When studying Dak Prescott, the one word that comes to mind to describe his play is one you wouldn't expect from a rookie fourth-round pick:
Calm.
Prescott plays like a quarterback who has been in the league for years in terms of pace, composure and calm in the pocket. There is nothing frenetic about the way the Dallas Cowboys rookie passer plays the position.
He almost seems unflappable.
It helps that he has the best offensive line in the league, combined with a power run game and a great receiver in Dez Bryant. It's truly one of the great situations that any rookie quarterback has ever been given.
There are times when Prescott can stand upright in the pocket with nobody even close to him. Other quarterbacks around the league would kill for that. That might be a big reason why he is so calm.
Coming out of Mississippi State, he played in a spread, shotgun offense that was pretty frenetic. That type of system can scare off teams, but Prescott should be a lesson to all scouts and general managers that the good ones, the hard workers, can adjust to the NFL game.
He is still in the shotgun a lot, and looks much more comfortable taking snaps that way, but he's adjusted well to playing under center.
As the Cowboys ready to face the Washington Redskins in a big NFC East battle on Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to take a closer look at Prescott to find out why he has the Cowboys at 9-1, the best record in the NFL, and has Tony Romo staying on the bench.
What I saw was a player who fits in perfectly with what the Cowboys want to do, which is control the clock, run the ball with Ezekiel Elliott, and mix in some deep shots to Bryant. They don't want Prescott messing it up -- and he isn't.
Prescott has thrown just two interceptions against 17 touchdown passes. He is taking care of the ball.
There are a couple of reasons in addition to the run game why the turnovers are low.
The first is his ability to read the field. He plays smarter than a rookie.
Here's a look at a play from last week's game against the Ravens that shows that.
On the play, Prescott was initially in the shotgun. But when he saw that the Ravens were in a Cover-3 look, he changed the play and went under center.
He then took the snap, play-faked to Elliott, which sucked up linebacker C.J. Mosley.
When that happened, he booted to his right and then hit Cole Beasley on a cross as Mosley tried to get back into coverage on the play.
What I liked about the play was that Prescott could have easily dumped it to tight end Jason Witten for a short gain, but he set his feet, and with Za'Darius Smith in his face, fired a shot to Beasley for 14 yards and a first down. That's a veteran type of play.
Later, he made another play that screamed veteran. It was a cerebral play that some young quarterbacks would have turned into a forced throw and maybe a turnover. He calmly went through his reads, and ended up with an 11-yard gain. Here's a look.
Prescott play-faked to running back Alfred Morris, and then opened to his left. He wanted to go to Bryant on the right, but he was covered and seemed to jog his route for some reason. The Ravens also put a safety over the top to double him.
That brought Prescott back to the middle, but Terrance Williams was covered on a post route.
With his first two options out, Prescott calmly came back to his right and found Witten for an 11-yard gain and a first down.
On the stat sheet, it looks like a nice, productive play. But the film shows a smart, heady player who didn't get frazzled when what he first wanted was taken away.
Prescott was frazzled some early against the Ravens, but the Cowboys did a smart thing by emptying the backfield several times to let him better read the coverage. That let him identify what the Ravens were doing. That seemed to get him going in the second quarter.
I am not going to sit here and say he will be a star. There are too many factors. It's easy to play quarterback when you have that kind of line in front of you and that running game, and they have made it simple on him. It might not always be that way though.
Here are three pictures of pockets from last week's game against the Ravens that show just how nice it is to be a quarterback of that offense.
The last one is a touchdown throw to Bryant. The Ravens blitzed and look how clean it was for Prescott. That's unreal. He made a nice simple throw on a slant for the score.
So what are the faults?
The biggest one right now is that he passes on too many shots. Go up and down the NFL playbook and see what it says next to his completions. It's a lot of short left and short right and middle.
That's smart in a lot of instances, but he also passes on throws down the field. They are the chance throws that will come as he gains more confidence, the ones behind the linebacker and in front of the safety or the routes between the corner and the safety in Cover-2 on the sideline.
There are also too many plays where he stays on his first read too long, then goes to the check-down, rather than go the second or third read. That might be something that is preached to him, but I doubt it.
He needs to get off the first read quicker, then take the shots on two and three if they are there -- which they were a few times last week.
A check-down isn't a bad play for a young quarterback. It can be a nice gain. But eventually the shots have to come more frequently.
I still think the Cowboys would be 9-1 if Romo were the starter. They would also have more shots down the field since he would take the chance throws. Yes, there might be more turnovers but with that run game and protection maybe not.
Prescott is very patient in the pocket, standing tall rather than moving out at the first sign of pressure. Two weeks ago against the Steelers, he threw a touchdown pass on a deep ball to Bryant when pressure forced him off his spot. He moved to his left and re-loaded to make the play, rather than get out at the first Steeler in his face. That's maturity.
It's also being calm. And that word more than any describes his game right now.
What year is he in again? It's hard to believe he's a rookie.
Here are some more film-study notes on key matchups for the Thanksgiving Day games.
Washington at Dallas
Redskins
The Redskins used rookie Su'a Cravens on 58 snaps last week against the Packers, the most he's played in his rookie season. The Packers love to spread teams out, so he was used as a hybrid linebacker on those snaps and did a nice job. It will be interesting to see how the Redskins use him this week against the Cowboys power game.
Two weeks ago against the Vikings, they used him in a variety of ways and he again did some really good things in the run game. Cravens is one of the emerging hybrid players in the league, a tough player who can hold up in the run but is also swift enough in coverage.
Will the Cowboys run at him if he's on the field as the buck linebacker? Will the Redskins limit his snaps because of that big, physical offensive line? Cravens is also a good blitzer from the slot when he is lined up out there. He made a play in the run game two weeks ago from the slot when he dropped Minnesota's Ronnie Hillman for a 4-yard loss.
One area the Redskins are vulnerable is the coverage of the back end of their defense. Both safeties Duke Ihenacho and Donte Whitner can get beat in coverage. Neither is great at it, which could lead to some big plays for the Cowboys this week.
Minnesota at Detroit
Vikings
When I spent time with the Vikings this summer, the player they were raving about was second-year defensive end Danielle Hunter. He is a long, athletic pass rusher who has seven sacks this season, getting two last week.
Rushing from the left side, he overpowered Cardinals right tackle D.J. Humphries with a bull rush to get one sack and then got his other later with an effort play on a stunt inside. He is the primary reserve at end, and could be starting but the Vikings have two good ends in Brian Robison and Everson Griffin. They all played well last week.
Hunter has 13 sacks in his 24 games, with just one start. At 22 years old, he is on the way to being one of the better pass rushers in the league. His battles with right tackle Riley Reiff, who has struggled this season, will be big this week.
I like the way the Vikings are trying to get talented receiver Cordarrelle Patterson involved in the offense. Last week against Arizona, he had a nice 30-yard gain on a crossing route where he beat Deone Bucannon to turn the play up the field for a big gain. They also ran him across the formation on a little boot to the right for an easy 7-yard gain. And they threw a quick screen to him from the slot for a 10-yard gain.
Patterson is a big, fast player -- he returned a kickoff for a touchdown last week -- who needs to get the ball more. He's been inconsistent and at times he's been lazy, according to Vikings sources. He is a hell of a talent if he can ever get it going and could really help the passing game.
Lions
Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah has not had the type of year many expected him to have. He doesn't have a sack after getting 14 ½ last season. But Ansah missed three games with an ankle injury and he's just now rounding into form after returning five games ago.
Even though he didn't get a sack last week against the Jaguars, he had several pressures and spent a lot of time in the backfield. He will be key this week against the Vikings tackles, players who have really struggled this season.
Ansah made a really nice play on a Blake Bortles scramble last week where he dove at his legs to tackle him from behind to keep it to a 3-yard gain and force a punt. He got one pressure last week when he was standing up on the right side and looped inside around the left guard. He is starting to look like his old self, which could be bad news for the Vikings line.
For the first time this season, rookie first-round pick A'Shawn Robinson flashed last week. He had two really nice plays in the run game, beating right guard A.J. Cann with power to drop Chris Ivory for a 3-yard loss. He is a big man and is starting to understand the little things needed to play the position.
Pittsburgh at Indianapolis
Steelers
One of the things to watch for in this game is how well the Steelers get their running game going with their move players. They love to pull guards, tackles and tight ends to lead Le'Veon Bell. That means they have to get good down blocks on the side of the run to allow the guards and tight ends to lead through. The Colts are not a good run defense -- ranking 28th in yards per rush. They have to get penetration to slow the Steelers pulls down.
Right guard David DeCastro is one of the best in the NFL at pulling around and leading the back. He is tough, athletic and physical. When the Steelers run these power plays, he is one of the stars. They love to also lead through with the tight end to help around the corner. What I like about these plays is they usually run them to the strong side. That's power on power. I would expect to see a lot of that in this game.
Keep an eye on Steelers rookie corner Artie Burns. He is really starting to play well. He is a long corner who can run and cover and he's a willing tackler. He had a nice interception last week against the Browns.
Colts
The Colts need to get more from their down players, especially Arthur Jones. Since returning from a four-game suspension for a PED violation, Jones hasn't played up to expectation. He's spent a lot of time getting blocked. The Titans did a nice job on him in both the run and pass game last week. Jones isn't a big sack guy, but he has been a good run player and he can push the pocket. That has to improve for this Colts team moving forward, starting this week or Bell might run wild.
The Colts might be without safety Clayton Geathers this week. He suffered a concussion against the Titans and is in the concussion protocol. I wrote about him last week on how he's become a big part of their defense.
The Colts use Geathers as a hybrid safety/linebacker and he's a good tackler. It was his tackle on the final play for the Titans last week -- a fourth-and-1 stop of DeMarco Murray -- that sealed the game for the Colts.
On the play, the Titans motioned the fullback from the right side to the left -- which moved Geathers in that direction. The run was to the offensive left, and looked to be a first down. One problem: Geathers beat the block of Rishard Matthews and took on Murray head-on and made the stop, even forcing the ball out, although Murray was down. That looked to be the play where Geathers suffered his concussion as his helmet hit Murray's. If he can't play this week, the run defense will take a hit against Bell.
