Dallas Cowboys backup quarterback Dak Prescott has been one of the preseason's best stories. The former Mississippi State star is currently second in the NFL in passing, with an incredible 158.3 quarterback rating and a completion percentage in the eighties.
Dallas owner Jerry Jones was quick to hand him the backup job. After Kellen Moore went down there were doubts about Prescott's ability to back up an injury-prone Tony Romo. Now there are doubts about just how Prescott is putting up these numbers.
Aren't preseason defenses vanilla?
"That's on them if they want to throw vanilla or rocky road or whatever they want to throw at me," Prescott said, via The Dallas Morning News. "It really has no (bearing) on what I do. I just go out there and try to concentrate on our game plan and play my best."
While it is true -- and we should temper our Prescott excitement just a bit -- it's completely fair to compare Prescott to other quarterbacks in the NFL right now. Pretty much all of them are facing the same type of vanilla defense and some -- Brock Osweiler, Jared Goff, Mark Sanchez, Brian Hoyer -- are struggling under the same parameters.
The preseason is vanilla but it doesn't change the fact that for some defensive backs facing Prescott, making him look bad is their only avenue onto a 53-man roster. The league is already hard enough before throwing in all those disguised coverages.
We don't know what Prescott will be a few months from now, but we do know that his road has been anything but rocky so far.
