Getty Dak Prescott is facing some criticism following his return.
A familiar Dallas Cowboys name is coming to the defense of Dak Prescott.
After Prescott made his return in the Cowboys’ 24-6 victory over the Detroit Lions following a six-week absence due to a thumb injury, some critics were not impressed by his return. Formers Cowboys QB Ben DiNucci — who served as Prescott’s backup for the past two seasons — took to social media to defend his former teammate.
“It amazes me the disrespect Dak gets on here 🤣 Completes 80% of his passes with no turnovers and people act like he’s supposed to go 47/51 for 537 yards and 6 Tds his first game back after breaking his thumb,” said DiNucci.
Prescott’s stat line was actually very solid. The veteran quarterback went 19-of-25 for 207 passing yards and a touchdown. He also didn’t turn the ball over a single time in his return game.
As Bobby Belt — host of “Love of the Star” podcast — pointed out following the game, fans took issue with Prescott’s performance.
“I have to fight the fight on social media all the time. I was literally having people talk about what an awful performance Dak put up,” Belt said. “But it’s like look, whether he was totally sharp or not – which he wasn’t –, I think it’s funny to look at a guy who had six incompletions on 25 attempts and didn’t throw an interception, had a passer rating of 113 and say he was awful. To me, this was better than any game Cooper Rush played and we still were critical of it.”
While Prescott may not have dominated the game, he did manage it well. Most importantly, he led the team to victory.
A lot of Cowboys’ fans lack of patience with Prescott has a lot to do with Cooper Rush’s strong performance while leading the team during his absence. Rush went 4-1 as the starting quarterback. However, it’s not as if Rush dominated from a statistical standpoint.
In fact, Rush’s 80.1 passer rating actually lends credence to the idea that the backup quarterback is just a solid game manager at quarterback. Rush actually ranks 27th among all quarterbacks in passer rating.
As head coach Mike McCarthy pointed out following the game, Prescott didn’t see any live action during practice leading into the game. Considering Prescott hadn’t played in six weeks, it’s understandable why he played more of a game manager role.
“But overall, I think that Mike McCarthy’s got it there,” Belt continued. “There’s going to be a little bit of rust you’re knocking off. You’re still going to try to get into your rhythm a little bit. And I think Chicago will be better than this Detroit game, and I think Green Bay will be better than Chicago, and by the time we get to Minnesota I think you’ll see alright, Dak’s got his rhythm back and then this is what we’re looking at here.”
Cowboys fans may be craving a quarterback controversy, but there simply isn’t one. It may take awhile for Prescott to regain his form — he ranked fourth in the league last season with 37 touchdowns — but he’s clearly the starting quarterback over Rush.