Machota: What does a 'Dak-friendly' offense look like? Dak Prescott says watch Panthers and Chiefs

boozeman

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What does a 'Dak-friendly' offense look like? Dak Prescott says watch Panthers and Chiefs

By Jon Machota , Staff Writer
Contact Jon Machota
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@jonmachota

The offseason has barely started and you're probably already sick of hearing the term "Dak-friendly."

Sorry, it's not going anywhere.

What exactly will the Cowboys do this offseason to make the offense a better fit for quarterback Dak Prescott?

The 2016 Offensive Rookie of the Year shared some thoughts last week while he was in Minnesota leading up to Super Bowl 52.

"I think it just means if you watch a little bit of maybe what the Panthers are doing or what the Chiefs did, just the RPOs, the run-pass options, just allowing me to use my feet if necessary more," Prescott said. "Allow me to go out there and be more comfortable in everything I'm doing."

The RPOs were on full display in Philadelphia's offense in Sunday's Super Bowl win over the Patriots. They were already a large part of Dallas' offense with Prescott, but more should be expected in 2018.

As Prescott later added, "Dak-friendly" doesn't mean running the ball more, but "scaring the defense" to think the he could take off on any play.

No quarterback carried the ball more than the Panthers' Cam Newton in 2017. He set a career-high with 139 rushing attempts, an average of 8.7 runs per game.

Prescott carried more than that in college, but the Cowboys are unlikely to increase his number of rushing attempts significantly. More QB-keepers mean more chances for NFL defenders to land big hits on the franchise QB.

Prescott has carried the ball exactly 57 times in each of his first two seasons. Expect that number to increase slightly in 2018.

The bigger change is likely that offensive coordinator Scott Linehan will design more plays for Prescott to be a mobile passer. Some quarterbacks are at their best throwing from the pocket, others are better outside of it. Prescott's ability to throw on the run is one of his greatest strengths, so look for him to get more chances to do that in 2018.

Kansas City allowed Alex Smith to use his feet more than San Francisco did earlier in his career. Smith's QB coach in college was Dan Mullen, Prescott's college head coach.

Becoming more "Dak-friendly" on offense could also mean the Cowboys go back to studying Prescott's Mississippi State film and adapting more of what worked for him there into Dallas' offensive scheme.
 

Smitty

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Wow, that's just what I want. To be more like offensive juggernauts Carolina and Kansas City.
 

Simpleton

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Anybody with two fucking brain cells should've already known this, but no, our coaches instead want to pretend like this guy is 2014 Romo because he did really well as a rookie.
 

Simpleton

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Wow, that's just what I want. To be more like offensive juggernauts Carolina and Kansas City.
Where do you think Pederson's offense came from?

Nothing wrong with being more like Kansas City, I just doubt our offensive braintrust is creative enough to pull it off and adjust on the fly.
 

boozeman

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Where do you think Pederson's offense came from?

Nothing wrong with being more like Kansas City, I just doubt our offensive braintrust is creative enough to pull it off and adjust on the fly.
I don't believe that our coaching staff is smart enough to pull it off. Not Garrett. Not Linehan. And certainly not Kellen Moore.
 

L.T. Fan

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I don't believe that our coaching staff is smart enough to pull it off. Not Garrett. Not Linehan. And certainly not Kellen Moore.
They pulled it off Prescott’s rookie year but his second year the threw the playbook at him and he couldn’t deliver because he isn’t experienced enough yet to execute the playbook system. In time he probably will but the current system isn’t flexible enough to guarantee success. Romo did well with the playbook but he improvised and accomplished more than a strict adherence to the system could deliver. Dak cannot improvise behind the line of scrimmage like Romo did. He can only improvise with his feet going toward the LOS.
 

shane

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They pulled it off Prescott’s rookie year but his second year the threw the playbook at him and he couldn’t deliver because he isn’t experienced enough yet to execute the playbook system. In time he probably will but the current system isn’t flexible enough to guarantee success. Romo did well with the playbook but he improvised and accomplished more than a strict adherence to the system could deliver. Dak cannot improvise behind the line of scrimmage like Romo did. He can only improvise with his feet going toward the LOS.
The coaches threw him to the wolves last year. One of the worst years of coaching I have ever seen in any sport.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I don't believe that our coaching staff is smart enough to pull it off. Not Garrett. Not Linehan. And certainly not Kellen Moore.
Why the hatred for Kellen Moore on that one? I think he may be the most football intelligent of that group. Not that it necessarily means he is a good QB coach. Just that he is going to understand some of those modern concepts better than old stick in the mud coaches.
 

Cotton

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boozeman said:
"I think it just means if you watch a little bit of maybe what the Panthers are doing or what the Chiefs did, just the RPOs, the run-pass options, just allowing me to use my feet if necessary more," Prescott said. "Allow me to go out there and be more comfortable in everything I'm doing."
This is exactly what needs to happen. But, it will never happen with this group of coaches because they don't know how to implement this, or to even really adjust to personnel at all.
 
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