Dallas Cowboys have a major problem with Dak Prescott’s NFL-best stats
Only minutes after the Chicago Bears waxed the Dallas Cowboys, America’s Most Aggravating Team tweeted the following statistic:
“Dak Prescott has now gone over 300 passing yards for the sixth time this season to tie Tony Romo’s 2008 total for the fourth-most 300-yard games in a single season in team history. Overall, it is his 11th 300-yard game of his career to break a tie with Danny White for third.”
Might want to way a day or two, or a month or two, before tweeting some Wade Phillips stats. Because, speaking of 2008, that team crashed and missed the playoffs, too, despite prolific passing from the quarterback.
Now is not the time to celebrate Dak the passer, because the more the Cowboys lose, the more his NFL-best stats are exposed as garbage time buckets.
The Dallas Cowboys are 6-7 for multiple reasons, including the quarterback, who leads the NFL in passing yards.
The Cowboys top skill players are compiling big numbers, but they are as hallow as a dead tree. The stats don’t help them win. They just help the final score look closer than the game.
By season’s end, the Cowboys will have a passer who will have thrown for more than 4,500 yards, a running back who ran for more than 1,000 yards, and two 1,000-yard receivers.
But this is about the quarterback. When Dak goes off, the Cowboys aren’t winning. Because by the time he goes off, it’s too late.
In the team’s 31-24 loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night, Dak did not play well. He has not played well in a while.
For the sixth time this season, Dak attempted more than 40 passes. The team is 1-5 in those games.
In each case, the Cowboys fell behind. That changes the way offensive coordinator Kellen Moore wants to call the game. They have to pass the ball earlier than desired.
The Cowboys want to lean on running back Ezekiel Elliott, but a double-digit deficit cripples a run game.
Nine times this season the Cowboys have failed to score first. They have gone into the half trailing seven times and are 0-7 in those games.
They actually looked good in their opening-drive against the Bears to take a 7-0 lead, and that was it until the fourth quarter. They converted four third downs in their opening drive; they converted two more the entire game.
By the time the Dak ‘n’ Friends started to move the ball again, it was too late as the Bears were OK with Dak completing some passes to keep the clock going.
“Can’t put a finger on it. I wish I could right now. If I could, obviously, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We would be getting over this and out of this slump,” Dak said. “But that’s the most frustrating part, that we have the skill level, we have the players, we have the chemistry at times, but we’re not playing together as a team complimentary enough when we need to and we’ve got to figure out what it is.”
The problems and breakdowns are numerous.
Here is one:
With the game tied at 7, the Cowboys faced a third-and-4 from the Bears’ 24-yard line in the second quarter. Dak threw a pass to fullback Jamize Olawale, and the play was there.
It was an example of a receiver who has no catches this season, and who had no timing with his quarterback. The ball was there, but Olawale was running up the field and never saw the pass.
The Cowboys opted for a field-goal attempt, which, naturally Brett Maher missed.
It was just another example of when the game is close, the Cowboys don’t make plays.
When they trail, and the defenses play back, the Cowboys start to move the ball.
In the first half this season, Prescott has completed 63% of his passes for 1,873 yards, 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. In the second half, he has completed 67% of his passes for 2,249 yards, 11 touchdowns and two interceptions.
Given the team’s sub .500-record, the stats don’t suggest Dak and the Cowboys are tearing up when the game is close. The stats say Dak and the Cowboys are flinging it successfully because they are trailing, and opposing defenses are giving them yards.
Dak and the Cowboys have some great stats. They are good enough to build a 6-7 record.
