There are any number of reasons to offer an X's-and-O's critique of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, the biggest one leading to the painful truth of "America's Team.'' ...
With Dak at the helm, now making an NFL-record $60 million per year, Dallas doesn't consistenly win playoff games.
But there are also false and wrong-headed ways to evaluate Prescott, who has spent the bulk of this season on the injured list with his torn hamstring as he plots to come on strong in 2025.
And our colleague Colin Cowherd just plowed head-first into two such false and wrong-headed thoughts.
Cowherd is ...
1) Asserting, in his evaluation of the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnold, that Dak "has never had a year that's looked like Darnold's (2024 campaign.)''
2) Claiming, in his evaluation of the San Francisco 49ers and Brock Purdy, that Dak's contract makes it impossible to build a winning roster.
False. And wrong-headed.
First to the Darnold thing: We have no idea why FS1's Cowherd would morph a Darnold segment into a Dak segment, as the two have nothing to do with one another - except for the fact that they've both experienced statistical highs in their careers.
Darnold has been a shocker this season, leading Minnesota to a 14-2 record while having thrown for 4,153 yards with 35 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions while completing 68.1 percent of his attempts.
Has Dak ever done that? Was it, like, a long time ago or something?
Actually, he did it last year. He was the NFL MVP runner-up. Remember?
In 2023, Prescott threw for 4,516 yards with 36 touchdown passes and just nine interceptions while completing 69.5 percent of his attempts.
Oh, and guess what? He put up similar numbers in 2019 (4,902 yards with 30 touchdowns and 11 picks) and in 2021 (4,449 yards with 37 touchdowns and 10 picks) and exploded onto the NFL scene as a rookie in 2016 (23 TDs passing with just four picks and six more rushing TDs).
In short, Prescott has played at Darnold's level on a fairly frequent basis. Period.
Now, to the second charge, that Prescott's huge last two contracts serve as a roster-building blockade. ... with the Niners' Purdy as his starting point.
“We’ve seen with Dak, if you pay A-plus money to a B to a B-plus quarterback, you can’t have a legitimate roster,” Cowherd said. “I mean, you’ve been overpaying Dak for years and years and years."
"Overpaying'' is subjective. But "legitimate roster'' is not.
Dak has due to injury missed essentially two seasons. Otherwise, the Cowboys in the seven healthy years of the Dak Era have made the playoffs in five of the seven years while having posted records such as 13-3, 10-6, 12-5, 12-5 and 12-5.
Coming into this season, Dak's Cowboys had made three straight playoffs appearances while posting a 36-15 record. How is that not "legitimate''?
The Cowboys with Dak making $40 million APY (on his last deal) built a consistent winner and a perennial playoff team.
What Darnold does is up to Minnesota. What Purdy gets is up to San Francisco. But what Dallas and Dak have done? Criticize away ... as long as we all have our facts straight.
