Cowboys: The numbers behind Dak Prescott's epic performance
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott balled out on Saturday. Aside from an opening drive miscue, No. 4 was hitting on all cylinders. He was the biggest reason why the Cowboys grabbed a key NFC East victory on Christmas Eve. Prescott torched the Philadelphia Eagles' secondary for four quarters. He delivered accurate passes all over the […]
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott balled out on Saturday. Aside from an opening drive miscue, No. 4 was hitting on all cylinders. He was the biggest reason why the Cowboys grabbed a key NFC East victory on Christmas Eve.
Prescott torched the Philadelphia Eagles' secondary for four quarters. He delivered accurate passes all over the field, targeted CeeDee Lamb time and time again, and demonstrated impressive poise in pressure situations.
He stood tall in the pocket and shredded a defense that has been among the best at defending the pass this season. It was exactly the type of performance that Prescott needed with the NFL playoffs fastly approaching.
Numbers behind Prescott's day
The advanced metrics show that Dak Prescott is much better than given credit for. When he's on fire, there are very few quarterbacks around the league that can get into the kind of rhythm that Prescott can.
Furthermore, the Dallas Cowboys are putting up points in bunches with Prescott at the helm. Since his return, the Cowboys have scored 40 or more points on multiple occasions and are becoming more and more difficult to sotp.
Here are the point totals in Prescott's games since returning from a five-game absence:
24, 49, 28, 40, 28, 54, 27, 34, 40
Additionally, Prescott was unstoppable against the Eagles' zone defense on Saturday. He picked them apart and found his target throughout the four quarters. Philadelphia had no answer.
In fact, Prescott, along with Joe Burrow, has the most games this season with at least a 75-percent completion percentage. Against the Eagles, Prescott completed all of his passes against zone defense and 77-percent of attempts, overall.
When you go even deeper, the data suggests that Dak Prescott is playing as good of football as any quarterback in the league. Especially when he takes care of the football — which, albeit, has not been the case as of late.
"I know the type of player that I am, I know what I’m capable of," Prescott said after the win. "This team believes in me and that’s all I did."
The Dallas Cowboys have the best scoring offense in the NFL with Dak Prescott at quarterback. Christmas Eve was the latest masterclass from No. 4 in what demonstrated why the Cowboys should be dangerous in the postseason.
Featured image via Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
