When I was a young man, I played the popular Madden football video game series but they were not too kind for one Dallas Cowboys player. I talked about before what I where I thought the top Dallas Cowboys players should rank in Madden.
Wideout Amari Cooper kept his 92 grade from the previous season and while Ezekiel Elliott jumped up one point to 88, he is still tied with a running back who missed most of last season in Cincinnati Bengals runner Joe Mixon.
All of those grades still make me think that Madden continues to underrate Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
The QB list has one person on the Madden 99 club in Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes. He is followed by Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and the reigning MVP from Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers. So far I am on board with what the folks at EA Sports are telling me.
The NFL’s top QBs, per @EAMaddenNFL … Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/LSXJmgd7D2
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 30, 2021
I still have Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson at four because I think Seattle is completely lost if he were to leave that city. He covers up many of their deficiencies and it is hard to argue against him. I would think the Dallas Cowboys are better prepared to play without Dak but not by much.
The fifth spot is where I have a big issue. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson is a supreme athlete and has done some great things in his young career. Yes, he won the NFL MVP award but that mainly has to do with his legs rather than his arm.
Baltimore ranked dead last in the entire league in passing offense this past season. I’m not sure about you but I like my quarterbacks to be able to, you know, throw the football.
A major flaw Jackson has is becoming one-dimensional. I would have to call Lamar Jackson pedestrian at quarterback if he is forced to become a drop-back passer. His narrative does contain a method for beating the Ravens as an early lead on Baltimore is the key to defeating them. That is what “they” say anyway.
Now, ratings are a combination of what the player did last season and where they are projected to be at this upcoming season. It is a very real possibility Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson will not play at all this season. Ranking him ahead of Dak has to be based purely on statistics then right? Wrong!
Deshaun Watson started all 16 games last season and led his team to a 4-12 record. Cowboy fans murdered Dak on social media although his worst full season has been 8-8 or double the wins Watson generated this past season. Debating whether or not team wins are a quarterback stat is for a later day.
If Watson has fewer weapons at his disposal this season than last, why would you even consider putting him over a player who is coming back with a chip on their shoulder?
The common excuse for Dak critics is he has all these weapons and that is why he is good. Good quarterbacks elevate lesser players around them. If these guys were so great, why did the offense lose so much of its luster after Prescott went down? This is where the Andy Dalton truthers can get up and walk out of the room.
Watson did throw for almost 5K yards yet it was still short of Prescott’s best passing season.
Yes, his 70% completion percentage is great but if Dak Prescott is accused of generating what is known as “garbage time” yards, Watson is right there with him simply because of their record. That many losses must mean that they were behind in a lot of games right?
The guys at ProFootballTalk couldn’t figure out why a quarterback who has thrown for more than 4,500 pass yards with over 30 touchdowns has such a bad team record. My guess would be garbage time stats. Dak does not get the benefit of the doubt on any topic nor would he ever get a pass from a national media platform like Watson gets.
Playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys does have its pitfalls I guess.
To those who say Watson has nothing around him, do not blame Dak Prescott for the Houston Texans trading away Deandre Hopkins. For all we know, Watson could have privately wanted that to happen.
Let’s not forget Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. I think Allen is a fantastic-looking quarterback but ranking him ahead of players that have accomplished more than he has is a bit premature.
Allen played like a star but he only did it for one year. Everyone was ready to crown Lamar Jackson king of the world after his MVP season and there are some who think the Ravens should pass on a lucrative deal. If Allen can sustain his level of play, then the conversations comparing him and Dak can start.
Lastly, I think Ryan Tannehill has done a tremendous job changing the narrative of his career. Like I mentioned before, are wins a quarterback stat? If so, then yes, Tannehill and Prescott are comparable. Tannehill has 18 regular-season wins since arriving in Tennessee back in 2019 while Dak Prescott has the same amount of wins in his last two full seasons.
If wins are not a quarterback stat, then there is no way Tannehill is in the same tier as Dak Prescott.
Tannehill has yet to throw for 4,000 yards in a season since arriving in Nashville and although Julio Jones should help, I don’t expect him to put up numbers most people think a healthy Prescott can put up this year.
It is good for Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott to be recognized as a top ten quarterback, I just happen to think he is closer to the top of that list than the bottom.