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By Jon Machota
3h ago
There’s no questioning that the Cowboys offense has been more productive since Dak Prescott has returned from a fractured right thumb. Dallas is 4-1 in those five games, averaging 33.8 points per game, tops in the NFL during that stretch. The Cowboys are also leading the league in third-down offense, converting 57.1 percent of the time, and second in yards-per-game at 416.2 since Prescott’s return.
In the five games their franchise QB was sidelined, the Cowboys averaged only 21.4 points.
But there’s one particular trend the team needs to eliminate. Right before halftime in three of Dallas’ last four games, there has been a Prescott pass down the middle of the field intended for WR CeeDee Lamb that has been intercepted.
The most recent occurred with two minutes left in the second quarter last Thursday against the New York Giants. On third-and-15, Prescott threw a little behind Lamb. The ball bounced up off Lamb’s hands and to Giants safety Julian Love. New York turned the takeaway into a field goal.
At Green Bay on Nov. 13, the Cowboys had the ball on their own 42-yard line when Prescott attempted to find Lamb on third-and-10. Packers safety Rudy Ford was playing centerfield as he stepped in front of Lamb for his second interception of the game. The Packers turned the takeaway into a touchdown.
Against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 30, the Cowboys were looking to add to their 28-14 lead when Prescott targeted Lamb on first-and-10 with 40 seconds left in the first half. Bears safety Eddie Jackson stepped in front of that one. Chicago turned the takeaway into a field goal.
Those three turnovers weren’t all on Prescott. For example, Lamb needed to cross in front of the safety in the one against the Packers. The two were able to hook up on a similar play later in the game.
Prescott has done a good job of taking care of the ball throughout his career. He threw 37 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions last season. Entering this year, he had thrown 50 interceptions in 85 career games. He has six interceptions in six games this season. When asked about those three turnovers, he mentioned his goal of staying aggressive.
“That’s just overconfidence, honestly,” Prescott said of the INT against the Bears, “believing I can’t miss. … I’m sure people will say that’s a dangerous throw and it’s aggressive, but that’s the way I’m going to play.”
And he’s correct, many have argued that those throws were too aggressive, especially considering that they were each in the middle of the field with multiple defenders in the area. But Prescott has never wavered in expressing how confident he is in those situations and completing those passes to Lamb, the team’s No. 1 wide receiver.
“I want him to take that throw,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said of the interception before halftime last Thursday. “We just got to get the ball there a little quicker. So it’s on the throw, and the timing. Those are competitive interceptions. It’s the decision ones that you go, ‘Whoa, we don’t want those.’ And Dak is a good decision-maker.
“He needs to take those throws No. 1, the decisions were correct, you just have some of those things.”
https://theathletic.com/3948667/2022/11/29/dallas-cowboys-offense-ranking/
Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore also mentioned wanting Prescott to stay aggressive when going over his two interceptions in the Giants game.
So, why is that? Why does he need to stay aggressive and make some of those higher-risk throws?
“I think the phrase we’ve used at various times is to aggressively take what they give us,” Moore explained. “Because you can’t play passive. If you start playing small and not pushing, threatening the defense downfield, then they start shrinking. They start tightening up. And now your easier completions become harder completions.
“I think Dak’s historically done a tremendous job of balancing those two sides. As a quarterback, you want the 50-yard bombs and you want the aggressive throws, you want the big plays that we all get to see. But you also need to bore yourself with a bunch of completions. So there’s always that back-and-forth battle as a quarterback to find those opportunities that when they are there, you want to be able to be comfortable and willing to take them. But at the same time, when they’re not there, keep finding other things. That’s what being a QB is always about.”
As long as the Cowboys continue winning and put themselves in position to make a deep playoff run, no one should be overly concerned about the interceptions. Bills QB Josh Allen has thrown a league-high 11 interceptions in 11 games this season. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has thrown nine in 12 games. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has thrown eight in 11 games.
It becomes a notable issue if it’s still happening come January and Dallas is in the playoffs, facing better opponents than the Bears, Packers and Giants. Teams like the Eagles, Vikings or 49ers could turn that takeaway into a critical game-changing play that ends up sending the Cowboys home early.
“We want to be aggressive, but we got to be smart,” Cowboys QB coach Doug Nussmeier said during the bye week. “Obviously turning the ball over in a two-minute type situation is not what we’re looking to do. … You always want to keep an aggressive mindset, but you gotta know when to take your shots and when you have to say, ‘OK, I’m going to stay aggressive but I’m going to back off on this one a little bit and take a checkdown, take a completion. I’ll have an opportunity again now to go back at them.’”
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