Getty Dak Prescott
Regretfully complicit, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott bemoaned the self-inflicted miscues attributed to the team’s 1-3 start, underscored by consecutively sloppy losses.
“Ball security is job security,” Prescott told reporters Thursday, via NFL Network’s Jane Slater.
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It’s difficult to pick nits with Prescott through four weeks. He leads the league in passing yards (1,690) and completions (137) while guiding the top-ranked offense in total yards per game (509.5). The franchise-tagged signal-caller is on pace to finish with a mind-blowing 6,760 air yards, which would shatter the current NFL record (5,477) set by Peyton Manning in 2013. He’s been Good Dak more often than not in another contract year.
But Bad Dak’s reared its ugly head, too. Prescott has thrown three interceptions across his last two starts, including a pair in Dallas’ Week 3 defeat at Seattle. On top of those, he’s also lost three fumbles, turnovers that in some cases directly led to points for the opposition, and in all cases contributed to the NFL’s worst differential (-7).
“Trust me, I do not like where we are with the turnover ratio,” head coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday. “Everyone clearly understands that on our team.”
The argument, though, is that Prescott can’t be held accountable for the many other detrimental factors: a historically bad defense bleeding points, an injury-ravaged offensive line down its All-Pro tackles, and a $90 million running back who literally can’t stop coughing up the ball. And who rightfully accepted a large piece of the blame pie.
“It hurts,” Ezekiel Elliott said Wednesday. “I look at myself as a leader for this team. And I look at myself as someone who’s supposed to help pick the team up when we get down and not be the cause of falling behind.
“I can’t give up the ball anymore.”
Neither Prescott nor Elliott are in danger of being replaced despite the former’s remark. But the latter also is correct in asserting they cannot continue to give the Cowboys’ defense, as hapless as it is, a short field on a moment’s notice.
Fixing this singular issue — an issue actually in their control — would go a long way toward the win column.
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