2x Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning gets candid on Dak Prescott’s situation with Cowboys ahead of playoffs
NFL legend Peyton Manning and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott never shared the field. But the former Denver Broncos quarterback has spent a lot of time in retirement watching Prescott ply his trade.
On the This is Football podcast, Manning gave his two cents on the Dallas quarterback as he attempts to get his team the furthest into the postseason they have ever gotten since the mid-1990s.
"If the Cowboys played well in the playoffs, it will be because Dak is doing the same things he's done all season.... Dak Prescott takes a lot of heat. It comes his way. I think that comes with playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. I think he wants that platform. He handles it so well. He handles the positives [and] the negatives."
Manning went on, claiming that Prescott deserves his MVP consideration:
"I think he stays pretty even keel, which is the best quality of a quarterback in the NFL, especially playing someplace like Dallas… I'm pulling for Dak. He's had a heck of a year. He's in that MVP running deservedly so and I'm hoping he has a good run here in this postseason."
Dak Prescott's 2023 regular season performance comes during alarming league-wide decline
With the regular season now over, every player's statistics have crystalized with no hope of any further adjustments. Dak Prescott led the league in touchdown passes with 36, according to NFL stat tracking. He wrapped up the regular season with a full game's production over every other quarterback in the NFL.
Jordan Love sat in second place in the category with 32 passing touchdowns. In total, just four quarterbacks reached 30 passing touchdowns, with Brock Purdy and Jared Goff being the other two.
Unlike in other seasons where players crossed 40 and even 50 touchdown passes, quarterbacks as a whole took a step back in the category.
Last year, three quarterbacks threw for at least 35 touchdowns and one threw for 40.
In 2021, nine quarterbacks passed for at least 30 touchdowns and seven passed for at least 35 touchdowns.
Some would argue that the quarterbacks are to blame while others would say that rushing touchdowns have become the priority in schemes. Meanwhile, defenses have caught up to the arms of today's quarterbacks.
Additionally, with so many retirements in the last half-decade, it has left a gap that is yet to truly be filled by the next generation, although the classes of the late 2010s such as Lamar Jackson and CJ Stroud are getting there.
Will the quarterback position see a resurgence in 2024?
If any of the above quotes are used, credit the "This is Football" podcast and H/T Sportskeeda.