The Dallas Cowboys are witnessing quarterback Dak Prescott take his level up a notch. Since Week 6, he has been locked in, putting together impressive performance after impressive performance.

A five-touchdown game against the New York Giants now has everyone thinking, could he be named the MVP of the 2023 NFL season when it's all said and done? 

Let's dive into it, starting with the biggest reason why yes, he should be perceived as a legit candidate. 

Dak Prescott has the most important number to win MVP

Let's reverse-engineer MVP winners, shall we? How can we possibly predict who's getting it? 

It's no secret now that there's one statistic that defines MVP awards almost every year: Passing EPA (expected points added), which measures total efficiency from a quarterback putting a value on each play. 

Per Next Gen Stats, "the leader in passing EPA has won the league MVP in six of the last seven NFL seasons."

Now, the thing is everyone measures EPA differently, but here's where Prescott ranks in a couple of important outlets that keep track of it:

• Sumersports: 7th 
• ESPN: 8th

If we consider total EPA (rushing included), Prescott jumps right into the Top 5 in both sites. He also currently ranks second in the NFL in EPA/play, per RBSDM. Considering the Cowboys have been much more aggressive passers since the bye week, his total numbers could be trending in the right direction very soon. 

He also leads the NFL in big-time throw percentage while boasting the second-lowest turnover-worthy play rate, per PFF. All this while pushing the ball downfield (seventh in average depth of target). 

The cherry on top? Prescott has also helped WR CeeDee Lamb to a historic streak with 10 catches and 150 receiving yards in three consecutive games. 

As of right now, Prescott isn't a favorite to win it. But he has had the statistical output to put himself in a position to make a push for it in November and December. Let's dig a little bit deeper, though.

The dealbreaker that could keep Prescott from winning the award

Dak doesn't get the MVP if the Cowboys aren't NFC East winners by the end of it all. 12 of the last 16 winners of the award ended up being the No. 1 seed of their respective conferences.

Add to that the fact that Jalen Hurts himself is an MVP candidate. Not only that, he's a favorite, boasting the second-best odds for the coveted award in the NFL.

Voters won't give Prescott the nod if his team isn't able to steal the division title. I wrote recently about what they'd need to make that happen.

On the other hand, it's a perfect MVP script for Dak

Sure, Prescott had a terrible game in San Francisco back in Week 5 and his elite performance wasn't enough to beat the Philadelphia Eagles on the road. But you know what? Voters won't remember that when filling their ballots.

You see, this is a winter award. It's going to be tough to win the division but if Prescott pulls it off and Dallas closes the season with say, a 7-1 run while stealing away the division, you can stamp his name on the trophy. 

Not saying it's an easy one, but if it happens that way, the Cowboys quarterback might have the best script for MVP out of everyone else in the entire NFL. 

What do the MVP odds say about Dak Prescott?

This is where I can't help but think that Dak Prescott is being undervalued for the trophy. He sits as a 30-to-1 favorite, which is 11th in the NFL. Jared Goff and Christian McCaffrey have better odds.

In my opinion, this is mostly a reflection of how hard it'll be for Dallas to win the division. Per DVOA, they have a 22% chance of beating out the Eagles for it. On top of that Dak needs to close out the season with strong individual performances. 

He likely won't win it but his play as of late has been that of a true MVP. So we can't rule him out just yet.

Cowboys: Dak Prescott makes hilarious confession about viral gameday moment

QB1 kept it real.