Dak Prescott vowed not to have a sophomore slump, but in the end, he did. The Cowboys quarterback still won nine games, but his numbers were down in every area except interceptions, which increased from four in 2016 to 13 in 2017.
Ron Jaworski said he believes it was a combination of things that affected Prescott’s play, including a loss of confidence. But the ESPN analyst also said Prescott has the “God-given talent” to rebound in his third season and become a “terrific quarterback.”
“The quarterback position is a dependent position,” Jaworski said, via Newy Scruggs of DFW’s NBC5. “You depend on other people to help do your job. It’s not always about the quarterback. He’s going to get too much credit or too much blame. As I look at the Cowboys last year, they were inadequate in a lot of phases offensively. The offensive line, despite all the talent, did not play as well as they’re capable of playing. They didn’t get the explosive plays out of their receiving corps that they had historically or at least two years ago with Dak. You could say Ezekiel [Elliott] was out. That hurt the team. They didn’t load the box as much. They played the safeties off the line. They played more two-deep. They played more quarters. I can give you all the excuses. At the end of the day, players have to make plays. I think Dak started to lose some confidence. When Dak loses his confidence, like all quarterbacks, you lose a little bit. You’re not willing to pull that trigger. Also year two, I’ve always felt -- I’ve been around this game since 1973 -- year two defenses now have studied you year one. They know everything that you do. They’ve got 30 guys in the corner watching the tape, and they’re going to make you play your weakness, and they forced Dak to do some things he was not comfortable doing. So now we’re going to see year three how he rebounds from what happened year two. It’s that chess game. You have to have counter moves all the time. He did not play as well as he can play, but I know the guy has God-given talent to be a terrific quarterback.”
Prescott won fewer games (9 in 2017, 13 in 2016), threw fewer touchdowns (22 in 2017, 23 in 2016), threw for fewer yards (3,324 in 2017, 3,667 in 2016), had a lower yards per attempt average (6.8 in 2017, 8.0 in 2016), had a lower completion percentage (62.9 in 2017, 67.8 in 2016) and a lower passer rating (86.6 in 2017, 104.9 in 2016).