Dallas Cowboys: Which Dak Prescott will we see in 2018?

Elite quarterbacks are among the rarest types of people in the world. Is third-year Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott one of them?

The Dallas Cowboys fanbase is looking to see what kind of quarterback they have in Dak Prescott.

In any given era of the NFL there are typically four-or-five elite throwers in the league. These are the chosen few who can carry a franchise despite lackluster performances from the other facets of the team.

These are the guys who can win big games despite shortcomings from other position groups, coaches, ownership, or whatever stands in the way. There’s a reason why they come so few and far between. So when we ask ourselves which Prescott we are going to see in 2018, it is important to note the definition of and the amount of elite quarterback play in this league.

We all know the story of Dak’s 2016 success. We all know Dallas had the league’s best offensive. They also had arguably the league’s best running back and one of the three best slot receivers in the league that year.

What many forget was wide receiver Dez Bryant’s last stretch of top-flight wide receiver play when he went for 50 receptions for 796 yards and eight touchdowns in only 12 games mostly in the second half of the season (not counting Week 17 vs. Philadelphia). This does not even include the monstrous nine catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns against the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.

To call Prescott elite after a year where the Cowboys offense had remarkable health, continuity, and success was a mistake. Yes his statistics were elite, but as a player he was just very good, which isn’t bad at all; but is indeed not elite.

So what about 2017? Except for the aberration that was Week Two in Denver, Prescott’s first eight games were slightly less productive than his 2016 season, but not to the extent of slowing down the offense.

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An average of 27 points per game, 228 passing yards per game, 20 total touchdowns, and a 5-3 record that could have easily been 6-2 or 7-1 with a defensive stop or two. The Cowboys had a top five scoring offense over those eight games and were looking like the team from 2016. So what changed?

Well, we all know that story too. The league’s second-leading rusher out for six games, league’s best left tackle in and out of the lineup exposing depth issues, and a receiving core struggling to beat one-on-one coverage.

Jason Garrett and the coaching staff reminded fans of why they are so skeptical of them by refusing to make any adjustments until the damage was done three games later. As a result of this, Prescott’s accuracy plummeted, his pocket presence suffered, and it seemed as though the trauma from those three games had rattled him.

So back to that whole being ‘elite’ thing for a second. Because of unrealistic expectations from 2016, the fan base and analysts alike expected Prescott to shine through all of this. To be able to carry the franchise through the mud of the 2017 season… in only his second year!

Well, that’s really not how it works. There are only four-to-five quarterbacks per era in the NFL who can do that. Only the elite can carry a franchise deep into the postseason with that much going wrong. That’s why they are elite and not just ‘very good.’ With all the things that went wrong last season, Prescott was in unfamiliar territory that was just a little too hard to navigate out of.

Finally, to all the super fans who clamor for quarterback Tony Romo‘s return, hear me out. I love Romo as much as the next Cowboy fan. In fact, Tony is one of my favorite quarterbacks of all-time. Growing up in Arlington watching the likes of Steve Hutchinson, Drew Henson, and Vinny Testaverde was rough.

Romo’s arrival was a Godsend. Tony gave us all he had even when we refused to match it. In the first half of his tenure he had no offensive line, and his second-half no defense; and he still went out and did magic tricks to get us a victory.

But guess what, as great as Romo was, he will always be a ‘very good’ quarterback and not elite. He could never carry a team full of deficiencies to a conference championship like Aaron Rodgers or Andrew Luck. He couldn’t do it all by himself just like 97% of NFL quarterbacks.

Unfortunately, Romo was not able to be around to benefit from the culture-changes brought forward by vice president of player personnel Will McClay and executive vice president Stephen Jones; with successful and contributing draft picks and inside-out team building strategy, who knows what Romo could have done.

If you don’t have Drew Brees or Russell Wilson walking into your facility every morning, you must be able to build the right roster around your quarterback in order for him to reach his full potential; something that is imperative for any team without a top five quarterback.

Prescott is a very good quarterback gifted to Dallas in the fourth round. I am fully confident that the Cowboys are moving in the right direction and have a very good young quarterback to build a dominant roster around.

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If Prescott can be a career 10-14 range quarterback, and the front office can keep the personnel momentum they’ve started recently; the team should be Super Bowl contenders for the foreseeable future.

Now does Dak Prescott need to improve? Yes. Do the Dallas Cowboys have their QB1 for the next 10 years? Yes, they do.

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