There was a time not too long ago when we heard daily debates on sports talk radio about whether Dak Prescott was a good quarterback.
The Dak Hate Hive scrutinized every throw he made. They analyzed every decision. Critics referred to him as dink-and-dunk Dak.
There was a portion of the fan base that could never get over the fact Prescott took Tony Romo’s job in 2016 because of injury and never gave it up.
Those folks overlooked the fact that Romo’s BFF -- former coach Jason Garrett -- gave Prescott the job and Romo’s other BFF, tight end Jason Witten, never said a word publicly or privately about the move from Romo being wrong.
Witten simply charged it to the game.
Well, all of Prescott’s critics have collectively been shut up.
He has muzzled them with his steady progression from good player to great player over the past six years.
Yes, Prescott is an elite player these days by any standard or metric you choose to use.
Right now, he should be the front-runner to win the MVP.
Now, there are other quality candidates such as Arizona’s Kyler Murray, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Buffalo’s Josh Allen.
But Prescott is having the best year when you consider what he overcame just to get on the field in time for the season opener.
Again, the MVP is about more than stats, though his stats are phenomenal and the Cowboys are winning.
Only undefeated Arizona (6-0) has a better record than Dallas.
Prescott, who has led the Cowboys to five consecutive victories, has completed 73.1% of his passes for 1,813 yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.
He directs an offense that leads the NFL in scoring (34.2 points), yards (460.8) and yards per play (6.58).
He’s the best player on the best offense for one of the best teams.
Simple, right?
Imagine how good this offense would be if it’s red-zone offense wasn’t shady.
And Prescott is doing this a year after dislocating his ankle, which forced him to miss the final 11 games last year. For a normal dude, this can be a two- or three-year rehab.
Prescott was back for training camp in July.
Wow.
Clearly, he’s going to be the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year. Sorry, Joe Burrow.
Prescott being a viable MVP candidate also means you can expect these Cowboys to end their 25-year drought of not advancing to the NFC Championship Game.
We only saw two full seasons -- 2013 and 2014 -- of the game slowing down for Romo. He combined for 65 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in those two seasons.
But Romo was 34 at the end of the 2014 season.
The game already has slowed down for Prescott, and he’s just 28. You can legitimately expect another decade of football excellence from Prescott.
You can’t fool Prescott by disguising coverages or using complicated blitzes. He understands every nuance of this offense and how to use it to attack every defensive scheme.
Prescott directs the offense, much of the time from the line of scrimmage, and he seemingly always gets the Cowboys in the perfect play to attack the defense.
He operates easily from the pocket, and these days Prescott uses his mobility to create more time to throw.
He was 9 for 11 for 171 yards and a touchdown while throwing on the run against New England, including the game-winning 35-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb.
The game these days is all about the quarterback because he has so much responsibility on every play. Teams with elite quarterbacks have the best chance to advance to the championship game.
Prescott is an elite quarterback. You can figure out the rest of the equation.
Jean-Jacques Taylor, a former SportsDay columnist, is the host of JaM Session Podcast which can be heard Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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