Tag: deep ball

For people unfortunate enough to wander into a comment section on the internet about Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, they’ve surely come across a stranger saying he is nothing more than a game manager. He can’t throw deep. He’s a dink and dunk player that should be paid pennies on the dollar. Dak and Dunk.

The only kind of dunking Prescott has been doing is on these people’s heads. In 2019 he was, according to Next Gen Stats, the best in all of football at winging it downfield.  So far in 2020, he’s not at the top of the mountain, but he remains in the top five with the best yet to come:

Prescott is another quarterback who is finding success by not playing favorites down the field. Six of his 12 deep targets have gone to Michael Gallup, producing 133 yards and a score, while four other deep targets have been intended for Amari Cooper, resulting in two catches for 86 yards.

Their new big-play threat, rookie CeeDee Lamb, has yet to receive a deep target, which tells us the Cowboys’ ceiling has yet to be reached in the passing attack.

Greater use of play-action might further unlock Dallas’ offense, too. Only one of Prescott’s 12 deep attempts has utilized the run fake, resulting in a 58-yard completion to Cooper.

For those keeping score at home, and the Cowboys Wire certainly is, he’s been ahead of the highest paid player in the league, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes both years. If the Dallas front office thinks they’ll be getting any kind of bargain in contract negotiations come 2021, they’ve got another thing coming.

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