Being the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys is perhaps the most prestigious position in all of pro sports. It is no wonder that so much pressure and scrutiny accompany the role. With such a high standard of excellence displayed for many decades at the position, expectations are high and criticism comes quickly and mercilessly. Cowboy fans are constantly at odds when it comes to their opinions about their starting QB’s. No matter how well a player performs there will always be a group of fans that will continue to be unimpressed. Dak Prescott is a particularly great example of this. After having perhaps the greatest rookie season of any QB in NFL history there were many fans still clamoring for the return of Tony Romo. When Prescott struggled last season without All Pro Tackle Tyron Smith, All Pro Running Back Ezekiel Elliott, and a poorly performing receiving corps the Dak haters showed up in full force. Now Prescott is entering his 3rd season and there is a ton of pressure on the young QB. At this point there seem to be as many doubters as believers among the Cowboy faithful. For all of you who may have some lingering doubts I would like to remind you of a simple truth. Dak Prescott is only 24 years old! People tend to forget that when they compare him to the games elite passers and they also tend to forget how those players performed in their first 2 seasons.
Take a look at Dak’s numbers compared to some of the best Quarterbacks in recent history at a similar age. Of the QB’s shown below, all of them became starters in either their 1st or 2nd season in the league and this is how they stack up over the course of their first 2 seasons as starters.
| Player | Record | Completion % | Passing Yrds | Touchdowns | INT's | Passer Rating | Rushing TD's | Playoff Passer Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dak Prescott | 22-10 | 65.2 | 6991 | 45 | 17 | 95.5 | 12 | 103.2 |
| Tom Brady | 20-10 | 62.7 | 6613 | 46 | 26 | 85.9 | 1 | 77.3 |
| Drew Brees | 10-17 | 59.4 | 5613 | 29 | 31 | 73.7 | 1 | NA |
| Peyton Manning | 16-16 | 59.3 | 7874 | 52 | 43 | 80.6 | 2 | 62.3 |
| Cam Newton | 13-19 | 58.9 | 7920 | 40 | 29 | 85.3 | 22 | NA |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 22-3 | 64.7 | 5006 | 34 | 20 | 98.3 | 4 | 86.8 |
| Jared Goff | 11-11 | 59.8 | 4893 | 33 | 14 | 89.4 | 2 | 77.9 |
| Eli Manning | 12-11 | 51.6 | 4805 | 30 | 26 | 70.5 | 1 | 35.0 |
| Matt Ryan | 20-10 | 59.7 | 6356 | 38 | 25 | 84.3 | 2 | 72.8 |
| Carson Wentz | 18-11 | 61.5 | 7078 | 49 | 21 | 88.8 | 2 | NA |
| Russell Wilson | 24-8 | 63.6 | 6475 | 52 | 19 | 100.6 | 5 | 102.0 |
| Matthew Stafford | 3-10 | 54.5 | 2802 | 19 | 21 | 67.1 | 3 | NA |
As you can plainly see, Prescott’s numbers over his first 2 seasons compare rather favorably among a group of high quality QB’s. Out of the group of 12 shown here he ranks top 5 in every single category, top 3 in 6 of the categories and he has the best completion %, playoff passer rating and frequency of interceptions of all them. Where Prescott does fall short is in terms of playoff wins. He is not in the same category as guys like Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and Russell Wilson (all of whom won Super Bowls during that span) but keep in mind that those QB’s had the benefit of playing on teams with the leagues top defenses.
The numbers in the table above clearly demonstrate that it is difficult for a young QB to excel when thrown into the starting role and yet Dak Prescott performed admirably when called upon. Most of the names in the table above only began to put up Pro-Bowl numbers once they had a few seasons under their belt. Other elite QB’s in recent history did not have the opportunity to be starters right away but instead had time to develop before getting their shot. Those QB’s have shown much better production during their first 2 seasons as starters as indicated in the table below.
| Player | Record | Completion % | Passing Yards | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Passer Rating | Rushing TD's | Playoff Passer Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dak Prescott | 22-10 | 65.2 | 6991 | 45 | 17 | 95.5 | 12 | 103.2 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 17-15 | 64.2 | 8472 | 58 | 20 | 98.5 | 9 | 121.4 |
| Tony Romo | 1907 | 64.8 | 7114 | 55 | 32 | 96.5 | 2 | 75.8 |
| Philip Rivers | 25-7 | 61.0 | 6540 | 43 | 24 | 87.2 | 1 | 77.5 |
| Kirk Cousins | 17-14-1 | 68.3 | 9083 | 54 | 23 | 99.3 | 9 | 91.7 |
Even compared to these QB’s who got to sit and learn for a few years before becoming starters, Prescott’s numbers still compare admirably.
I am sure Dak’s detractors will point out that his 2nd season was a significant regression statistically from year one. They may claim that Dak Prescott was exposed after losing Ezekiel Elliott to suspension. They also may try to argue that he is only a product of his offensive line, pointing to his performances when Tyron Smith was out of the lineup (They quickly forget that Tyron Smith also missed 2 games in 2016). To that point I can only say that football is a team sport and more than any other team sport individual success is dependent on others. It is dependent on teammates and it is dependent on coaching. Big Ben and Russell Wilson won Super Bowls with great defenses. Jim Brown had a great offensive line. Jerry Rice had Joe Montana and Steve Young. Brady has Belichick. Name any player throughout the history of the league that has had success or won championships and every single one of them had people around them to help them achieve greatness. Great players do great things when surrounded by great people. Dak Prescott had incredible success in 2016 with the same offensive line that Matt Cassell, Brandon Weaver and Mark Sanchez had in 2015. Remember that and remember that Dak is still a young man who will get even better so long as he has a good team around him.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
All data and statistics obtained and verified from https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
