{"id":265160,"date":"2025-09-30T00:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T00:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/265160\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T00:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T00:35:11","slug":"why-cowboys-defensive-woes-could-impact-dak-prescotts-ability-to-change-a-key-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/265160\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Cowboys\u2019 defensive woes could impact Dak Prescott\u2019s ability to change a key narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON \u2013 A month into the NFL season, Dak Prescott<\/a> leads the league in passing yards (1,119), completions (121), attempts (166) and completion percentage (72.9).<\/p>\n

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer<\/a> said Prescott is playing quarterback as well as anyone right now. Team owner Jerry Jones<\/a> said there\u2019s a reason why Prescott is averaging an NFL high $60 million per season because of his skill set. <\/p>\n

Jones continues to sell the idea that there\u2019s no reason to pay Micah Parsons a tremendous contract because he\u2019s got Prescott.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very simple, right?\u201d Jones said late Sunday night after a 40-40 tie with the Packers.<\/a> \u201cDak was indispensable in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

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Yawn.<\/p>\n

Prescott\u2019s fast start isn\u2019t anything new. In 2023, Prescott finished second to Baltimore\u2019s Lamar Jackson for the MVP award. <\/a>This season, he\u2019s projected to throw for 4,756 yards, which would be the second most of his career. <\/p>\n

Prescott producing at a high rate shouldn\u2019t surprise anyone.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s good at his job.<\/p>\n

The problem for Prescott is the postseason. He\u2019s 2-5 in those games and he\u2019s gotten the Cowboys no further along in the postseason than the man he replaced, Tony Romo.<\/p>\n

On Sunday night, Prescott moved past Troy Aikman for the most career completions (2,901) in franchise history. That tie prevented Prescott from tying Romo for the third-most wins (78) in team history. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Prescott said of how he\u2019s moving up the charts. \u201cIt\u2019s something I never take for granted. It\u2019s not something that I\u2019m patting myself on the back for, but it\u2019s something that I understand, the history before me. I understand the players who have come before me and it\u2019s an honor. But at the end of the day, I want to win games and I want to chase Roger (Staubach) and Troy (Aikman) and the accomplishments they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five Super Bowl rings.<\/p>\n

The postseason looms over Prescott\u2019s career now more than ever.<\/p>\n

Yet, at the rate of this 2025 season, reaching the postseason looks difficult for a Cowboys team that\u2019s 1-2-1 heading into a Week 5 contest at the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys\u2019 defense is forcing Prescott to enter into shootouts<\/a> with opponents. <\/p>\n

This defense has allowed NFL highs in total (1,682) and passing yards (1,189). Going into the two Monday night games, the Cowboys have allowed the second-highest yards per play (6.4) in the NFL. Only three NFL teams have allowed at least six yards per play.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Schottenheimer said conversations will continue with reporters about how to fix this defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a way to stop having those conversations and that\u2019s to play better,\u201d he said Monday. \u201cWe\u2019re capable of playing better, we need to play better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prescott is caught in the middle of this defensive vortex, where the pass coverage and pass rush continue to have massive problems. <\/p>\n

Against the Packers on Sunday night, Prescott threw for 319 yards with three touchdowns. He connected on some terrific throws, including a sideline pass to Jalen Tolbert<\/a> as Prescott eluded three defenders to complete it. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking about an elite pass rush group that was all around him,\u201d Schottenheimer said.<\/p>\n

George Pickens tied a career-high with eight catches for 134 yards with two scores. <\/p>\n

Schottenheimer mentioned a fourth-and-two play in the middle of the fourth quarter where Prescott stepped up in the pocket and found Pickens across the middle of the field. The throw was where only Pickens could catch it. <\/p>\n

Near perfection. <\/p>\n

The play went for 15 yards, extending a drive ending with the Cowboys taking a 30-27 lead with 4:52 to play. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe throw he makes to George Pickens on fourth down is an incredible throw,\u201d Schottenheimer said. \u201cIt\u2019s low and away. He\u2019s got to move up because they\u2019re coming off the edge, and that doesn\u2019t happen without lots, lots and lots of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The start of this season doesn\u2019t give you hope that a deep playoff run is in this Cowboys team. Schottenheimer has talked about this being the first year of the program and that he\u2019s using young players. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys have experience with Prescott, the face of the franchise. <\/a>He\u2019s off to a strong start to this season, but he\u2019s getting judged on the postseason. And the struggles of this Cowboys defense are making it difficult to believe Prescott will get a chance at a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just me out there,\u201d he said. \u201cI still miss throws. I\u2019m never satisfied with whatever performance that I put out there. I\u2019m thankful to play this game and the peace that this game brings me. I never want to cheat it. It\u2019s just about getting better at it, each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON \u2013 A month into the NFL season, Dak Prescott leads the league in passing yards (1,119), completions…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":265161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,347,59853,29841,7311,13555,1596,8998,11138,1232,62,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-265160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-att-stadium","11":"tag-brian-schottenheimer","12":"tag-cowboys","13":"tag-dak-prescott","14":"tag-dallas","15":"tag-dallas-cowboys","16":"tag-micah-parsons","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115290448134200272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}