Stephen A. Smith places Dak Prescott’s Cowboys behind 49ers despite 40-0 blowout win over Giants
Dak Prescott enjoyed perhaps the easiest win of his NFL career in Week 1. By the end of the game, Daniel Jones' New York Giants had lost 40-0. Many fans were placing the Cowboys at the top of the power rankings by the end of the week.
However, Stephen A. Smith ranked the team just shy of the peak behind the San Francisco 49ers. Here's what he had to say about the Cowboys' ranking on First Take:
"When you sack a quarterback seven times, when you run roughshod over them, when Micah Parsons looks like a modern day Lawrence Taylor, when you see Diggs and Gilmore in the secondary, you're [still] trying to figure out how [Gilmore] got there."
He continued, taking a little jab at Dak Prescott:
"We don't throw the football against them. And Dak Prescott, basically last in completions and completion percentage in Week 1 and you still win by 40? I got to give you love at least for this week."
In his top five list, the talk show host listed the San Francisco 49ers first, then the Dallas Cowboys, then the Miami Dolphins followed by the Cleveland Browns and the Philadelphia Eagles.
How well did Dak Prescott play in Week 1?
The quarterback won 40-0, but his statistics might have been the weak link of the dominant team performance. He threw for just 143 yards, completing 54.2 percent of his passes for zero touchdowns and zero interceptions in the victory.
If he were to maintain that level of play all season long, it would be the lowest completion percentage of his career and also his lowest passer rating at 72.0.
Fans expect him to play a more integral role in future games, using CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks to their full ability. But if the defense continues to suffocate as well as they did in taking out a playoff team from a season ago, he might not.
As of now, with Dan Quinn helming the defense, a closer comparison to some might be the Legion of Boom. Of course, any real comparisons will need a greater sample size. However, based on what has been displayed, no one can challenge the chance the team has to be even better than Dan Quinn's Super Bowl-winning defense from 2013.
If any of the above quotes are used, please credit First Take and H/T Sportskeeda.