When Dak Prescott took over from Tony Romo, many wrote off that season as he was added to the team as a fourth-round pick and wasn’t planned to see much action. After a few games, his figures were incredible, and most people saw him as a pure gem, a franchise quarterback that was a fourth-round pick, something you don’t see all that often.
The first season was fantastic, he obviously lacked the experience and with a few mistakes that were made in the clock management department, their run was ended in the first playoff game. The second year came, and with it, sophomore slump, or that’s what we thought. There were many excuses, Sean Lee was out for a few games, Zeke was suspended, and so on.
Then, the third season started, Zeke is back, Lee is on the field (not for long it seems), but Prescott simply can’t make big plays when needed. On the other hand, Cowboys parted ways with Dez Bryant who was released and Jason Witten who decided to retire. There is no doubt that these two guys were the most reliable and the most productive targets for young QB.
To make things worse, Dallas franchise didn’t get to recruit any wide receiver or tight end that could immediately replace two superstars that left. Just when you think that it can’t get any worse, someone mentioned coaching staff. It was clear that Linehan play-calling was horrible and it certainly didn’t help Prescott and his squad.
Out of 12 offensive possessions that Cowboys had against Seahawks, six ended up with 9 yards gain or less. In the first quarter, Prescott managed to complete only two passes out of six with a gain of 4 yards and had an interception. America’s team was trailing 17-3 at the half with QB that amassed only 40 yards. Two situations that we need to mention were the third-and-1 when Zeke lost a yard and third-and-2 when Dak wasn’t able to find TE Geoff Swaim.
On many similar occasions in the previous seasons, this was an easy job for Cowboys, they were able to take that one or two yards and get the first down. Again, Prescott was often chased by defenders and was sacked five times. In many situations, he didn’t get the protection you would want for your QB.
While we can’t say that it’s all Prescott’s fault, it is clear who the lead guy on the field should be and we tend to agree with his statement: “I’ve got to be more accurate. I’ve got to be more consistent in making throws. We’ve got to get open. Go all the way across the board. We’ve got to do better as a whole. But it starts with me.”
Who is to blame?
