Mike McCarthy is entering his fourth season as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, but his first since taking charge of offensive play. McCarthy led the Cowboys to consecutive 12-win seasons, but they fell short NFC Championship game both years.
After getting a little more aggressive this season in an effort to get over the hump, the Cowboys are hoping for a big 2023 season. In anticipation of that, let’s take an in-depth look at each position on the list. Today, we started with the most important position, the midfielder.
This is Dak Prescott’s team
It’s weird to say it, but with Aaron Rodgers leaving the Jets and Derek Carr leaving the Raiders, Dak Prescott has become the longest running quarterback for his team. Prescott became the starter in 2016 through unforeseen circumstances and hasn’t looked back, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year and being nominated twice to Pro Bowl. Just last year, he won the Walter Payton Award for Man of the Year as well, a testament to his leadership and selflessness.
Prescott has long been praised for his leadership and work ethic, but much of his time in Dallas has been focused on whether he is the driving force of the team. Prescott entered the league with Ezekiel Elliott, who led the league in rushing and was named to the first-team All-Pro list as a junior. Several times over the next few years, several characters argued that Elliot, not Prescott, was the straw that moved the drink into offense.
This was not the case for at least two years, as Elliott’s play declined with age and the traumatic nature of the running back position took its toll. But now it’s official, since Elliott was fired earlier this season. Prescott and Elliott were close friends, but the quarterback knows the decision was a wake-up call for the entire team: It’s time to step up.
Prescott is now a veteran, and one of the top voices in this locker room. He was already a leader, but that’s undoubtedly Dak Prescott’s team; No more sharing credit with fellow 2016 rookie. It will be interesting – and undoubtedly strange – to watch Prescott lead this team without Zeke next to him.
Can Duck go back to his old ways with a new crime?
For whatever reason, there has always been a lot of debate about Prescott’s place in the NFL’s quarterback hierarchy, but the 2022 season has found new life in the form of Prescott’s surprising struggles with a turnover error. In fact, Prescott led the league in interceptions despite missing five games.
One of the reasons it made such a big deal was because she was so different from him. Those 15 interceptions were the most he has had in a single season. Prescott picked up only 1.7% of his passes over the first six years of his career; In 2022, he was throwing one on 3.8% of his attempts.
Mike McCarthy has brought up the turnover rate on more than one occasion this season when discussing changes to the Cowboys offense. McCarthy focuses on adjusting the offense to improve efficiency, and substitutions are efficiency killers. McCarthy seemed to have located the solution to this problem, as the coach and Jerry Jones both went out of their way to talk about getting the ball out of Prescott’s hands faster.
This makes sense, as Prescott’s playworthy turnover jumped from 3.6% to 4.8% when pressed, and Prescott’s 2.72-second throw coincided with a 20% pressure rate. Neither of these looks is too bad, but they’re right in the middle of the pack. Perhaps the slight increase in Prescott’s throwing time not only lowered turnover, but also opened up a more efficient version of Prescott than we’ve seen in the past.
What is its roof?
Prescott has been in the league for quite some time, and he’s been phenomenal from the moment he made his NFL debut. In fact, Prescott ranks eighth in EPA/play and ninth in CPOE among active quarterbacks since entering the league. It was fine.
But is that all it will be? Prescott will turn 30 before the start of the season, which is when most players start to hear questions about how much time they have left. To date, Prescott’s Cowboys have failed to win multiple playoff games in a single year, and two of his worst single-game performances of his career have been against the same. 49ers team in consecutive posts.
McCarthy was brought in to take this team over the hump. After all, he’s already won power Before, and has been there throughout the entire development of Aaron Rodgers. Now that McCarthy has taken a bigger role in crafting the offense, it’s time for Prescott to get over the hump and lead his team on a run in January. We’re not in Super Bowl-or-bust territory with Prescott just yet, but another early exit from the playoffs could start to take a toll on this team.
Is the backup deal the same, even with the base change?
The Cowboys got exactly what they had in Cooper Rush backup last year, winning four of five games started in Prescott’s absence. However, the interesting part is that Rush looked in danger of losing the QB2 spot just two months ago, and Will Greer seemed to have saved him from relegation for much of the pre-season due to injury.
As a result, Rush solidified himself as one of the best backup quarterbacks in the league while Grier spent time on the practice squad before returning to the active roster. Now, both are back and again vying for the right to replace Prescott should such a need arise.
Is Rush still the favourite? He showed he was a capable bus driver, but is that enough to secure the job this year? Especially with a new offense and a new coach in position, Scott Tolzien, there could be somewhat even competition here. There is also a rule change from this season, which allows for emergency exception of quarterbacks for active/inactive rosters on game days. This may eventually make the competition between these two topics moot.