Too many Dak Prescott miscues the difference in Cowboys loss to AZ

The Dallas Cowboys had a historically high-scoring game last week against the Washington Football Team. Though nobody imagined that it would look exactly the same against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, you also didn’t think that the Cowboys would come out as bad as they did.

Seemingly out of rhythm for what appeared to be much of the first half, Dallas was unable to get much of anything going on the offensive side of the ball until half number two. As it has been for much of the season, the defense still gave them an opportunity by, somewhat, keeping the explosive Kyler Murray and his Cardinals in check.

Though the Cowboys did get things going later in the game, as indicated by the three-point final scoring margin, it was too little and entirely too late. It all boils down to Dak Prescott and the fact that he made too many mistakes on Sunday.

While he still played well enough to potentially win the game, one could argue that the Cowboys should have never been in the position that they were in to start with.

The Dallas Cowboys had a chance to win Sunday’s game, but it shouldn’t have ever been that close. Dak Prescott’s miscues put them in that position.

The game shouldn’t have come down to the final moments, where the Cowboys didn’t have a timeout to challenge a Chase Edmonds potential fumble (which was a fumble from this perspective, for what it’s worth).

Prescott overthrew, mistargeted, and had his balls batted down all day. He waited until too late in the contest to mentally make an adjustment or push himself to overcome.

You can’t do that against good teams. You definitely can’t do that against teams with elite talent on both sides.

Chandler Jones, Murray, and as Prescott certainly now knows, Isaiah Simmons are either all elite or can have several elite moments per contest. That’s another major part of the “too many miscues” for the quarterback on Sunday.

Prescott wasn’t secure with the ball or confident in his decisions quick enough, causing him to not only lose the ball at the hands of Simmons on one play but also put his team in several other bad scenarios before and after that one scenario.

All in all, this wasn’t Prescott’s worst performance, at all. The Cowboys quarterback could have been much better, though, and so could have the rest of his teammates. However, the Cowboys still have a chance to win if Prescott is just a little better than he was.

Dallas has the division and their playoff ticket punched, locked up, and sealed… so there are no worries there. However, you do want them playing their best ball heading into the playoffs, and Sunday clearly wasn’t that.

Catch of the year on fake punt is Cowboys’ first-half lowlight vs Arizona

In their first big test in four games, the Cowboys gave up a first down on a ridiculous helmet catch on a fake punt from the Cardinals.