Has Dak Prescott proven he can win with his arm?

In his fourth year, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has grown. But has he proven he can win without a running game?

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott officially has a 37 win and 20 loss regular season record as a starting quarterback. In reality, he has a 37-19 record in games he played meaningful snaps as he exited the 2016 season finale against Philadelphia after his second series with the score tied at three.

The NFL only attributes win and losses to the starting quarterback. In the Eagles game, the Cowboys played three quarterbacks.

Prescott started and was rested after the second series to protect him against injury as the Cowboys had secured the NFC number one seed. Former quarterback Tony Romo came in next and led Dallas to a touchdown throwing his last NFL touchdown pass to wide receiver Terrance Williams.

Mark Sanchez, famous for the 99th greatest play in NFL history, came into the game with 8:02 left in the second quarter with the Cowboys leading 10-3. Five plays later, he threw the first of two interceptions.

The Eagles would outscore the Cowboys 24-3 with Sanchez as the quarterback but somehow Prescott is saddled with the loss. The starting quarterback often gets too much credit or blame. In this case, Prescott can thank Sanchez for one loss on his record.

Prescott’s 0.649 winning percentage (37-20) ranks fourth in Dallas history for quarterbacks with more than ten decisions. Prescott trails Roger Staubach (0.746), Craig Morton (0.691) and Danny White (0.674) while leading Romo (0.614) and Troy Aikman (0.570). Fun Fact – coach Jason Garrett has a 0.667 winning percentage for the Cowboys with six wins and three losses.

Yet Cowboys Nation remains divided if Prescott is the long-term answer at quarterback. For good reason, the narrative to beat the Cowboys is to force Prescott to win with his arm.

The Minnesota Vikings defensive game plan was to stop Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott. Victorious Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, the former Dallas defensive coordinator, was very clear after the game with their intent.

"“We had to do that. We had to make them be one-dimensional. I wish we had played better in pass defense than what we did. I thought we did a really good job with our run fits and the way that we tackled.”"

The Vikings limited Elliott to 47 yards on 20 carries. Prescott threw for 397 yards with a passer rating of 101.4. It was the first time the Cowboys lost this season when Prescott’s passer rating was above 100.