ARLINGTON, Texas — As Dak Prescott stepped to the podium after the Dallas Cowboys‘ 33-13 win against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, a clattering of fans chanted, “MVP! MVP! MVP!” through the glass from one of the club areas at AT&T Stadium.
Prescott threw for 217 yards on 24-of-39 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He ran three times for 11 yards.
And yet, Prescott did not feel like his performance was up to his standard.
“Solid enough to get the win,” the quarterback said. “I’ve told you before, I’m my biggest critic. Obviously, not my best game. … Did enough to win, but I always want to do better.”
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was a little more forgiving.
“Dak Prescott, for anyone that might have a question about it, for him to come in here and play like that against Philadelphia, he should have his due,” Jones said. “That ought to shut that door of questioning his ability to play in a playoff-type game.”
Those questions will continue until Prescott wins big in the playoffs. He has a 2-4 mark in the postseason and the Cowboys have not gotten past the divisional around of the playoffs.
But Prescott is in the best stretch of his career with 23 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in his last eight games. He has thrown at least two touchdown passes in each of the last seven games, tying a team single-season mark held by Tony Romo.
In the last six weeks, Prescott’s odds of winning the Most Valuable Player have gone from 60-to-1 (12th best) to a league-best +175, according to ESPN BET.
“First of all, as far as what it represents, which would be his importance to the team, he doesn’t have to win that award for me to know how important he is to our aspirations this year, where we are and where we’ve got a chance to go,” Jones said. “He’s got that kind of appreciation from I think everybody in this organization.”
Prescott leads the NFL with 28 touchdown passes. He has been intercepted just six times in 13 games after tying for the NFL lead last year with 15 despite playing in just 12 games. Prescott, however, could not get over a sack-fumble that led to the Eagles’ only touchdown of the game Sunday.
“It’s a feeling that sucks,” he said.
But he rebounded from that to lead the Cowboys to three field goal drives after the turnover and completed nine of 12 passes for 109 yards.
“I hold myself to super-high standards,” Prescott said, “and, yeah, if I play my best game, we’re putting up 50 out there. So that’s not going to change, and I’m going to keep pushing for that. That’s the work that I put into this thing, the preparation that I do.”
At 10-3, the Cowboys are in first place in the NFC East, holding a tiebreaker edge over the Eagles, however if both teams win out Philadelphia would lay claim to the division title and earn at least one home playoff game. The San Francisco 49ers (10-3) hold the No. 1 spot currently in the NFC with their wins against the Cowboys and Eagles.
The Cowboys play three of their final four games on the road, including next week at Buffalo and on Christmas Eve at Miami. If Prescott can continue to direct the Cowboys to wins, he could be in line to be the franchise’s second MVP winner. Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith won the award in 1993 on his way to helping the Cowboys to a second straight Super Bowl.
Prescott’s goal is not an MVP award. It’s winning a Super Bowl. It’s something he said he thinks about every day. So does Jones.
“Dak is a player who is qualified in every way to have a Super Bowl in his career,” Jones said.
Todd Archer
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