A lot of the offseason chatter surrounding Dak Prescott has been about his recovery from a third leg injury and his “return” to being the best quarterback in the NFL.
But is he? Is he even the best quarterback in the NFC?
For that matter, is he the best quarterback in the NFC East? John Kosko at PFF doesn’t seem to think so.
Is he right?
To find the answer, one must dive into the numbers. The key is not to focus on just his regular season numbers.
Regular Season Star
There is no denying that Prescott has posted some solid numbers in the regular season. As noted before, he is in line to set new passing records for the Cowboys’ franchise this year.
You don’t set team records for any NFL team if you are a bad quarterback, aside from the turnovers and losses marks that no one wants to claim.
Prescott is 76-46 in the regular season with 31,437 yards and 213 touchdowns in nine seasons.
The yardage number puts him 53rd all-time in the NFL. If he replaces Tony Romo (34,183) he will move into the Top 40 if he can run down Patrick Mahomes (32,352) before then.
Again, good numbers. And, again, they have come in the regular season.
When The Lights Shine Brightest
The same people who praise that impressive won-loss record in the record season, and point to it as a prime indicator of his greatness, have a big problem.
They’ll immediately say Prescott’s 2-5 playoff record isn’t his fault. It seems hypocritical to give him 100% of the credit for the good record and 0% of the blame for the bad.
Running up the numbers against lesser opponents is not an acceptable way to determine greatness.
It’s what one does in the big games, against stronger opponents, and in the playoffs that determines who is the better quarterback.
On that basis, the pecking order of quarterbacks in the NFC East is clear. And Prescott is not at the top of that list.
The Division’s Best
Jalen Hurts has only started for four-and-a-half years for the Eagles. In his four full seasons as a starter, he is 45-17, a .726 winning percentage, well ahead of Prescott’s .623.
Hurts has 13,606 yards and 79 touchdowns in those four seasons.
That puts him about 800 yards behind Prescott’s nine-year pace, almost statistically even. Hurts is on pace for 192 touchdowns passing, 21 behind Prescott’s current pace.
Where Hurts leaps over Prescott with plenty of room to spare is his playoff record.
He is 6-3 with two NFC Championship wins and one Super Bowl victory to his name. His TD-INT ratio is 10-3.
Prescott’s ratio is 14-7, and he has thrown two first-half interceptions in each of his last two playoff games.
And that is why, overall, Hurts is the best quarterback in the NFC East.
Prescott is second, for now.
However, he had better be looking over his shoulder because Washington’s Jayden Daniels is already trying to elbow his way past.
If Daniels can avoid a sophomore slump, and gets the Commanders back to the NFC title game in 2025, Prescott slides to third. Especially if he fails to make the playoffs.
As far as the Giants, it doesn’t matter who Big Blue starts.
That player is a distant fourth, and already fading fast.
Give Dak the ol that we have and the skill players we now have and let’s see who has the best year. I belive we will see Dak as the best in the nfc with the weapons he has now.
How did you come up with a 14-7 playoff record for Prescott? Am I reading that line wrong?
Your reading it wrong!! That’s his TD to interception ratio!! Meaning he’s had 14 TDs and 7 interceptions in the playoffs!!
Who else’s production (outside of QB1), fades in the post season?
Who’s production, (again non-QB) stays the same minimally, VS elevates in the playoffs?
Who’s coaching is praised in the playoffs, VS which coaches lost their jobs?
Which teams’ overall health was relatively good that influenced making/advancing playoffs VS teams with significant injuries, etc?
Defenses that take the away + scores
Offenses that don’t excel in non-QB penalties
Trench-success
All this is vital, and isn’t due to the QB play but directly affects it
I could go further, but, I digress
Hurts isn’t a quarterback, he i a running back faking the position. Got lucky and didn’t have to face dak whom he has never beaten
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s as a Cowboys fan I Dak Prescott isn’t that good of a quarterback and Dak Prescott is over paid he hasn’t gotten the Cowboys to the super bowl and Jerry Jones is part of the problem to and Dak Prescott can’t beat the San Francisco 49ers the only reason why Dak Prescott got that big contract is because Jerry Jones didn’t have any other option at quarterback at the time and all of the sports media groups keep hyping up Dak Prescott
Your stupid!! Just stop making comments…. Please!! Your embarrassing yourself!!
Hey Cowboys fan, please refrain from name calling. Everyone can comment here.
BTW, Edward happens to be right.
1, QB1 is overpaid. He is paid the highest salary in the league and it’s OBVIOUS he HAS NOT PRODUCED in that way.
2, Obviously, he hasn’t gottten the Cowboys to a SB.
3, He can’t beat the Niners when it counts.
4, Jones and Co never gave him any real competition, so they DID NOT have OPTIONS. They screwed themselves.
5, He is HYPED by the sport MSM.
All TRUTHS.
You’re going to tell me TWO WILD CARD WINS IN NINE YEARS is a good QB? Sure, you can bring up “it’s a team sport”, but GREAT QBs RAISE the level of his teammates. Brady was winning SBs with WRs Hogan, Welker, Branch, Brown, Edelman, and RBs, Vereen, White, Redmond. Hardly big name, top tier players.
DP is an above average QB. He is not great or elite, far from it. Why did PFF rank him 17th?
Time for making excuses has passed.
First off…. It’s win/loss record, not won/loss!! Secondly you can’t compare QBs based on the wins and losses!! This is a TEAM sport, it takes a whole team to win, not just the QB, so you can stop with that garbage!! Of course hurts has more playoff wins, look at the teams he’s got to play with!! If Dak was on the teams hurts has been on, I’m sure he would have just as many playoff wins and Super Bowl wins, if not more!! And I’m sure of that cause Dak is an actual QB, while hurts is just a RB that was put in at the QB position!! If you wanna compare QBs, try comparing them by actual QB stats!! Passing yards a game/season, career passing yards, passing TDs a season, career passing TDs, passing yards for the first 4 or 5 years, passing TDs for the first 4 or 5 years…. You know, stats that are only for the QB, and not the whole team!! I’m pretty sure if you do that, you’ll come up with different results for who the better QB is!! The only stat that hurts will have that’s better than Dak is rushing yards, and that’s because like I said, hurts is just a RB that was put in at the QB position!! And the reason I didn’t bring up interceptions for a stat is because a lot of interceptions aren’t always on the QB!! Like the interceptions you brought up for Dak in the playoffs the last 2 years wasn’t all on him, a couple of them happened by being tipped or bouncing off the receivers hands, so that’s why I didn’t bring them up!! You can use that stat if you want, I just don’t think it’s fair to judge any QB by interceptions when half the time the interceptions aren’t even their fault!! Unless you can get a stat that shows their true interceptions, the ones that were really their fault, then I wouldn’t mind using that stat, but that’s the only way I would use it!! Either way, QBs shouldn’t be ranked based on wins and losses, cause it takes a whole team to win games!!