A losing formula?
Dak is back, but throwing 58 passes isn’t a recipe for success
TAMPA, Fla. — On top of all the other challenges the Cowboys faced Thursday night — beating a Super Bowl champion on its home turf, winning on a night where Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes, overcoming their own erratic kicker — Dallas added one more to the list. And it was a surprise addition.
Winning when Dak Prescott throws more than 50 passes.
Any thoughts that its $40 million-a-year man would tiptoe back into battle were dismissed quickly as Prescott matched his career high with 58 passes for 403 yards, but it wasn’t quite enough in a 31-29 loss to the Buccaneers.
Prescott actually guided Dallas into the lead in the final two minutes, a huge 31yard pass on third-and-11 to Ceedee Lamb making it possible for Greg Zuerlein — who had a rough night — to hit a 48-yard field goal for the lead with 1:24 to play.
But Brady, whose final numbers — 32 for 50, 379 yards, four touchdowns — would make for a legendary opener if he hadn’t done this so many times already, drove Tampa Bay right back into scoring territory. Tight end Rob Gronkowski — didn’t he retire about five years ago? — caught eight passes for 90 yards and two touchdowns, and he was huge on the final drive that set up Ryan Succop for a 36-yard game-winner with two seconds left.
Prescott told Brady he’d see him again. “That’s just the confidence I have. We’re a playoff team,” he said.
We’ve got four more months to see if he’s right.
This was the fifth time Prescott has thrown 50 or more passes. The Cowboys are 1-4 in those games, and the only victory came in overtime two years ago against Philadelphia. So the Cowboys still haven’t won in regulation with such a passheavy Dak attack.
But here’s what must be mentioned. In the past three games Prescott has started and finished, he has attempted 57, 58 and 58 passes, averaging 459 yards. And the Cowboys have lost them all.
“We have a high-powered offense,” wide receiver Amari Cooper said, “but a high-powered offense doesn’t get you wins.”
Maybe I learned nothing about Prescott in watching him make 72 straight starts for the Cowboys before last year’s season-ending injury. But I didn’t anticipate him standing back in the pocket and firing 58 passes after an 11-month absence.
As it turned out, the angst created by his shoulder strain in late July and failure to throw a single pass in the preseason were pointless. The season came
to life with a full house at Raymond James Stadium, ready to celebrate the return of their Super Bowl champs.
Dak being Dak almost spoiled everything.
Dallas abandoned the run sometime during pregame warmups. I can’t fault the Cowboys for this, because the Bucs’ defense proved last year to be exemplary against the run but vulnerable to the pass. On top of that, cornerback Sean Murphybunting suffered an elbow injury and was lost for the night on Lamb’s first quarter touchdown.
The Cowboys attacked his replacement, Jamel Dean, throughout the second quarter as the game became a showcase for Brady and Prescott to do what they do.
For the night, Prescott hit 42 of 58 passes and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once. He directed 31 targets to his two major weapons, Cooper and Lamb, and they answered with 243 yards receiving and all three of the team’s touchdowns.
Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard ran just 14 times for 47 yards. The run plays felt designed to give the receivers a breather to get back to their business of route-running. And, yes, Dak took some hits, although he was sacked only once. He ran the ball four times for 13 yards himself, and his 7-yard run was the Cowboys’ longest until Elliott produced a 13-yard gain around left end in the third quarter.
In this particular game, Dak didn’t deliver enough. Still, the opener was something of a success for the Cowboys — not in any moral victory sense but because the club knows it’s going nowhere without a healthy Prescott. We saw what happened a year ago. Clearly Dak is ready to go in 2021, and while it grows tiresome to talk on and on about the Cowboys’ soft division, the schedule appears favorable, and that’s just a fact.
Dallas opened against the Super Bowl champs because it made a great night for NBC and the NFL. But the next team the Cowboys play that sported a winning record in 2020 is Kansas City on Nov. 21.
Dallas will get its chances to win games, and Prescott — for those of us who were wondering — is fully capable of making the throws and the decisions to produce those victories.
Against the best in the league, he came within a few seconds of leading Dallas to a major upset Thursday. Against lesser competition in the near future, the victories will count just the same.