Dallas Cowboys need Prescott to be great for playoff berth
If the Dallas Cowboys are to make the playoffs, they’ll need a tremendous season from quarterback Dak Prescott.
Dak Prescott is overcoming a gruesome injury. He’s also playing under the expectations of a new four-year, $160 million contract signed back in March.
If that’s not enough pressure, consider the following: if Prescott isn’t fantastic for the Dallas Cowboys this season, they’ll almost certainly miss the playoffs.
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These days, hope revolves around quarterback play in the NFL. This is more true for Dallas than most teams, as the defense was one of the league’s worst last year. As well as that, the coaching was less than optimal during Mike McCarthy’s first year at the helm.
With Prescott has fully returned from last year’s Week 5 injury against the New York Giants, the Cowboys are once again buoyed by the thought of him hitting receivers Amari Cooper and Ceedee Lamb in stride. This wasn’t the case for most of last season, with the Cowboys struggling along with one backup after the next before finishing things out with veteran Andy Dalton.
Going into camp, Prescott talked to the media and made a point of discussing how much work has to be done. To that end, No. 4 wants to get a good deal of preseason action, per NFL.com:
“I definitely want to play. As far as giving you a number or a quantity of how much I need to, I just want to obviously get back out there and get some reps before it’s real, just to have a live defense coming at me, hopefully not taking too many licks because I’ve got great protection, but that’s part of the game and I think that’ll obviously be great to get up from that, wipe it off and just be another process instead of burying the injury. I think it’ll be huge.”
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Of course, owner/general manager Jerry Jones is hoping his defense is improved, McCarthy has a better handle on his team in 2021, and a slimmed-down Ezekiel Elliott can all help ease Prescott’s burden.
Still, smart money says Prescott will need to put together a Pro Bowl-worthy year — at the least — to have Dallas not only controlling the weak NFC East but perhaps making a significant push into the NFC playoffs.
