Dak Prescott’s future as the Cowboys quarterback has been a leading talking point around the team this offseason due to Prescott being in the final year of his contract and that discourse often includes questions about whether the team will make another investment into a player who hasn’t led them deep into the playoffs.
The Cowboys are 73-41 with Prescott as a starter in the regular season and he is coming off his third season with at least 4,000 passing yards and 30 passing touchdowns. He has another three seasons with at least 3,300 passing yards, but those numbers are mitigated by a 2-5 playoff record that includes three home losses in four home games.
Playoff success is a big part of any quarterback’s evaluation in the NFL, but Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks believes that the criticism of Prescott’s lack of it is misguided.
“It’s blasphemy,” Cooks said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “It’s unbelievable. The guy shows up every year, year in and year out. Putting up numbers, leading his team. He can’t do it all by himself.”
Cooks referenced playing with Tom Brady and Drew Brees earlier in his career and said “they had a lot of help around them” while saying the Cowboys have to provide the same support for Prescott.
“When we hear that disrespect, I take that personally and as his teammates we should take that personally, because at the end of the day, somebody has got to be able to help him get over that hump so we can go win one,” Cooks said.
Brady and Brees definitely had strong offenses around them, but you can’t divorce Prescott’s regular season numbers from the players who have joined him on the field in Dallas. For whatever reason, that hasn’t translated to enough wins in the postseason and that falls on a quarterback’s shoulders in the NFL whether Cooks likes it or not.