Dallas Cowboys: Harsh reality is Dak Prescott must improve

The Dallas Cowboys are 1-1 in this young 2017 season and one thing has already become clear: Dak Prescott must play better.

The Dallas Cowboys suffered a humiliating defeat on Sunday when they were steamrolled by the Denver Broncos. The natural reaction in such a beat down is to identify the cause of such catastrophic failure and casually throw that unfortunate soul under the bus.

36 hours in and that’s exactly what we’re seeing around Cowboys Nation. Ezekiel Elliott quit! The coaching staff failed! The offensive line was outmatched! Dez Bryant disappointed again! The entire secondary was lost! Dak Prescott stunk!

All of these statements have been floating around the interwebs and to a degree, all are kinda correct. Apologists naturally want to find a singular scapegoat to pin the loss to, doing so makes the correction all the easier. But the sad truth is, there isn’t one or even two entities to blame. This is a team effort and there’s plenty of blame to go around.

That’s why it’s important to do the unpopular thing and recognize Dak Prescott’s shortcomings as well.

I firmly believe the offensive game plan and the defense’s execution deserve the lion’s share of the blame, but that can’t excuse the pedestrian play of Mr. Prescott

Simply said, for the Dallas Cowboys to be legitimate contenders, Dak Prescott must improve. Because what he’s doing now just isn’t going to cut it. This isn’t to say Dak Prescott is the reason the Cowboys were destroyed on Sunday. It’s to say he shares part of the blame. And since he plays the most important position in sports, he shares a considerable amount of blame.

After turning in what I consider to be the best rookie quarterback season of all time, Dak Prescott has fallen back to earth in year two. The statistics tell part of the story: Dak’s QBR in 2016 was 104.9 while this year it’s at 78.2. His yards per completion have also dropped, from 8.0 to 5.7. His TD to INT ratio is a pedestrian 3/2 and despite averaging over 15 more pass attempts per game, he’s only averaging a bit over 20 yards per game more.

Like always, the statistics don’t tell the whole story. That’s why we spend so much time reviewing film, analyzing play, and debating sports. The specifics of the situations matter considerably, and the specifics of Dak’s situation matter a bunch.

In week one against the Giants it was clear Dak was a little “off”. He sailed passes, missed open targets, and didn’t attack his progressions like he had in the past. While it’s perfectly excusable in an opening night matchup against the only team he couldn’t beat a year before, it’s a reality that must be accepted.

In week two against the Broncos, Dak faced an even bigger challenge: play a better defense in a hostile environment. And like the week before, he delivered a questionable performance. Again, it’s understandable but not excusable.

The coaches film has yet to be released, but it’s clear from watching the game a time or two, receivers were open. Denver had strong coverage, but it was beatable coverage. In single coverage, being open is an inevitability. It’s just a matter of hitting the open windows.

The Denver Broncos did what everybody expected them to do. They stacked the box and dared Dak to beat them through the air. Watch the game again. Players were open. Dak just couldn’t find them.

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Don’t get me wrong. I firmly believe the offensive game plan and the defense’s execution deserve the lion’s share of the blame, but that can’t excuse the pedestrian play of Mr. Prescott.

To go through majority of the game and only hand the ball five times to the best runner in football is completely inexcusable for a coaching staff. To allow a guy like Trevor Siemian to carve you up, and to miss routine tackle after routine tackle, is inexcusable for a professional defense.

But so is seeing eight in the box, getting dared to beat single coverage, and losing. It’s like they intentionally walked Zeke so they could face Dak and Dak responded by striking out.

It’s ok to criticize

In this post-Romo era, many in Cowboys Nation are hesitant to call their new franchise arm out for fear they’ll be lumped in with the “Romo, forever and always fanclub”. Let me put you at ease. I LOVE Dak Prescott but I am far from satisfied with his season thus far.

Dak Prescott must get better.

The Dallas Cowboys are going to see this same strategy time and time again. In fact, it’s nothing new. It’s the same thing Dallas faced last year. Dak just did a better job of making them pay (and Linehan did a better job of sticking to the run).

Next: Dallas at Denver: What went wrong, notes, and observations

The good news is Dak Prescott is extremely intelligent, talented, and calm. We should expect him to improve based on the man he’s proven to be. But we needn’t make excuses for him. When the coache’s film comes out we’re going to see good coverage from the Broncos. But it will be beatable.

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