Dak Debate: ESPN Analysts Clash Over Prescott, Cowboys Future: 'Big Concern!'
Call it the Dak dilemma.
Is Dak Prescott an elite, ascending quarterback who merely threw in a clunker at the end of an MVP-caliber season?
Or is Dak Prescott just a regular-season, play-from-ahead, stat-stuffer with a skittish DNA susceptible to choking in the playoffs?
It's a debate the Dallas Cowboys must have in deciding whether to sign Prescott to a new contract this offseason. It's also a water-cooler topic that fans can't be expected to agree on.
Because ... neither can the experts.
Kevin Jairaj USA TODAY Sports
On ESPN's Get Up this week two respected NFL analysts butted heads over Prescott's past, present and future. The former player - Dan Orlovsky - said the Cowboys should consider moving on from Dak because his regression is a "big concern." The ex coach - Rex Ryan - countered that the embarrassing playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers had little to do with the quarterback and everything to do with Dallas' no-show defense.
Said Orlovsky, "Dak just finished his eighth season ... he's 30 years old. He's not some young kid that's going to get better. He's regressed progressively from his first playoff game in 2016 to what we saw against Green Bay. It's a big concern going forward for the Cowboys."
Passionately countered Ryan:
"Oh, Hell no! This is not on Dak. Did he have a good game? Of course not. But he played like a superstar compared to that defense. I don't care if you had Joe Montana back there playing quarterback, the Cowboys had no chance with the way their defense absolutely didn't show up."
Ryan is likely giving Prescott a little too much rope in the wake of a two-interception performance that helped Dallas dig a 27-0 hole. But it also feels as though Orlovsky is being a prisoner of the moment, negatively knee-jerking and condemning the same quarterback that just a couple of weeks ago he was at the telestrator boasting his "brilliance in recognition and rhythm" in the Cowboys' "Texas Coast Offense."
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy - echoed by Ryan - says his quarterback simply picked the worst time to have a bad game. Others, however, see the epic failure as a fork in the road for Jerry Jones.
"It has to make you pause about Dak's future," said Orlovsky. "If you run it back next season with McCarthy and Dak ... don’t tell me you’re serious about winning a Super Bowl in Dallas because you're not."
