Being the Cowboys quarterback means dealing with high expectations and relentless criticism when you don’t get the job done. Troy Aikman has admitted avoiding public places like the grocery store following poor performances. Tony Romo spent years being called ‘overrated’ by his critics while the undrafted-turned-Pro-Bowler just may be the most under-appreciated quarterback in NFL history. Nobody is spared from the wrath and the same is the case for Dak Prescott who started his Cowboys career going 18-6 in his first 24 games. Up until this past week’s win over the Lions, Prescott was 5-6 in his last 11 games. He also failed to reach 200 passing yards in nine of those games with an 8-11 touchdown-to-interceptions ratio. That’s why the importance of his performance against the Lions cannot be overstated though it’s been slightly overshadowed by arguably the best player on that field. Ezekiel Elliott’s 240 total yard performance was easily the best outing of his 29-game career. His 152 rushing yards was his third-best on 25 carries, which was only his eighth-most in three seasons. Elliott was outstanding and he showed exactly why he was drafted fourth overall. Still, in context, Ezekiel Elliott did what he was supposed to do against the NFL’s worst rushing defense... he dominated them. Even though Elliott saw eight or more in the box 32% of the time (fifth-most in Week 4), he gashed the Lions all day long for over six yards per carry. It’s certainly impressive but that’s what you expect from the league’s leading rusher by nearly 90 yards. What Dak Prescott did though was not only fantastic but also one of the most unlikeliest of feats. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that a good day for total offense is 300+ yards, and a great day is anything over 400. Passing for 200+ yards is an expectation for NFL quarterbacks. On the surface, 255 passing yards for Dak ranks 18th for the week, five quarterbacks had 400+ passing yards and eight others went over 300. It wasn’t the amount of passing yards that we should be impressed with, it was the way he got there and everything in between. Dak’s composure, the poise that we’ve all been waiting to see, returned in terms of his confidence and he looked like that 18-6 Dak Prescott again. Here’s the NextGen breakdown of Dak Prescott over these four weeks: Dak's 2018 TT Agg. % Comp % Exp. Comp % Comp. +/- Pass. Rate AYTS vs. DET 2.86(8) 48.1(1) 63(18) 53.5(28) 9.5(3) 118.6(5) 2.8(1) vs. SEA 3.04(2) 11.8(22) 54.5(30) 70.3(6) -14.4(31) 54.5(30) -4(28) vs. NYG 2.82(6) 24(6) 64(25) 55.3(32) 8.9(9) 95.4(22) -0.1(12) vs. CAR 3.1(5) 13.8(22) 65.5(14) 69.8(7) -4.3(16) 81.1(18) -2.4(23) Dak is clawing his way out of the slump he was in. Three weeks in, Prescott’s expected completion percentage was 53.5% but he exceeded that by 9.5% which was only usurped this week by Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford. His time to throw shows that he was attempting to not hold the ball as much. Prescott was throwing well-short of the sticks, as high as four-yards short against the Seahawks, but against the Lions he was throwing it almost three yards past the marker... best of the week. Here’s where we get to the best part, the “aggression percentage” which determines how many passing attempts are made in tight windows with a defender one-yard or less away from the target. Often times those with a high aggression percentages can also correlate with quarterbacks that turn the ball over a lot such as Eli Manning or Jameis Winston; however, great quarterbacks are often mixed in that list as well. You have to be aggressive, take shots, and make tight-window throws to be among the best in the NFL. Through his first three years, Prescott ranked middle of the pack in aggression percentage. As a rookie, Dak attempted three passes of 20+ yards on average per game. That number dropped to 2.8 last season and as low as 0.75 per game this season. To see that 48% of Dak’s attempts were also of the “big boy” variety was a pleasant surprise. Considering he accomplished this versus the previously top-rated Lions’ pass defense was shocking. Dak Prescott was ‘pea-cocking’ at it’s finest. “It was huge. It was what we needed. 2-2 is much better than 1-3. It was great for us to just come out here and get things going offensively, just be able to win that game on that last drive. It was big for everyone’s confidence and moving forward we can build the momentum on taking this game.” -Dak Prescott on how big the Lions win is Darius Slay, Quandre Diggs, and Glover Quin are all among the top defensive backs in the league. This Lions’ unit held Tom Brady to 133 yards, Jimmy Garoppolo to 198, and Sam Darnold to 206. All three of those quarterbacks would likely finish ahead of Prescott in most passing categories yet Dak outperformed all of them against this Lions defense that averaged only 152 passing yards surrendered per game. By the way, Prescott did this at the same time that Matthew Stafford carved up his defense for over 300 yards with only six incompletions. Dak’s day against the Lions showed his willingness to fight through the adversity of the last few weeks and not go into a shell against a great secondary. Dak gets criticized for not taking chances or for bad ball placement but some of these throws were outstanding. In fact, Next Gen has a stat called “improbable completions” where it considers everything from receiver separation to air yards and gives the probability of the pass being completed. Prescott only has four of the top improbable completions on the season, three of which came in this game: Tightest Throws Improb. Comp. % Weekly Rank 12 yds to Hurns (DET) 23.70% 7 34 yds to Zeke (DET) 29.40% 18 37 yds to Gallup (DET) 30.30% 20 15 yds to Austin (NYG) 28.40% 18 Dak Prescott’s 255 yards isn’t going to convince critics to back off, he’ll need to prove that he can be consistent after his recent slump. As the old cliche goes, the devil is in the details. The details of Dak’s performance showed that he does have quality quarterbacking in him and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come. Without question Dak Prescott was beyond bold to save his most aggressive performance for his toughest matchup and it couldn’t have come at a better time.<doc-sep>The Dallas Cowboys’ offense was almost unrecognizable in their Week 4 win over the Lions compared to their performance a week earlier in a loss to the Seahawks. Aside from a few long runs by Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas couldn’t move the ball in Seattle, but seemed to do it at will against Detroit. Specifically, quarterback Dak Prescott looked much more confident and decisive as a passer in the latter contest, and it showed in the box score and on the game film. Play 1: Play Action Deep shot to Michael Gallup In the first quarter, the Cowboys used 11 personnel with play-action against man coverage with a single-high safety. The fake to Elliott really didn’t help or hurt this play because Detroit was in old school Cover 1 with two linebackers covering Elliott and Geoff Swaim while three cornerbacks covered Gallup, Cole Beasley and Allen Hurns. The beautiful thing about this play is all three of Dallas’ receivers were open and Lions safety Quandre Diggs was barbecued from the snap. Gallup and Hurns each ran go routes and each had a step on his defender at 10 yards. Beasley’s route was technically a dig, although he added a little waterbug action to it, which caused Dee Virgin to fall down as Beasley made his final cut. On top of everything, Prescott had a week in the pocket, so he could have thrown to either of his three receivers with Swaim and Elliott fairly well covered underneath on their delayed out routes. He chose Gallup and placed the ball perfectly where only his receiver could catch it. The best thing about this play against this defensive personnel package is it would have also worked against Cover 2 or Cover 3; Gallup and Hurns each would have been open against Cover 2 while Beasley would have been open against either coverage. This is an example of better play-calling and design in this Lions game versus what we saw in the Seahawks game.<doc-sep>ARLINGTON - After last week's loss at Seattle, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones borrowed a philosophy favored by characters ranging from Colin Powell to Little Orphan Annie. "The sun will come up tomorrow,'' Jerry pretty much said, noting that after a tough time, things always look a little better in the morning. Last week, in leading up to Sunday's visit to AT&T Stadium from the Detroit Lions, Dallas QB Dak Prescott all but echoed the same psychological rallying cry in a visit with NFL Network. The sun will rise again,'' Dak said. It is "tomorrow'' after this week's 26-24 last-second win against the Lions. Is the sun up? Has it risen? Have the Cowboys? "It's huge," Prescott said of a win that puts Dallas back up to 2-2. "It's what we needed. To be able to go down there and win that game on our last drive, it's big for everybody's confidence moving forward and the momentum we can take from this game." Let the record show that a Prescott incompletion was as big a play on any on this day that led to Brett Maher's 38-yard field goal as time expired. Prescott's now registered six of these "Captain Comeback''-level victories, helping Dallas overcome fourth-quarters deficits for wins ... in a style coach Jason Garrett termed "not a work of art'' but pretty enough ... if you understand how artless a 1-3 start would've been. Prescott's 34-yard lob to Ezekiel Elliott (on a "new wrinkle'' that has Zeke run a deep route while lined up as a slot receiver) was a "nut-cuttin' time'' throw, Garrett said. But just after the two-minute warning, with Dallas trailing, Dak almost suffered a strip-sack that was instead recorded as "only'' a fumble because he recovered it himself, 13 yards behind the line of scrimmage, all the way back to the 19-yard line, and then scrambled out of more trouble to launch the ball out of bounds for a harmless-but-game-saving incompletion. Oh, that deep pass to Elliott was nice. "Dak dropped it like the ring in the bucket," All-Pro guard Zack Martin said. And oh, the Maher kick was nice. That's Dan Bailey's shadow you feel shrinking just a bit. And the offensive wrinkles Prescott and coordinator Scott Linehan promised for this game were nice, too, even as Dak pretended they didn't exist. "Sometimes I just tell y'all (media) things,'' Prescott said, laughing. "I don't necessarily know if we had any new wrinkles. We just executed a lot better." Actually, both are true. "New wrinkles'' and "sling it around'' (another Linehan pledge that was widely misunderstood) in part doing some good things better. Prescott finished with 255 yards passing, marking only the third time in the last dozen games he's surpassed the 200-yard mark. But the 17 of 27? That's not "slingin'.'' The two touchdowns and the no interceptions? That kinda is ... because "slingin' it'' meant attitude and swagger, not 400 yards and 45 attempts. "I know what I can do," Prescott said. "I know the player I am. I never waver, and I never get down on myself. All of us have good days and bad days, and if all of us were judged by our bad days at our jobs, we'd all be in trouble." Instead, at 2-2, the Cowboys are, relatively speaking, out of trouble. Only three teams in the NFC have more wins than Dallas does. Dislike the facts if you wish, or bemoan the NFL's mediocrity, but this is a .500 League. That's as sure a thing as the sun coming up in the morning ... which, for Jerry and Dak and the Cowboys, it just did.<doc-sep>
The Cowboys found the win column for the second time this season with a 26-24 victory against the Lions. Coming out of the first quarter of the season with a 2-2 record and right in the thick of the NFC East race was a huge win for the Cowboys. For the first time this year, the passing game played a huge role in catapulting the Cowboys to win. The streak of six straight games under 220 yards passing and under a 100 passer rating is finallyover, and Dallas fans are happy to see this come to an end. Prescott finished with 255 passing yards, a strong 9.4 yards per attempt and a 118.8 passer rating. More importantly, Prescott’s passes included deep shots and successful throws into tight coverage. Going into Week 4 Prescott had completed just three passes over 20 yards the whole season, one in each game. In Week 4, He surpassed his season total with four completions over 20 yards, saving the best for last with the epic slot fade to Ezekiel Elliott to seal the game. Prescott only attempted four passes with over 20 air yards through the first three weeks. In Week 4, he matched his season total with four such attempts. In Week 4, the Dallas signal caller led all NFL quarterbacks in Aggressiveness, per Next Gen Stats, throwing 44 percent of his passes into tight windows where the defender was within one yard of the target. He was third in CAY, the average Air Yards a passer throws on completions and fifth in IAY, the average Air Yards a passer throws on all attempts. Don’t let Prescott lie to you about the team not doing anything differently. He was No. 22 in CAY (4.7) in Week 3 and No. 30 (5.2) in IAY in the passing game debacle in Seattle. Pushing the ball down the field is important to open up the running game for Elliott. With the heavy boxes the Cowboys are facing on a weekly basis, Prescott has to be efficient in the intermediate and deep passing game. All is not great, however, as Prescott continues his struggles to convert on third down through the air. He was 3 for 6 on third down, with a lowly 29 percent success rate according to Sharp Football Stats. Of his 30 third down attempts on the season, only six have been completed for first downs. Prescott and the Cowboys offense cannot always depend on Elliott turning in career performances and will be facing moments where converting on third down is vital to finish the game with a win. Prescott was able to convert the biggest third-down attempt through the air of the game, late in the fourth quarter finding Allen Hurns for nine yards on third and three. Two plays later he would find Ezekiel Elliott for the biggest play, a 34-yard completion to set up the winning field goal.