When you’re the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, all eyes are on you. It has been like that for Dak Prescott since the moment he hit the field during his rookie season. Over the years, the Cowboys gradually catered to him as they built the team around him. Sometimes that meant focusing on primarily sound receivers, other times it was just putting the right guy in his ear.
Today, we’ll delve into Dak’s career, examining passing yards in every game and trying to identify the meaningful events that had the biggest impact on his success. It’s been a somewhat volatile career for Prescott and we want to see if there are any clear connections to some of the big changes the Cowboys have made over the years. Here are his yards per game over the course of 97 games.
Game manager
Prescott was supposed to be a fourth-round development man who worked behind Tony Romo and boy genius Kellen Moore, but both struggled with injuries before the regular season even got underway that pushed Prescott’s rookie into action. And as we know, it’s a Prescott party that never gives up.
Early on, Dak was seen as a “bus driver” who had the luxury of working behind a big rushing attack led by another rookie star, Ezekiel Elliott. Prescott finished his rookie season averaging 229 yards per game and still to this day has a career high of 104.9.
X does not indicate the spot
Things did not go well for Prescott in his sophomore season and Logic can be blamed on various things. Some people think that teams had a lot more streaking and defenses were more willing to spot him. Others point to the november vs. contest Atlanta Falcons As his watch was cleaned as he was sent off eight times in that match. Prescott looked spotty as the Cowboys dropped three straight games and a Duck stretching four games not reaching 180 yards. Prescott finished with a career low 208 yards per game average.
That year was also the final season for veteran receiver Dez Bryant as he struggled to breakaway and began taking balls out of his hands. Bryant’s numbers were abysmal and the team chose to go in a different direction in 2018. Unfortunately, the team didn’t have the answers because the cheap additions of Allen Hearns, Tavon Austin and Dewente Thompson just didn’t cut it.
He deserves first
A poor valuation of the group of wide receiver positions in 2018 forced the front office to make a move when they traded a 2019 first-round draft pick for Oakland Raiders receiver Amari Cooper. The young receiver hit the ground, instantly boosting his passing attack. The Cowboys went from offensive futility to explosive blasting once the former Alabama star was added. The Cowboys re-signed him to a five-year, $100 million extension in 2020.
Cooper played three and a half seasons with the Cowboys, racking up over 1,000 yards in his first three. Unfortunately, Cooper’s numbers are down in 2021, and with the emergence of another first-round draft pick, CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys didn’t feel they could justify Cooper’s cap resources and shipped off to Cleveland.
Prior to Cooper’s arrival, Dak averaged only 216 yards per game, but that rose to 297 yards per game during the time Cooper was passing passes for the Cowboys.
It’s CeeDee’s home now
The team put their faith in Lamb to be the real deal, and as it turns out, he was. Lamb’s numbers have improved every year he’s been in the league, including his 1,359 All-Pro season last year. Sadly, the team didn’t have an answer outside of Lamb as Michael Gallup was a shell of his former self after a season-ending knee injury the year before. With no Cooper and no supporting assists for Lamb, Prescott’s numbers dropped to just 238 yards per game.
The student becomes the teacher
It’s absolutely bizarre how the Cowboys/Circle Life Coaching team turned out. Prescott is in Dallas because his former coach, Jason Jarrett, has advocated for him vigorously. And former backup quarterback Kellen Moore was brought to Dallas because of his time with Scott Linehan in Detroit. Oddly enough, it was Duck who replaced Moore (and Tony) and then Moore who eventually replaced Linehan as offensive coordinator.
The Cowboys offense took off with Moore shooting Dallas and Prescott doing well with his former teammate at his side. The Duck’s yards per game rose 60 complete yards from 227 under Linehan to 287 under Moore.
As mentioned, 2022 was a struggle for the passing game, and while a lack of receiving talent was one reason, play-calling was considered another as the Cowboys moved on from Moore in favor of head coach Mike McCarthy who called plays.
With so many different pieces affecting Prescott’s game, what do you think is the most impactful component? Did the Cowboys make a huge mistake by trading away Cooper? Are they making another one by not keeping Moore around? What circumstances helped Prescott become a successful thrower? To help provide some answers, we decided to take Prescott’s game history a bit and separate it by the different events that affected the passing game.
Amari Cooper is a smoke gun. There is no better revelation than the 202-274 split during the 2018 season after they got it from the Raiders. Whether or not Moore had to be let go remains to be seen, but he was a clear upgrade over Linehan. It’s worth noting that Linehan also took advantage when Cooper showed up, though he was only there at the beginning.
What does that mean for the cowboys of the future?
Now, We Cook’n?
The Cowboys multiply their resources wide as they trade veteran Brandin Cooks. This may seem like they’re holding back because they just had a veteran installed in Cooper, but back the cowboys for realizing their missteps, and kudos to them for taking down Chefs at half the price of Cooper.
The team hopes the healthy trio of Lamb, Cooks and Gallup will provide answers. They seem to firmly believe this is the right way to go in return for Moore’s playing prowess, since he now resides in Southern California. Yardage per game isn’t the endgame, everything tells about quarterbacks’ performance, but it does paint a picture of what a team can do through the air. If there is truth to the divisions the graph above shows, having a legitimate alpha receiver with two eyes of quality would be exactly what Prescott needs to get back into the running again.