his responsibility). Kam Chancellor made pro -bowls by taking away this throw because he's too tall to throw over in that situation.

 

[AdamJT13]

The only thing I don't know is what the down/distance was

It was third-and-9 from the 48. Witten was just past the first-down marker.

 

[Crown Royal]

IF the Wash LB played that properly then the LB and Hall had the middle of the field. The Will had the RB. IF that is true then Hall and the Will executed poorly. IF Hall had the middle then the Mike played it wrong. My guess it was a traditional 4-3 Cover 3 with a deep drop by the Mike who did his job. The Will played it poorly getting caught outside.

I think the OP has it right in Hall had that half of the middle and executed poorly. He ended up trying to cover and already covered TE and failed to cut the deep middle off. How much of that is on Dak is uncertain without asking him but his eyes seem to influence Hall.

DIsagree. Cover 3 Buzz was called and it's the LB;s job to get to the sideline and cover the flat (RB) or hook (WR). Since he can't see the WR, he doesn't get the option to guess. Hall has to cover the seam in this formation - the MLB has witten on the strong seam and Hall has the RB.

It was just a good offensive play call against that defense.