Crossing Broad is a fair and balanced sports blog, so we’re not above giving credit where credit’s due.

Dak Prescott has been really damn good this year. Thursday night: 29 for 41, 299 yards, and three touchdown passes in a comeback win against the Seahawks. He’s got 26 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on the season, a career-high 70.1 completion percentage, and a 108.3 QB rating. The Cowboys are 9-3. And if we’re being honest with ourselves, no Dallas quarterback has played this well since… probably Tony Romo in 2014, which was his final Pro Bowl year. They’ve never had a quarterback win MVP before, and while Jalen Hurts remains out in front at +175, Dak isn’t far behind at +375.

So we’ll give Dak his props, while adding some caveats:

  1. The Cowboys still don’t have a marquee win on their schedule. Dak needed to play his ass off to beat the 6-5 Seahawks in Dallas. Their next-best win is probably a 20-17 road triumph against the 4-7 Chargers. Their other seven wins are against the 4-8 Giants (2x), 4-8 Commanders, 1-10 Panthers, 5-6 Rams, 4-7 Jets, and 2-9 Patriots.
  2. Dak had a chance to win it in Philly. He stepped out of bounds on a two-point conversion in which 35 year old Brandon Graham was chasing him down. He took the Cowboys right down to the red zone and couldn’t finish the job, with that bad sack thrown into the mix. Those were big moments where he didn’t get it done.
  3. He was totally ass in San Francisco. 14-24, 153 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions.
  4. Dak led the Cowboys’ offense to 16 points against Jonathan Gannon’s Arizona Cardinals. Double-digit road loss against a team that’s now 2-10.

Otherwise, he’s been good this year. He threw for 374 and three touchdowns in Philly. But that “moment” is missing. He needs a big win against a team above .500, or a clutch red zone play or something along those lines. It’s gonna take more than torching mediocre teams to convince everybody that this is a different Dak Prescott. Until then, he’s the guy with two playoff wins over seven NFL seasons.