In Week 5, Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys, a team that had been previously considered possibly the best in the NFC, got destroyed by the San Francisco 49ers, 42-10. That defeat came two weeks after they had fallen to the awful Arizona Cardinals, 28-16.
Suddenly, the three blowout victories the Cowboys had achieved in their first four games seemed like a distant memory.
A lot of the blame was given to quarterback Dak Prescott, who threw three interceptions versus San Francisco. Plenty of analysts felt it was the worst game he had ever played, but it wasn’t his first poor performance against the Niners. Last season, when Dallas lost to them in the divisional round of the playoffs, Prescott threw two interceptions, and the year before that, he went 23 of 43 and got sacked five times in another loss to the Niners in the wild-card round.
Prescott has been criticized by many for not raising his game or playing up to his ability in big games. Head coach Mike McCarthy seemed to have his back when he talked about how unique his situation is.
“But what he endures mentally and emotionally compared to the other 31 [NFL starting quarterbacks] is unique,” McCarthy said about Dak Prescott, as shared by Kevin Manahan of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. “Speaking on experience of being around great quarterbacks [Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, etc.], I’ve never seen a quarterback under a microscope like he is. Just his consistency, his personality and work ethic, and how he handles all that, and navigates all that, and he goes out and performs every week, I think it’s special what he has to endure.”
Prescott played somewhat better on Monday when the Cowboys got past the Los Angeles Chargers by completing 21 of 30 pass attempts and avoiding any interceptions. But it wasn’t a great performance either, as he only threw one touchdown pass and was sacked five times.
Dallas is 4-2 and is currently on its bye week, but it will have some difficult games coming up. It will take on the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in Week 9, and it will host the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 30 before playing the Eagles again in Texas the following week.
Right after that will come back-to-back road contests versus the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.
These contests will give Prescott more opportunity to prove his naysayers wrong and place the Cowboys in the middle of the hunt for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
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