Archer: Dak Prescott hopes a change in mechanics yields results

Cotton

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Dak Prescott hopes a change in mechanics yields results
12:46 PM CT
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

OXNARD, California -- On Thursday, Dak Prescott will jog onto the field for the Dallas Cowboys' first training camp practice of 2018 with optimism for what could happen over next five months.

But it is the work Prescott put in nearly five months ago that has him excited.

Before the official start of the Cowboys' offseason program in April, Prescott worked out with 3DQB a few hours south of Oxnard, California, training with former NFL quarterback John Beck under the program designed by Tom House and Adam Dedeaux.

Prescott's journey to 3DQB started out of necessity. In his first two NFL seasons, he worked with Tom Shaw, a noted trainer, but Shaw took a job with the Oakland Raiders and was no longer available.

Prescott did some research and saw the results 3DQB had not just with quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Drew Brees, but younger quarterbacks like Jared Goff and Blake Bortles.

"The reason Tom can play until he's 45 or whenever he wants is that he uses all of his body in his throws," Prescott said. "It's not just his arm. Me being young, I can use my arm and get away with it. If you use the rest of your body, like the greats do, then you'll see the benefits."

During the organized team activities and minicamp, Prescott's mechanics did not look too different to the naked eye, but he could feel a difference.

"If you're a quarterback and you study the position and you study the way the body moves, it's putting force into the ground to get the ball the way you want to," Prescott said. "It's different for me than it is for Goff. We work different parts of it. To the naked eye, not so much is different but guys that do study that, they can see it and I can see it."

House, a former Texas Rangers pitching coach, has been a mechanical guru for decades. The program focuses on biomechanics, functional strength, mental and emotional fitness, nutrition and sleep. Prescott dropped about 10 pounds in the offseason, looking leaner than he had his first two seasons.

"He's a big guy. You really don't realize it unless you stand by him and look at him," offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. "He's naturally a big guy anyway. [The loss of weight] probably helps him, helps his mobility a little. ... He's always been a pocket guy, a pass-first quarterback. I think he just feels like there is no downside to being in the best shape you can [be in]."

When Prescott has gotten off kilter in his first two seasons, he has looked mostly at his footwork. His completion percentage dropped from 67.8 percent as a rookie to 62.9 percent in 2017. This offseason, he has studied Brady's ability to keep his feet calm and keep the ball in position to release quickly. By remaining in a more ready position, the passes should be more accurate.

"Dak has a real confidence in his ability to just pull the ball and deliver it," Linehan said. "The anticipation, getting the ball out, it's just doing it a little quicker. We had a play in practice where the snap was low but he got the ball and got it loaded and thrown way quicker than he would've last year. He just got his feet in good position."

At times, Prescott thought his feet got him into more trouble, especially last season when he was under more duress. But he wasn't blaming the offensive line.

"Being an athlete I guess when I take a move sometimes it's bigger than I necessarily need to," Prescott said. "You watch guys that have been in this league a while, Brady is the best example. Sometimes he barely moves, and the defensive end or somebody flies by him. Being the athlete I am, sometimes it's just toning that down and not necessarily moving a full yard, or it's just barely scooting up here and there but keeping my feet in the same position. Footwork is definitely something I'm trying to get better at."

Another focus was on the depth of his drops from center, which were too long and put his tackles in difficult spots because they were not expecting him to be so deep on his five- or seven-step drops. The goal is to have the same landmarks on each drop on each play.

"He's got a long stride, so he's really working at getting back there," Linehan said. "So sometimes it's perfect, but sometimes it may be a little deep. Maybe sometimes we're overemphasizing it. Maybe he's not deep enough. It's things like that that you look at and work on and you kind of break yourself down and I think he's really done a great job of doing that as well as focusing on his overall game."

Linehan spoke with Beck on occasion in the offseason about Prescott's work. Prescott made sure what he worked on was in line with what Linehan and quarterbacks coach Kellen Moore wanted. Linehan liked so much of what he heard and saw, his son, Matt, who played at Idaho, worked out at 3DQB.

"It really complements what we do," Linehan said. "This kind of stuff works when you're working together. We can't work with our players like these guys. We aren't allowed to work with them until we get into Phase 2 and Phase 3 and it's really limited by time. These guys can spend eight hours with the guys and just work on his craft. We think it's a benefit."
 

Sheik

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Usually when a player starts talking about mechanic changes and stuff like that, it's not a good thing. You can either throw the ball with accuracy, or you can't.

Tim Tebow is probably still working on his mechanics.
 

Texas Ace

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Usually when a player starts talking about mechanic changes and stuff like that, it's not a good thing. You can either throw the ball with accuracy, or you can't.

Tim Tebow is probably still working on his mechanics.
Right, hence the comment I made about him probably not ever becoming a great passer.

Still, I do think he can be a good QB but I'd sure feel a lot better about those prospects if we had some real coaching around him.
 

Sheik

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Right, hence the comment I made about him probably not ever becoming a great passer.

Still, I do think he can be a good QB but I'd sure feel a lot better about those prospects if we had some real coaching around him.
Yes.

The team can be successful if you can get the guy that falls somewhere between 16' Dak and 17' Dak. As long as you have a strong running game to go with it.

As far as coaching him up, we both know he'll spend his best years trying to overcome the coaching here, just like every other player that's come or gone since Parcells called it quits.
 

Smitty

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I think Prescott needs to be better than 2016 Dak for this team to ever be a contender. Not that it should be hard to say that you need a QB to be better in his career than he was as a rookie.

He simply needs to increase his ability to move the ball up and down the field through the air.
 

mcnuttz

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Nothing wrong with wanting to improve efficiency in your mechanics, but it seems like Romo really struggled early in the season after he'd talked about emulating Brady's delivery that offseason.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Right, hence the comment I made about him probably not ever becoming a great passer.

Still, I do think he can be a good QB but I'd sure feel a lot better about those prospects if we had some real coaching around him.
I still think his ceiling is Russel Wilson. He reminds me a lot of a young Wilson. I don't think he'll ever be an elite pure passer like Rodgers or Brady but that's ok. You could search for decades and not find a QB with that type of passing ability.

Plus I think Dak really fits what we want to do. We want to grind the ball, not turn it over and move the chains eating clock and being efficient. Dak is a perfect fit for that. Plus his leadership qualities and work ethic are off the charts. Which obviously you want in any QB starting for your franchise. If you want to see shootouts he isn't the QB for your team. But that doesn't necessarily lead to wins unless you're being efficient while doing so.

With all that being said there is still a ton of stuff Dak can do to improve. I don't know that changing a throwing motion or mechanics is it. He just needs reps. He needs to work on the throws he struggles with and hammer at them until he gets better. It just takes time with QBs and reps.
 

Texas Ace

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I still think his ceiling is Russel Wilson. He reminds me a lot of a young Wilson. I don't think he'll ever be an elite pure passer like Rodgers or Brady but that's ok. You could search for decades and not find a QB with that type of passing ability.

Plus I think Dak really fits what we want to do. We want to grind the ball, not turn it over and move the chains eating clock and being efficient. Dak is a perfect fit for that. Plus his leadership qualities and work ethic are off the charts. Which obviously you want in any QB starting for your franchise. If you want to see shootouts he isn't the QB for your team. But that doesn't necessarily lead to wins unless you're being efficient while doing so.

With all that being said there is still a ton of stuff Dak can do to improve. I don't know that changing a throwing motion or mechanics is it. He just needs reps. He needs to work on the throws he struggles with and hammer at them until he gets better. It just takes time with QBs and reps.
I thought Wilson showed more ability as a passer even as a rookie and 2nd year guy than Dak has.

I'd gladly take a second coming of Wilson, but I don't think Dak will get there.

Alex Smith is what I believe is his ceiling.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I thought Wilson showed more ability as a passer even as a rookie and 2nd year guy than Dak has.

I'd gladly take a second coming of Wilson, but I don't think Dak will get there.

Alex Smith is what I believe is his ceiling.
If you're comparing early careers then Alex Smith isn't anywhere even in the vicinity of Dak. It was a long time ago so maybe you don't remember but Alex Smith was hot garbage early in his career. He didn't even crack a 90 QB rating until his 7th season in the NFL. Hell he didn't even crack an 80 QB rating until his fifth season in the NFL. So if you think Dak looked inferior to Wilson in their first and second NFL seasons I'm not sure how the Alex Smith comparison makes any sense. Alex Smith couldn't even hold Dak's jock strap until he went to the KC Chiefs and played under a QB whisperer in Andy Reid. I could only imagine what Dak would look like under a coach like Andy Reid.
 

Texas Ace

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If you're comparing early careers then Alex Smith isn't anywhere even in the vicinity of Dak. It was a long time ago so maybe you don't remember but Alex Smith was hot garbage early in his career. He didn't even crack a 90 QB rating until his 7th season in the NFL. Hell he didn't even crack an 80 QB rating until his fifth season in the NFL. So if you think Dak looked inferior to Wilson in their first and second NFL seasons I'm not sure how the Alex Smith comparison makes any sense. Alex Smith couldn't even hold Dak's jock strap until he went to the KC Chiefs and played under a QB whisperer in Andy Reid. I could only imagine what Dak would look like under a coach like Andy Reid.
I'm absolutely familiar with what Alex Smith was early on, and you're right in that Dak has been better his first 2 years than Alex Smith was in his respective first 2 seasons.

But I think what Alex Smith eventually topped out at is what Dak's celing is as well.

Some guys start fast and slow down, other guys have slow starts then a light finally comes on.

An example of the former is Drew Bledsoe, who looked like he'd be a great one after his first few years but ended up being just a pretty good NFL QB when all was said and done.

Then you have examples of the latter. For someone like Rich Gannon, that light that came on resulted in Pro Bowl level play. For Alex Smith, that light resulted in solid NFL starter levels of play.

My point is, how a player starts off his career isn't necessarily indicative of what type of career they will ultimately have. So the path each player takes might be different, but they still end up at the same destination.

And IMO, Dak is headed for the same end result as Alex Smith.
 
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Cowboysrock55

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I'm absolutely familiar with what Alex Smith was early on, and you're right in that Dak has been better his first 2 years than Alex Smith was in his respective first 2 seasons.

But I think what Alex Smith eventually topped out at is what Dak's celing is as well.

Some guys start fast and slow down, other guys have slow starts then a light finally comes on.

An example of the former is Drew Bledsoe, who looked like he'd be a great one after his first few years but ended up being just a pretty good NFL QB when all was said and done.

Then you have examples of the latter. For someone like Rich Gannon, that light that came on resulted in Pro Bowl level play. For Alex Smith, that light resulted in solid NFL starter levels of play.

My point is, how a player starts off his career isn't necessarily indicative of what type of career they will ultimately have. So the path each player takes might be different, but they still end up at the same destination.

And IMO, Dak is headed for the same end result as Alex Smith.
And that's fair. I think Dak's first two seasons are pretty similar to Wilson. It took Seattle a little while to sort of take the kid gloves off and let him start slinging the rock. Early in his career they were a run heavy team that just wanted Wilson to make a play when needed. I think Dak's at that level now. Maybe if the kid gloves came off though he would never rise to the pure passer that Wilson is. Either way I think Dak has shown plenty that you can win a lot of football games with. If Dak's worst season is going 9-7 I'm thrilled. And lets not pretend that the coaching staff in Dallas is nearly as good as the ones in KC or Seattle. Now maybe he will never get that but that's not Dak's fault.

I am pretty excited for the preseason and seeing what these two backup QBs have though. I really like Dak but I'm pretty excited to have another legit QB prospect in here.
 

Chocolate Lab

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If you're comparing early careers then Alex Smith isn't anywhere even in the vicinity of Dak. It was a long time ago so maybe you don't remember but Alex Smith was hot garbage early in his career. He didn't even crack a 90 QB rating until his 7th season in the NFL.
He started winning when Harbaugh came in. Not a coincidence. I think Smith's biggest problem early on was crap around him, coaching and players. If Smith had the OL and RB talent Dak did, I think he'd have done about the same early on.

Anyway, I've always thought Russell Wilson was Dak's best comparison with the smarts and leadership and running ability. That's if the end of last year was an aberration and not who he really is.
 

ravidubey

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Usually when a player starts talking about mechanic changes and stuff like that, it's not a good thing. You can either throw the ball with accuracy, or you can't.

Tim Tebow is probably still working on his mechanics.
Romo always made changes to his mechanics and I think it's a thing for a lot of QB's.

That said, this kind of tweaking is unlikely to make you a significantly better passer unless your mechanics were shit to start with.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Romo always made changes to his mechanics and I think it's a thing for a lot of QB's.

That said, this kind of tweaking is unlikely to make you a significantly better passer unless your mechanics were shit to start with.
Yeah I mean tweaks can make a slight difference but mostly you either have it or you don't. And reps are really the only thing that can improve your abilities significantly. If you aren't great at a certain type of throw the best way to improve it is to just continue to make that throw over and over until muscle memory takes over.
 
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