Dallas Cowboys: Secret team plot to devalue Dak Prescott, unsuccessful

The only logical explanation for the coaching staff’s actions is their involvement in a secret plot to devalue Dak Prescott during long-term contract negotiations. It’s not working.

Simply put: Dak Prescott has been too darn good. Any investor will tell you, the best time to buy is when cost is low. And now, roughly four months before the Dallas Cowboys QB1 hits the market, there seems to be a sinister plot afoot that seeks to drive down said quarterback’s value.

I mean come on now, there’s no other logical explanation. Either the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff is making a concentrated effort to hide how great Dak Prescott is playing right now or…or… they are just unfathomably bad at designing game plans and calling plays.

It’s probably become obvious I’m more than just a little tongue-in-cheek in my conspiracy theory. I do not actually believe the front office is conspiring with the coaching staff in order to lower the expected value of their starting QB.

Dak Prescott was already in store for a top-5 QB salary before the season even began. All he’s done this season is reset his bar and  possibly reset the market. Despite the Cowboys’ disappointing 5-4 record, Dak has been brilliant. He’s led the NFL in most major categories and before last night’s game he was tops on Ben Baldwin’s aptly named DAKOTA Rating which ranks according to EPA per play and completion percentage above expected composite.

If anything, last night probably helped Dak’s cause as he threw for 397 yards (his second best of this season), 3 touchdowns (second best of this season), and 8.96 adjusted yardage per attempt (second best of the season).

His lone interception happened on the Hail Mary making the game as a whole arguably his best of the season when true context is applied. He’s only behind Russell Wilson in Total QBR this season and there’s no sign of him slipping from the top of the NFL’s most respected efficiency stats. Note: passer rating, completion percentage, and total yardage are widely used but not remotely respected.

Blame coaching

As we pointed out earlier today, Dak Prescott had a +24 EPA while Ezekiel Elliott had a -7.4 in Sunday night’s game. On first downs Dallas averaged 2.44 yards per carry on runs and 8.3 yards per pass ATTEMPT (which includes incomplete passes).

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Yet, despite a success rate of just 21% the Dallas Cowboys stuck to the run up until the end and only turned to Dak when they dug too deep of a hole to run out of. That means on almost 80% of those, Dak was given the ball in a worse situation than where the series started and asked to fix it (all while short that wasted first down).

It just seems like a massive team conspiracy is the only logical explanation at this point. The Dallas Cowboys repeatedly ignore what the numbers tell us. They aggressively work to “establish the run” when “establishing the run” has essentially been debunked. And they insist on feeding Zeke even though Zeke has been largely ineffective this season.

To make matters worse, Dak and Amari Cooper are the best things going for this offense yet both are about to become free agents. Meanwhile Zeke’s inexplicably locked in as the highest paid RB for the foreseeable future. Are the Dallas Cowboys trying to make that investment look good or are they trying to hold back the ballooning value of Dak and Amari? It ain’t working fellas. None of it. Dak and Amari are great even if you have been holding them back.

• Published on 11/11/2019 at 13:30 PM
• Last updated at 11/11/2019 at 13:35 PM