Dak Prescott perfectly explains why Cowboys' win was more encouraging than it appeared on Sunday night
After turning the ball over three times, many fans have wasted no time criticizing Dak Prescott and acting like the Dallas Cowboys' win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was not that big in the first place. Watching live, it felt like an uninspiring win in many ways as the Cowboys were called for penalty after penalty, and […]
After turning the ball over three times, many fans have wasted no time criticizing Dak Prescott and acting like the Dallas Cowboys' win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was not that big in the first place.
Watching live, it felt like an uninspiring win in many ways as the Cowboys were called for penalty after penalty, and consistently left points on the field, making the game look quite ugly despite an epic last-minute comeback.
But upon further review, the Cowboys' win was much better than it first appeared on Sunday night (or in the first hours of Monday). Not only did the win have a major impact on the team's playoff chances but there was a lot of encouraging things that happened even on offense.
Quarterback Dak Prescott, who was responsible for two interceptions and one lost fumble, perfectly explained it when talking to reporters postgame. He was asked if there had been any doubt in his mind during the game that the Cowboys would be able to come back and win it.
"Not at all," Prescott replied without hesitating. "Just look at the whole game, when we weren't scoring or we weren't doing what we needed to do, it was on us, it was on me. Whether it be fumbling on the sack early in the game in field goal range in the Red Zone, whether it be throwing the interception right before half, and then again when we're up three, getting the penalty backing us up, and then that interception. Other than those, we were able to move the ball and do what we wanted."
Obviously, it's difficult to just shrug off three turnovers just like that but Prescott has a point and the numbers back it up. Keep in mind, the Steelers entered Week 5 with a Top 10 defense against the pass and Top 3 against the rush. The Cowboys generated 445 yards of total offense, averaging 5.9 yards per play and being 9-of-15 on third down.
Per RBSDM.com, the Cowboys offense ranked eighth best in EPA/play for Week 5 including turnovers. Filtering out turnovers, the Cowboys were second in dropback EPA/play, which goes to show how good Prescott was outside of the turnovers. He had four pass catchers with over 50 receiving yards and that's not including Rico Dowdle, who caught a TD pass. The offense did all of it with no Brandin Cooks and while sustaining injuries to Tyler Guyton and Zack Martin during the game.
Again, you don't want an offense committing as many mistakes as the Cowboys did on Sunday Night Football. But if we're pointing out the negative, it's only fair to point out the positive. Dak did a great job spreading the ball around and delivered when it mattered most. Additionally, the game-plan included much more motion (something that had been severely lacking), which was evident throughout from first to fourth quarter. As for the running game, Rico Dowdle just injected some much needed life to the RB room, going for 87 yards in 20 carries.
They might be baby steps, but they certainly matter in a long NFL season that's not even halfway through.
