(Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)
In 2021, the one thing you did NOT want to do when playing the Cowboys was to blitz Prescott. He was by far the NFL’s most dynamic quarterback when facing five or more pass-rushers, with 113 completions on 178 attempts for 1,230 yards, 708 air yards, 24 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 114.0. This season, coming into the Titans game, Prescott had completed 63 of 91 passes for 624 yards, 332 air yards, six touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 101.2. Not horrible by any means, but not nearly as explosive, and Prescott isn’t in the same place to make defenses pay for sending extra rushers after him.
That regression isn’t just against the blitz. When pressured overall in 2021, regardless of the number of pass-rushers, Prescott completed 169 of 122 passes for 1,051 yards, nine touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 78.3. This season, he’s completed 100 of 125 passes for 640 yards, seven touchdowns, six interceptions, and a passer rating of 71.3.
Prescott threw two interceptions in Dallas’ 40-34 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15. The first was a direct result of pressure. With 3:04 left in the third quarter, Prescott got pressure to his front side after end K’Lavon Chaisson and defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris ran a stunt. Tight end Dalton Schultz ran a hook route to expose a void in Jacksonville’s Cover-4, but both Chaisson and Robertson-Harris did a great job of sticking with Prescott as he bailed the pocket, and affecting the throw with their own efforts. The result was a pleasant surprise for safety Rayshawn Jenkins, who was only getting started.
“[I] was trying to throw it to Dalton and kind of got grabbed from the back at the same time as I was throwing the ball; just came out of my hand, actually high,” Prescott said about this play. Yeah, unfortunate.”
Indeed. Prescott later expounded on the process of that first pick.
“To end the game on a pick-six, yeah, it’s tough. It’s tough. It’s frustrating. Not only that, as I said, the first one, yeah, I’ve just got to not even try to throw the ball right there, feeling the guy grab me and just tuck the ball and take the sack and just move on, move on to the next play. That’s that balance. Obviously, I’ll learn from it and tuck it next time. It’s tough. It’s tough treading that line, trying to make a play, trying to be aggressive, and at the same Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Cowboys Wire…