Dallas Cowboys: Proof Dak Prescott is a Super Bowl caliber QB

If the Dallas Cowboys hope to win the Super Bowl sometime soon they’re going to need a good quarterback. Here’s proof Dak Prescott is good enough to be that man…

By now, the lines have been drawn. A divided fan base is nothing new around these parts. Dallas Cowboys fans argued about Don Meredith, Troy Aikman, and Tony Romo incessantly. It only seems right Dak Prescott join the fraternity. Call it a rite of passage.

Admittedly, I was not an early adoptor to the Dak bandwagon. It took time for me to come around on the young man. It wasn’t that I was such a huge fan of Romo, it was just I needed to learn how to evaluate a young, developing quarterback again.

But while Prescott is still a work in progress, we can draw reasonable conclusions as to where he stands in the NFL hierarchy right now and where he could ultimately rise to.

This discussion is especially important today, on this most hallowed of days, because the ultimate goal is the Super Bowl. And in today’s NFL, having a franchise QB is almost a requirement to even contend for a Lombardi, let alone win one.

It hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows for Dak Prescott these past three seasons. Halfway through his second season, Dak fell apart. And the start of 2018 didn’t look a whole lot better. But Dak righted the ship. Part of that was getting a suitable weapon to work with, but part of that was his own personal development.

In the end, Dak finished the season with a 57.8 Total QBR and since QBR is the best advanced stat we have to judge QB play, it’s fair to grade his 2018 season as a whole as just average QB1 play. But looking at the last 13 games (including playoffs), Dak was easily a top-10 signal caller.

In fact, Dak Prescott was the second highest rated QB in the playoffs. Only Tom Brady did better in Total QBR and Total EPA this postseason.

With a 76.4 career postseason QBR, the question isn’t why Dak is only 1-2 in the playoffs, the question is why aren’t the Dallas Cowboys leaning on their best EPA producing weapon more.

So is Dak good enough to win a Super Bowl?

At this point the answer has to be yes. Some will scoff at this idea and insist Dak is just a bus driver incapable of leading a team, only capable of riding along. As football flat-earthers I suppose they will believe exactly what they want. But the facts are Dak is progressing faster than most franchise quarterbacks. He’s dominated in clutch situations and consistently shines when the game plan falls apart and he’s put in the driver’s seat.

Not only that but he’s the best EPA weapon on the roster (EPA definition: applying historic scoring rates based on down, distance, and field position and identifying who improved their team’s odds of scoring and by how much) and he’s one of the top ranked postseason QBs over the past three seasons.

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It’s ok to still be on the fence with Dak. With only three years of experience and three playoff games under his belt, a lot can be gained by keeping an open mind and reserving judgment.

But based on the facts we do have, we have a much better case saying Dak is capable of leading the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl than we do trying to say he isn’t capable.

As we discussed mid-season, you may not be able to teach accuracy but you can teach mechanics and they inevitably improve accuracy. So those that are concerned with the Dakuracy situation should feel pretty good about Jon Kitna’s focus this offseason.

Dak’s good enough to be a Super Bowl quarterback right now and the great news is he’s still getting better. There are plenty of things to worry about on this team going forward, but Dak needn’t be one of them.

Some may disagree with the facts and still want to call Prescott average. They may point to those counting stats like yardage, completion percentage, touchdowns, and passer rating and pretend it means something. The only thing they mean is this coaching staff isn’t letting him throw enough because his QBR and EPA say he’s already one of the NFL’s top QBs and more than capable of guiding a team to the Super Bowl.

• Published on 02/03/2019 at 14:01 PM
• Last updated at 02/03/2019 at 12:21 PM