There is a delusional conglomerate of the NFL world that thinks Dak Prescott is at fault for the Dallas Cowboys' failure to make the playoffs in 2025, but those people have to live under a rock. The defense was completely dysfunctional while Prescott had arguably the best season of his career.
Prescott has been criticized at what feels like every turn of his career, which almost certainly has to be because of the jersey he wears. But if anything, 2025 proved he isn't the problem in Dallas, which is why Cowboys' legend Emmitt Smith was quick to defend him for the way he played this past year.
While appearing on 105.3 The Fan, Smith was asked how much longer he thinks the Cowboys can win with Dak, and his answer put things in perspective. The Hall of Fame running back said that Prescott played like a top-five QB last season, so he clearly has more elite football left than we believe him to.
"Last year, the guy was a top-five QB. Nobody wants to talk about that. When you have a sorry-a** defense like we had last year and you have Dak putting up the numbers he put up, all that is not on him... You don't have a defense. Defense wins championships... If the defense improved 20%, we win a little bit more and make the playoffs."
Emmitt Smith knows that Dak Prescott is not the problem for the Dallas Cowboys
Frankly, Smith's assessment is dead-on. If the Cowboys' defense was any better than historically awful, they likely would have made the playoffs in 2025, so his point that even considerable defensive improvement will be a great sign in 2026, especially if Dak keeps up the level of play we saw last year.
The four-time Pro Bowler finished third in passing yards, fourth in passing touchdowns, and fifth in QBR in 2025, so if they made the playoffs, he would've been in MVP conversations, I doubt he beats out Drake Maye for votes, let alone Matthew Stafford, but he clearly would've been an MVP finalist.
The big concern with Prescott, especially across the last couple of seasons, has been his inability to stay healthy, but in the last two seasons in which he played all 17 games, he looked elite. The 32-year-old won't end up in Canton one day like Smith, but he's a QB the Cowboys can obviously win with, assuming the defense actually improves.
We saw firsthand how the George Pickens and Javonte Williams additions not only had a positive affect on the offense, but on Prescott himself. It took pressure off of his connection with CeeDee Lamb, and a jump-ball downfield threat like Pickens played into his exact strengths as a passer.
Smith is a three-time Super Bowl champion, a former MVP, and one of the greatest players to ever wear a Cowboys uniform, so his assessment holds weight. But it's objectively the correct opinion, as the Dallas defense threatens to waste what could be some of Prescott's final golden years.