Cowboys banking on rookie Prescott
Revamped Giants defense is QB’s first hurdle
Dak Prescott lit up the preseason.
But the Dallas Cowboys rookie quarterback’s first real test comes Sunday afternoon, when the division rival New York Giants travel to Texas for an already-hyped season-opening showdown.
And how will a retooled New York defense stop the NFL’s hottest player of the preseason?
“You’ve got to trust what you see on film,” Giants linebacker Devon Kennard told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday after practice. “His college stuff, you throw that away. The preseason — that’s all you can judge him on. And he showed that he’s a very capable quarterback who can make explosive plays and make great decisions. You have to trust that and make him earn it in a real game now.”
Prescott completed 78% of his passes for 454 yards with five touchdowns and zero interceptions, posting a passer rating of 137.8. He added 53 yards on seven carries with two scores on the ground.
But it was the exhibition season, when defenses don’t reveal their full playbook and rarely blitz.
The Giants are expecting Dallas to protect Prescott, who is filling in while starter Tony Romo heals from a broken bone in his back, behind its impressive offensive line, which New York coach Ben McAdoo called “one of the best in the league, if not the best.”
And it won’t hurt that Prescott will throw to wide receiver Dez Bryant and tight end Jason Witten while handing off to rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott, who has the looks of a star player.
“We’ve just really gone over the offensive scheme of what they have run in the past,” Giants safety Landon Collins told USA TODAY Sports. “They’re still running the same scheme when we look at the preseason. They’re running kind of what he ran in college and letting him get the ball out to his guys.” Collins is right. In three preseason games, Prescott played 112 snaps. Just more than half (57) came from the shotgun — the formation from which Prescott excelled at Mississippi State under coach Dan Mullen’s spread attack. Of the 55 snaps Prescott took from center this preseason, 12 were pass plays, nine of them play-action throws.
“You just pick up on that and try to anticipate,” Collins added. “If they try to throw something else at us, we just have to adapt.”
But no wide-sweeping conclusions should be derived from Prescott’s preseason tendencies. The Cowboys, too, are keeping their playbook under wraps.
“I think they’ll throw some stuff at me that I haven’t seen to see how I react, to see how I handle it being a rookie,” Prescott said in a conference call. “But, honestly, I think they’re going to throw some stuff at me and be bluffing to see if I make a mistake.”
He later added, “I’m watching film, and I’ll be ready.”
Prescott will face a revamped group. The Giants ranked last in the NFL in 2015 in yards allowed (420.3 a game), 30th in points allowed (27.6 a game) and 30th in sacks (23). That prompted general manager Jerry Reese to hand out more than $200 million in free agent contracts this offseason to woo players such as defensive end Olivier Vernon, nose tackle Damon Harrison and cornerback Janoris Jenkins.
It’s time to see if all the money was worth it.
“What we ran in the preseason was fine, you know?” Giants defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins said. “But, man, with (Vernon) and Big Dame (Harrison) playing next to me and with a real game plan in the books, we can show out for real. We can let it rip.”