Now that Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has proven he can throw, he can’t forget to run
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has proven he can throw.
Or, as owner Jerry Jones says, he has proven he can beat teams with his arm if they dare him to.
Never mind it was the Cowboys who held him back in last week’s 28-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings when they took the ball of his hands and handed it to the inefficient Ezekiel Elliott with the game on the line.
Prescott passed for 397 yards and three touchdowns against the Vikings. It was his fifth game in 2019 with a quarterback rating over 100. It was his third game of more than 300 yards.
The former bus driver is now a leading man at quarterback, where he ranks first in the league in QBR, second in passing yards, eighth in passer rating and seventh in completion percentage.
Yet as the Cowboys head into a must-win game Sunday at the Detroit Lions, Prescott is being questioned whether he has forgotten to use his feet. The Cowboys are tied with the Philadelphia Eagles atop the NFC East at 5-4.
He did not have carry against a Vikings defense that was focused on stopping Elliott (47 yards on 20 carries). It was the first time all season that Prescott didn’t have a rushing attempt, making it more shocking for a player whose dual-threat skills were his calling card at Mississippi State and a key to his success in the NFL.
Prescott said he plans to continue to let the game come to him.
”I don’t necessarily sit back and say ‘Oh I need to run, I haven’t ran yet, I need to go do that to slow the defense down or open something else up,’” Prescott said. “When there’s running lanes, I open up and take advantage of them and sometimes they don’t present themselves as you said.”
Prescott allowed that his growing success from the pocket has resulted in him being more patient with the pass and not taking off as fast as he would have earlier in his career. But as he proved on a crucial third-down scramble in a win against the New York Giants a week earlier, the quarterback run is still in his bag of tricks.
He is averaging three carries per game, which is down form the 4.6 in 2018. His feet remain a huge part of his success and key weapon for the Cowboys.
He has already set team records for rushing yards (357 in 2017) and attempts (75 in 2018) by a quarterback in a season. His 21 career rushing touchdowns are a Cowboys record and the most in the NFL since he joined the league in 2016.
”He can hurt you a lot of different ways,” coach Jason Garrett said. “He has very good judgment in the pocket, very good judgment when he’s out in space and can make a lot of big plays and a lot of little plays, both within the system and when the play breaks down.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 4:59 PM.
