Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Originally posted by eastcoast49ersfan:
I agree with you that he's overrated, but I don't know why you think the talent around him on offense won't continue to help him during the playoffs. Their offensive line is still going to be dominant and he still has one of if not the best RB in the league. You could put almost any QB on the Cowboys and they'd win 10+ games. I'd rank Sam Bradford way ahead of Prescott because he puts up numbers with no help on offense.
They went through three or four different QBs last year and were good enough to have the fourth pick in the draft.
I think people are way underestimating Prescott. The talent around him helps but in the end he still has to make the throws and keep the chains moving, game in, game out. For a rookie he has done a damn good job and with his work ethic I expect him to only get better.
I should have said starting QBs rather than just QBs. Matt Cassell was new to the Cowboys and hasn't been any good for years anyways. Kellen Moore has no arm and shouldn't be in the league. Weeden put up decent stats, but is no more than a backup in the league. In 2014, the Cowboys were 12-4 under Tony Romo. In 2015, they were 3-1 under Tony Romo. Romo is a decent QB, but definitely not a top 10 QB in the league and may not be a top 15 QB - he was just surrounded by a ton of talent like Prescott is now.
The Cowboys also improved from 2015 to 2016 outside of the QB position. Their running game got way better with the additions of Ezekiel Elliott and Alfred Morris, and Dez Bryant played 13 games, up from 9 in 2015.
Their defense improved as well, allowing only 1336 rush yards against them and 3.9 yards per carry after allowing close to 2000 rush yards last year on 4.2 yards per carry. Their net yards per attempt in the passing game also improved from 6.8 to 6.2. Some of that was due to the improvements on offense giving the defense more time to rest and giving them a lead, but they also added Maliek Collins and David Irving has emerged as an impact player in recent weeks.
Elliott is a bigger upgrade over Darren McFadden than Prescott is over Romo in my opinion. He does everything well - he's solid in pass protection, gets tons of RAC, can run up the middle, and has the speed to take it to the house. Prescott completed over 80% of his passes to Elliott for almost 10 yards per target.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a more beneficial situation for a QB than the Cowboys in 2016. In the games I watched, the Cowboys routinely had 3rd and short situations of 3-4 yards, so Prescott was rarely forced to throw the ball downfield. Elliott was great at getting positive yards on almost every attempt and the play-calling protected Prescott by putting him in favorable situations and asking him to throw check-downs on 3rd and long which inflated his completion percentage.
One good thing about Prescott is that he threw for 19 first downs on 67 attempts in 3rd and 7+ which is a pretty good first down rate. It's interesting comparing Prescott's split stats to someone like Andrew Luck. Prescott threw more check down-passes and had a high completion percentage, but Andrew Luck completed a higher percentage of first downs on 3rd and long throwing the ball downfield more often. Rodgers and Brady both converted a much higher percentage of 3rd and long situations which is to be expected.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/P/PresDa01/splits/2016/
[ Edited by eastcoast49ersfan on Jan 4, 2017 at 10:43 PM ]
I only wish the Niners could have either of these chokers.
