Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys: First read vs second read

A wise man one said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” While this quote from the sage known as Mike Tyson was meant in the most literal sense, we can apply it figuratively across all curveballs life throws at us.  For the Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott, that means adapting to things that don’t go exactly as planned.

A QB’s first read success speaks to play design and strategy. If the passer experiences a high degree of success with their first reads, he can thank his offensive coordinator for making things simple.

Progressions are when the passer starts showing off his own chops. Some QBs can do it and others cannot. In a way, the play got a punch in the mouth. That’s okay, frankly, it’s inevitable. Good QBs handle it, really good QBs thrive in it, bad QBs get exposed by it.

Some of the most successful QBs last season on their first reads were Aaron Rodgers, Matt Stafford, Joe Burrow, Jimmy G, and Kirk Cousins. That’s not a surprising list since those offenses are led by some of the smartest offensive coordinators in the NFL. It was a good play design.

When we move to the second reads we see some passers get exposed. Jimmy G and Kirk Cousins plummet in EPA/play down into Kyler Murray territory, while players like Tom Brady, Stafford, and Burrow elevate further. Dak Prescott?

Dak Prescott increases his EPA/play from nearly 0.3 to over 0.4 (a significant bump). This despite his gimpy status last season and his troubles evading the pass-rush behind the Dallas Cowboys porous offensive line.

The numbers show Dallas Cowboys QB1 Dak Prescott is good on his first reads and even better on his second reads

Obviously other variables go into this and it’s not quite as clear-cut as I just laid out. Plays are often designed to go through progressions so passing to the second or even third option is still within the bounds of play design, but generally speaking we can grade the first read success and walk away knowing it was an excellent play designer who made it happen.

We touched on a similar topic earlier in the offseason when we discussed scripted vs non-scripted plays. Scripted plays are comprised of roughly the first 10-15 plays. Offensive coordinators study the opposing defense and develop their game plan that can take advantage of weaknesses, tendencies, etc…

From there defenses adapt, forcing the offense to adjust to the changing circumstance and the chess match continues until the end. Some coordinators are known for great game plans while others are better at adapting.

You want to have an offense that wins their scripted plays. It’s what the offensive coordinator has planned all week and speaks to his ability to strategize. But the bulk of the game is unscripted so that can ill-afford to take a backseat and should be equally as efficient.

Last season’s Super Bowl teams were at the top in scripted plays during the postseason. Scripted plays favor the offense so offenses need to take advantage of that “easy money.” For a full breakdown of that check out the article below:

If the Dallas Cowboys offensive line struggles again this season, first reads become even more important. Kellen Moore needs to make the Cowboys offense ready for everything.