Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott just played the best statistical game of his career, and that's not great for the New England Patriots, who host the NFC East leaders at Gillette Stadium in Sunday's Week 12 matchup.
Prescott completed 29 of 46 pass attempts for 444 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions in a 35-27 win over the Detroit Lions. The fourth-year QB has averaged 366 yards per game with a total of nine touchdowns and two interceptions over the last three games. He's also completing 67.7 percent of his passes in 2019 and his 3,221 passing yards lead the league.
Prescott's impressive play is larger than a 4-game sample, though. Here are his stats over the last 16 games dating back to last season:
--69.3% comp pct
--104.8 passer rating
--4,968 yards
--37 total TD
--12 INT
--8.5 YPA
--11-5 W/L record
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave a glowing overview of Prescott's skill set Wednesday.
"Well we haven’t played him, so this is the first time we’ve played him. But right now, yeah, he’s super impressive," Belichick told reporters. "The way he’s going, might be more than that. Might hit six (thousand yards), I don’t know. This guy can throw the ball, he’s very accurate, he’s got great poise in the pocket, stands in there. He can extend plays and run if he has to, but he doesn’t do much of that unless he really needs to. He has great patience and poise, discipline in the pocket, gets his eyes down field. He’s a very good intermediate-to-deep ball-thrower.
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"He’s got good weapons, but he’s been super impressive. Just, great, great quarterback – sideline throws, inside throws, in-cuts, posts, over routes, flag routes, you name it. Possession passes on third down, best third down team in the league, best passing team in the league, most big plays in the league – I mean, I don’t know where you want to start, they do it all. And, he does it all. He runs options, he runs read zones, keeps the ball in critical situations, tough guy to tackle, makes tough yards when he needs them, so he’s really good."
The Cowboys chose to give star running back Ezekiel Elliott a contract extension before the season and still haven't come to terms with Prescott. Elliott is a tremendous player, but the first 10 games have shown Dallas will only be as successful as Prescott. He is the Cowboys' most important player, and the Patriots' No. 1 ranked pass defense needs to slow him down or Dallas will have a good chance of leaving Gillette Stadium with a much-needed win.
Pats' D must beat Prescott in this area of the field>>>
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