Don’t blame Dak Prescott for a Cowboys mess he didn’t create

Ralph Vacchiano

NFL Reporter

In the aftermath of yet another loss by the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, Dak Prescott did what all good leaders do. He took the hit. He made sure the criticism would be directed towards him.

And the world, at large, obliged.

Maybe some of it is fair, since it had only been 49 days since Prescott signed a record four-year, $240 million contract with $231 million in guaranteed money. And since then he’s been on a personal record pace with eight interceptions in just seven games. He was supposed to lead them to the Super Bowl. So it’s hard not to blame him for all or most of the Cowboys’ woes during their disappointing 3-4 start.

But here’s a reality check that really should have been obvious to everyone: This mess in Dallas is not Dak Prescott’s fault.

That shouldn’t be breaking news, given that the Cowboys’ problems are well-documented, dating all the way back to March when they sat back and did nothing as key players left in free agency. They still have no running game, they still can’t stop the run, and they still only have one viable receiver. The world knew all that long before they started the season, went 0-3 at home and hurt their playoff chances by losing their last two games.

The fixation on Prescott won’t stop, though, because of the money he’s collecting and because he’s now thrown two interceptions in three straight games. His numbers show a huge dip from last year. He’s completed just 63.7 percent of his passes (lowest since 2017) for 1,845 yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions. If that continues, it’ll be the worst statistical season of his career.

Even Prescott admitted he’s “frustrated with myself about my play” after he threw two interceptions again in a 30-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night. What he didn’t say, though, is the truth: Those interceptions are almost always a product of the mess around him.

He knows — as we all should — that the Cowboys’ only chance to win any game this season is if Prescott makes it happen. And he knows, for the most part, that the only help he’s going to get is from his $136 million receiver, CeeDee Lamb.

The obvious result of that is this: Prescott is going to force throws he shouldn’t force, because he doesn’t have much of a choice. There aren’t second options open on most of his plays. There isn’t a running game he can rely on to take some of the pressure off. He goes into every play, especially in crunch time, knowing that if he doesn’t do it, nobody else will.

Take the interception he threw in the third quarter on Sunday night, deep in the Cowboys’ own territory when it was still just a three-point game — the turning point of what was a San Francisco blowout before Dallas’ futile, late comeback. Prescott called it “as boneheaded of an interception as I feel like I’ve had.” And maybe he’s right about that.

But consider the situation. It was 3rd-and-4 from the Dallas 17, early in the third quarter. They trailed only 13-10, but their offense was going nowhere. They obviously couldn’t rely on a rushing attack led by the remains of Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook. They needed something to kickstart their offense. So they turned to the only option they had.

And you know what? When Prescott threw that ball, he had two 49ers defenders in his face. And Lamb had actually gotten three yards behind cornerback Deommodore Lenoir and the safety was 12 yards behind them, covering someone else. In other words, Lamb was open. Prescott’s only mistake was not getting enough on the throw on a poorly designed play that had him running to his left, which means he had to awkwardly turn his body back to make any throw at all.

That’s not to absolve him completely. Prescott certainly didn’t.

“I feel like I (was) trying to make a play and (had) too much confidence in myself in that moment right there,” he said. “Obviously should’ve just thrown it away. Wish I would’ve put a little bit more heat on it and it would’ve been CeeDee or out of bounds.”

But again, this is the situation Prescott is in. What choice did he have? Any time he sees daylight between Lamb and defenders he has to throw the ball, because there are no other options. The Cowboys are averaging 74.1 rushing yards per game on 3.4 yards per carry — both dead last in the league. Lamb (45 catches, 613 yards) has been more than a quarter of the Cowboys’ offense this season. He has almost as many yards as all the other Dallas receivers combined (659).

At some point, to win games, the Cowboys need big plays. Heck, they’d even take medium plays. So if Lamb is actually open, what else is Prescott supposed to do? What other big-play options do the Cowboys have?

That’s only one play, of course, but most of his eight interceptions fit that pattern — trying to force something because he knows he has to try. Most other quarterbacks have help. Patrick Mahomes is having a terrible year in Kansas City (eight touchdown passes, nine interceptions) but the Chiefs have a great defense and so much offensive balance. Baker Mayfield and Jordan Love each have more interceptions (nine) than Prescott, but their teams are loaded with offensive weapons to help take some of the pressure off.

Prescott doesn’t have the luxury of that kind of help. Thanks to Jerry Jones’ decision that Derrick Henry, at $9 million guaranteed, was too expensive for the Cowboys and his refusal to deal draft picks for any of the many available receivers (Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, DeAndre Hopkins, Diontae Johnson) it’s Prescott-to-Lamb or bust. And it’s going to be that way for the rest of the season.

So yes, Prescott is going to force things. Sometimes it’ll work — like in his garbage-time comebacks against the Ravens and 49ers when the defense was sitting back. Most of the time, though, it’s going to cause the Cowboys to live on the edge. He can’t be a game manager or even play the game with caution, because the Dallas offense won’t be able to move that way.

It’s a double-edged sword, of course, because the Cowboys can’t win if he keeps throwing interceptions, either. Nobody knows that better than Prescott.

“Once again, we put ourselves behind in the turnover battle and that’s on me,” he said. “Can’t have that if you’re planning to win games. I’ve got to clean that up, period.”

Yes, but that’s far easier said than done while running an offense with only one working piston in its engine. He’s going to be forced into a “gunslinger” role, where he has no choice but to take chances. It’s a high-risk, high-reward game that right now has the Cowboys in a deep hole.

But this is the hand that Prescott has been dealt. It wasn’t the one he would have chosen. Surely he’d be better off if he had been given better cards. But he wasn’t. And now he has no choice but to keep risking it all. He has to play those cards. And he has to be “all in.”

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.