By: Dwain Price, NDG Sports
FRISCO— In some strange way, it’s as if NFL teams are stacking their defense to not only prevent running back Ezekiel Elliott from beating them, but also daring quarterback Dak Prescott to beat them.
Prescott took that dare head-on at Detroit on Sunday afternoon and put on a scintillating performance as the Dallas Cowboys rallied to upend the Lions, 35-27. The four-year veteran passed for a whopping 444 yards and three touchdowns as the Cowboys – coupled with Philadelphia’s 17-10 loss to the New England Patriots – took over sole possession of the first place position in the NFC East with a 6-4 record.
With Elliott only able to rush for 45 yards on 16 carries because of the Lions’ defensive scheme, Prescott again became the focal point of the Cowboys’ offense. And he delivered – again — big-time.
Spraying the ball all over the field in a precision-like manner, Prescott connected with seven different receivers en route to passing for 841 yards over the last two games. That’s a two-game team record which was previously set by Don Meredith in 1963, but Prescott didn’t go around gloating about his accomplishments.
“I know I can continue to play better and play better than I did (Sunday),” he said. “That’s what I focus on. I don’t think about performances in the past. I’m not going to sit here and live too much on this performance. It’s about what we can do now, how I can get better.”
Too early to discuss MVP for Dak?
This is the third game this season in which Prescott has passed for over 400 yards after entering this season with just three 400-yard passing games. He had 274 yards passing a pair of touchdowns in the first half, which ended with the Cowboys up 24-14 after they racked up 322 of their 509 total yards at that juncture.
What made Sunday’s achievement even more impressive is that Prescott’s favorite receiver (Amari Cooper) struggled mightily while battling injuries and finished with just three catches for 38 yards. But Michael Gallup caught nine passes for 148 yards, and Randall Cobb had four receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown as the receiving core didn’t miss a beat.
“He’s playing phenomenally,” Cooper said of Prescott. “We can’t ask for much more out of him.
“He’s thrown for a lot of yards, he’s really adjusting to the offense, he’s taken command. He knows exactly how to go out there and shred the defense that we’re going up against every week.”
Of course, what’s a Cowboys game without the team finding themselves in an early hole. It happened for the seventh time this season, as Elliott lost a fumble at Dallas’ 28-yard line on the game’s second play, and Detroit took a 7-0 lead after needing just five plays to move the ball into the end zone.
But Prescott got the offense rolling by firing a 21-yard touchdown to rookie Tony Pollard. Later on, Gallup made a spectacular 41-yard circus catch that highlighted a one-yard TD burst by Elliott which put Dallas ahead, 17-14.
“I wasn’t even supposed to run that route,” Gallup admitted. “I kind of messed myself up, so that’s really why I had to catch the ball because I messed it up.”
Gallup, of course, can be excused for not being totally focused on the task at hand. Sunday was the one-year anniversary of the death of his brother, Andrew, who committed suicide.
“Obviously it’s going to be tough around this time every year,” Gallup said. “His birthday was Nov. 10 — it’s always a hard one.
“I’ve always loved his game and he was out there watching me. It’s just a little hole in your heart now, but football helps me fill that void and I go out there and do what I do, and he definitely sees it.”
As far as Cobb goes, this was his second straight 100-yard reception game as he and Prescott are starting to finally get on the same page.
“I’m starting to get a feel for how I fit into this offense, the coaching staff is starting to know what I’m good at, and the blend of the two I think it definitely helps,” Cobb said. “That’s what we pride ourselves on is we’ve got guys that can get the job done across the board, and that’s what it takes to win in this league.
“Whenever they try to take one person away we’re able to make big plays in the back end. I think we’ve shown throughout this year what we’re capable of. It’s just finding ways to win, and we were able to do that (Sunday).”
While the Cowboys realize they’re not winning with style points, they know that just a mere victory will suffice at this point and time.
Meanwhile, Elliott had some fun at the Lions’ expense. After scoring on a side-arm TD pass from Prescott to put the Cowboys ahead, 35-21, with 7:56 remaining in the game, Elliott proceeded to do the hip-swivel dance which Prescott does during pregame warmups that have been all the rage.
“He’s throwing the (heck) out of the ball and it’s hard for defenses to stop him, so keep that thing rolling,” Elliott said of Prescott. “When we’re at our best everyone on this team is contributing, and that’s what happened (Sunday).
“Dak’s playing the best football I’ve ever seen him play. He definitely took his game to the next level.”
Prescott now has 21 touchdown passes this season – two shy of his career-high of 23 that he set during his rookie year in 2016. And the Cowboys still have six games remaining, including Sunday’s 3:25 p.m. kickoff on the road against the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots.
Perhaps that’s why Prescott wasn’t ready to break out the pom-poms and start celebrating a win against a Lions’ team that only has three wins this year and were playing the Cowboys without injured starting quarterback Matthew Stafford.
“We’re going to close this book and the next opponent is a very, very good opponent,” Prescott said. “So I’ve got to keep playing like this and put our team in position to win games.”
