The Dallas Cowboys dominated the Philadelphia Eagles 33-13 on Sunday night to reclaim the lead in the NFC East.
Dak Prescott turned in another great game, but he expressed frustration with his performance after the win. Prescott was adamant that the Cowboys would’ve scored 50 points if he was at his best. That’s the accountability we’ve come to expect from Prescott, but his performance was good enough to see him leapfrog 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy as the favorite to win league MVP.
Prescott finished 24-of-39 for 271 yards and two touchdowns to zero interceptions. He fit passes into impossible windows and was deadly on passes downfield. He made a number of throws that could’ve put the game on ice.
One pass that springs to mind was Prescott’s deep shot to Brandin Cooks in the fourth quarter that was “broken up” by James Bradberry. Cooks admittedly got his hands on the ball, but Bradberry, beaten on the route, made a bush league last-ditch effort to break up the pass and undercut the WR’s legs.
You can watch the play behind this link.
Bush league James Bradberry play deprived Cowboys’ Dak Prescott of signature MVP moment vs Eagles
Cooks completes the catch 100 times out of 100 if Bradberry doesn’t take out his legs. If he does, Prescott has his signature MVP moment. At the time, the Cowboys were leading 27-13 with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter. A touchdown would’ve put Dallas up 34-13 (three touchdowns) and all but clinched the win.
Even the national media is giving Prescott his flowers, but imagine the narrative if this went for a touchdown. We’d be talking about Dak calling game to reclaim the division lead with an absolute dime from 35 yards.
Instead, it was Markquese Bell’s forced fumble on DeVonta Smith that sealed the win.
You can even point to CeeDee Lamb’s drop on what would’ve been a 62-yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up 31-6 early in the third quarter. Dallas had just recovered an A.J. Brown fumble and Prescott went for the killshot. A TD there would’ve put the game away and Prescott dropped the pass into a bucket from some 40 yards.
Again, Prescott is a deserving MVP favorite following the win. There’s just no denying that he was shorted a signature MVP moment on Sunday. If Bradberry doesn’t dive into Cooks’ legs, we’d be talking about Prescott as the runaway favorite for the award.
There’s still plenty of time left in the season for Dak to get his moment. For now, 270 yards and two TDs in a blowout win over the Eagles in the biggest game of the season is plenty enough to bolster Prescott’s MVP resume.