The level at which Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is currently playing is something to behold. Even the casual fan can grasp that Prescott is among the very best at what he does. His teammates laud his work ethic and leadership; his coaches rave about his drive and preparation. His return from a gruesome injury is already the stuff of legends. But sometimes the accolades ring a little bit louder when they come from someone who actually played the position, at a caliber that almost no one has before.
Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre- who himself endured several trials and tribulations during his own 20-year career- shared a unique perspective on Prescott’s ongoing comeback campaign.
“I’m not surprised by how well he’s playing,” Favre said Tuesday on The SiriusXM Blitz with Brett Favre and Bruce Murray. “I’m going out on a limb here- and I know it’s only a few games into the season- but I think the injury has made him even better. Sometimes that happens, for whatever reason. Maybe you kind of internalize what you do best and focus. I know, like for me- and I’m really basing this off of my experiences- I played my best football after an injury.”
Favre relayed moments from his 2003 season with Green Bay. After breaking the thumb on his throwing hand, he went on to play out the nine games left in the season. He claims that doing so made him more conscious of everything about his game, from how he held onto the football to being more deliberate in the throws he made.
The Packers went 7-2 in the span after Favre’s injury, including his transcendent Monday Night Football performance against the Raiders. Playing in the wake of losing his father, Favre threw for four touchdowns and 399 yards in the first half alone and finished the 41-7 win with a 154.9 passer rating.
“I can’t point to one thing in particular,” Favre continued, “but I think you can get consumed by a lot of things in pro football: media, meetings, fans, the pressures of living up to the expectations and the money. But when you get hurt, you’re kind of focused on overcoming the injury, and just playing, and playing within yourself.”
Favre believes that even as recently as last season, Prescott was trying to carry too much of the Cowboys offense himself.
“Last year, I think up until he got injured,” Favre explained, “he felt the pressure that we have to score every time. And no quarterback can succeed in those circumstances.”
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who worked with Favre as both a quarterbacks coach and a head coach in Green Bay, agrees that the Cowboys’ style of play in 2021 has improved Prescott’s game, even above the record-setting pace he was on in 2020.
“I think he’s clearly playing better now, in my opinion,” McCarthy offered on Monday after the 41-21 win over the Eagles. “We were in track meets last year. This is a clearly different football team than last year; you’re seeing three games where I feel like we’ve been very complementary on both offense and defense. He’s doing a lot in the run game as far as handling checks and things like that, but I feel he’s playing better this year than last year.”
Favre and Murray pointed to a renewed emphasis on spreading the ball around in Dallas as proof. In the Week 3 game versus Philadelphia, for instance, Prescott targeted tight end Dalton Schultz seven times, the same as A-list receiver Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb combined. It’s a small thing, but it’s what the great ones do.
Favre suggested, “It’s, in some respects, Tom Bradyesque, where Tom just uses what’s available. Who’s open? Who’s the best decision on that particular play?”
If all of that sounds familiar, it may be because Prescott himself has come to many of the same conclusions as Favre.
Prescott was asked during his Monday postgame press conference to assess his own play over the first three games of this season and compare it to his entire body of work. This was his answer:
“I think getting hurt last year and having to sit back and watch football and getting a different perspective of different ways people play this game, then going back. And obviously, the experience is hell, but then just studying and preparing myself, and then all the work that I’ve put in just to get back healthy- not only with the leg, but with the shoulder- and the playbook, obviously, the continuity and having Kellen for so many years and I’m just comfortable in the system, and everything that’s gone on around me. And having playmakers; let’s credit the guys around me: the offensive lines and receivers that make my job a whole lot easier. Yeah, I feel like I’m playing the best I’ve ever played.”
It’s one thing for Prescott to say it. It’s another for his head coach to agree. It’s still another when an 11-time Pro Bowler, three-time MVP, and Hall of Famer puts it out there.
But if all three of them agree on it, they just might be onto something.
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