2016 NFL season is long over. Today, after Cowboys vs. Broncos game, Dak Prescott knows this better than anyone. Dallas Cowboys rookie sensational duo which consisted of Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott was all over the headlines during the last season. Well, the hype is now over, and reality struck hard.
Cowboys fourth-round pick from Mississippi State was taken in 2016 draft as the 135th pick overall. The plan was for him to develop behind Tony Romo and to be his successor down the line. The Prescott was only Dallas third option after they failed to move up in the draft for Paxton Lynch and Connor Cook.
The fate had different plans for Prescott, Romo, and the Cowboys. After Tony got injured, Dak stepped up and never looked back. He led Cowboys to a 13-3 score, top of the NFC, and finished the season with 3,667 passing yards on 459 attempts. In addition to that, this guy rushed for additional 282 yards. He stopped at 23 touchdowns with an average QB rating of 104.9.
After a season like this many people predicted that he is going to have a sophomore slump during 2017 season. After the first match versus New York Giants, it seemed that his critics were wrong. Many people disregarded NY Giants completely. New York had such a bad game that any team and any quarterback could outplay them. While everybody thought that Dak and the Cowboys were on the road for another excellent season sobering came in the second duel.
In the week 2, Dak and Dallas Cowboys were outplayed in every segment of the game by Denver Broncos. The final score was 42-17 for Broncos. The score, the bad as it was, failed to show just how awful Prescott was.
#Broncos seal deal w pick-6 of #Cowboys @1053thefan pic.twitter.com/gQKxJdHtsA
— mike fisher ✠(@fishsports) September 18, 2017
After the match, coach Jason Garrett stated that the reason for defeat was Prescott’s bad passing game. He wasn’t able to connect with his receivers (the running game is a subject for another article). Dak didn’t run from the responsibility. After the match, he had a following to say: “If I make more plays, we give ourselves a chance in that game. I just simply didn’t make the plays. There’s no excuse for it. Playing like that, you won’t win games. It doesn’t matter who you play.”
Another thing that might hurt Prescott’s self-esteem is the performance of Trevor Siemian. The Broncos QB was the star of the night, completely overshadowing his Cowboys counterpart. A scenario like this would be unimaginable in 2016.
While criticizing a player after only one loss seems unfair, they in our defense didn’t just lose, Cowboys were overrun, with bad plays, bad body language, they just didn’t look like a Super Bowl contender they are dubbed to be. And, worst of them all, was their star QB.
What do you say, is Dak Prescott a one-year wonder? And, can you hear the name of Tony Romo echoing in the distance?
