There is plenty about the 2023 Cowboys offense that’s new. New play-caller, new offensive coordinator, new quarterbacks coach, new lead running back, new No. 2 wide receiver, new starting tight end, maybe even a new offensive line configuration.
Practically the only constant in the offensive equation this year is a bigger question mark than all of them… but many are predicting Dak Prescott to answer with an exclamation point.
The Cowboys quarterback looks to put his status as the league’s defending interceptions leader in the rearview mirror when the team debuts its revamped offense. And several outlets are hopping aboard the bandwagon, projecting the soon-to-be 30-year-old to cruise to a new destination among the NFL’s elite passers.
“I think Dak throws for 4,500 yards and 40 touchdowns,” NFL.com’s Adam Schein wrote last week, “while reducing his interception total by at least five. All in all, we’ve seen a nice body of work from Dak in the NFL. Last season was a blip. It’s his time to shine again.”
Those numbers only seem crazy to someone who doesn’t see last year as an aberration. Prescott would have hit 4,000 yards in 2022 had he just maintained his per-game average over all 17 games instead of missing five contests with a thumb injury. And that would have put him over 4,000 in three of the last four seasons, the only exception being the 2020 season when he was on pace to obliterate the record books before his ankle exploded.
The two-time Pro Bowler was 51 yards away from 4,500 in 2021 (the year he missed one game with a calf strain) and was less than 100 yards from the 5,000-yard mark in 2019.
Now fully healthy and with a full complement of legitimate weapons, 4,500 is well within No. 4’s reach.
But Emmanuel Acho of Fox Sports thinks that’s aiming too low.
I actually think Dak Prescott will have the best season of his career, and here are all the reasons why: pic.twitter.com/A5DOApSZNR
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) June 5, 2023
“Dak Prescott has never thrown for 5,000 yards; I think he will eclipse that mark this year,” Acho said on-air recently, citing the aforementioned playmakers around him that easily give Dallas their most talented offense since Prescott’s rookie season (and maybe even rank as better).
Reaching the 5,000-yard plateau would put Prescott in rare company; it’s been done just 15 times in NFL history, by only nine men.
On four of those occasions, it resulted in the NFL MVP award.
And Schein is calling Prescott a dark-horse candidate to possibly do that in 2023, too:
“Mike McCarthy knows what an MVP quarterback looks like, having worked with Joe Montana, Rich Gannon, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers over the course of his coaching career. And with the Cowboys’ head man taking the play-calling reins, I think Prescott is in line for his finest season yet. In McCarthy’s 12 years as Green Bay’s play-caller, the Packers finished as a top-five scoring offense seven times. The man knows what he’s doing with a playbook.”
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Schein predicts that Prescott “sizzles all year long,” taking the team to new postseason heights and earning himself a place among the all-time greats.
“Supported by a ferocious, Micah Parsons-led defense, Prescott should have the 2023 Cowboys squarely in the Super Bowl conversation. And if you’re the reason why ‘America’s Team’ is a top-notch title contender, well, you’re a top-notch MVP candidate.”
Prescott currently has +2500 odds from Caesars Sportsbook & Casino on the honor, well behind frontrunners Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence, and Aaron Rodgers.
The Cowboys quarterback may be a sleeper pick for the league’s top award, but the buzz is getting louder that he could be in for a dream season in 2023.
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