Cowboys Twitter recently burned up thousands of characters with a debate of great significance. How does Dak Prescott compare to other active NFL quarterbacks?
In the ever ongoing quest to elevate Prescott to the level of Joe Montana and Tom Brady, the Prescott posse has landed on an unbeatable argument.
Prescott’s numbers are better than Quarterback X’s are. Insert any current NFL starting quarterback in the X-slot and they’ll break down the numbers in Prescott’s favor.
And I’ll grant you this: I’d rather have Prescott as my starting quarterback over Kirk Cousins. Or even, Kyler Murray, or Geno Smith, or Daniel Jones, or Jared Goff, or Derek Carr.
Prescott’s numbers are great. He is 61-36 as a starter with a 66.6 completion percentage. He’s thrown for nearly 25,000 yards in 97 games with 166 touchdowns and 65 interceptions.
Those are great numbers. Those are also his regular season numbers. They compare favorably against nearly all of the above players.
Playoff Performance Lacking
But those numbers mean nothing. It’s what a quarterback does in the playoffs that count.
Prescott is 2-4 in the playoffs for 1,559 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has never led his team past the Divisional round.
Prescott’s numbers in the regular season average out much better than Eli Manning’s did. I’d rather have Prescott if I had to choose between them if that was based on regular season numbers alone.
But Manning has two Super Bowl rings with an 8-4 playoff record. If I want to base my choice on what they do when it matters, I’ll take Manning in a heartbeat.
The Twitterati that tries to put Prescott among the elite are infuriating. He isn’t an elite quarterback. Yet. He still could be though.
Dak A Step Below Elite
Right now, the active elite quarterbacks are Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Russell Wilson and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Although its safe to say that Rodgers, Stafford, Wilson and even Garoppolo are declining.
As much as it pains me to say it, Jalen Hurts is right on the cusp of it. Provided he can get the Eagles back to at least another NFC Championship game.
An elite quarterback puts his team in conference championship games and Super Bowls. Brady, Peyton Manning, Montana, and the other legendary players were elite.
Prescott isn’t there yet. He’s now a step below Hurts and will remain there until he finally gets to an NFC title game. He’s right where Tony Romo was. A great quarterback but can’t take that last step.
Which is why both Prescott and Romo rank below other great Cowboys’ quarterbacks.
Prescott, Romo Not Among Cowboys’ Best
Troy Aikman won all three Super Bowls he played in and was 3-1 in NFC title games. Roger Staubach won two of four Super Bowls and was 4-2 in the conference championship game.
Craig Morton got Dallas to a Super Bowl. Danny White led Dallas to three straight conference championship games.
It took Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers to beat Don Meredith in back-to-back NFL Championship games in the 1960s.
Romo will never be among the elite quarterbacks in Dallas’ history. Prescott still has a chance as he enters his eighth season. And there’s precedent for it.
Following The Path Of Dan Fouts
In 1980, Dan Fouts played his eighth season for the San Diego Chargers. He led the team to the AFC Championship game that year, and again in 1981.
He may have lost both games, but he got them there. Fouts was certainly an elite quarterback.
That’s the blue print for Prescott in 2023 and 2024. Get the Cowboys to no less than an NFC title game.
Do that and he becomes an elite quarterback worthy of that contract extension.
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