Thus far in his brief NFL career, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has been solid. He hasn't been great and he hasn't been bad. He has merely been solid.
Of course, that solid play has earned him a couple of Pro Bowl appearances and has helped him lead the Cowboys to a pair of NFC East division titles, but solid often isn't enough to win a Super Bowl, especially when you're talking about quarterback play.
When you look at Prescott's numbers, they are largely uninspiring.
He is coming off of a 2018 campaign in which he threw for 3,885 yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing 67.7 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 96.9.
While those are solid numbers (there's that word again), they are hardly eye-opening, and they are not typically what you would expect from a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback.
From a realistic point of view, Prescott really has just been a glorified game manager throughout his first three seasons in the league. He is an outstanding leader, a great teammate and a fine player, but he hasn't been taking over games like Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or, to compare him to a divisional foe, prime Eli Manning, who was once a very feared fourth-quarter passer.
While it's nice that Prescott keeps his turnovers to a minimum and simply allows Ezekiel Elliott to do his thing, it's time that the soon-to-be-26-year-old begins shouldering some more responsibility offensively and taking matters into his own hands more.
Is Prescott capable of that? None us really know, as he has never gotten the chance to show it. Obviously, the Cowboys have not been entirely confident in him doing so over his first three years in the league, or else we would have seen more of it. Dallas let former quarterback Tony Romo let it fly week after week and didn't worry about how he managed the game. If he made a mistake, then so be it, but he was a terrific pure passer, and the Cowboys put him to work.
But if Prescott has any of that in him, 2019 is the year he needs to show it, because Dallas looks like a Super Bowl contender going into this season.
The Cowboys have the running game. They have the offensive line. They have a nice group of receivers. They have a really stingy defense.
The main question for Dallas going into this season is under center, and as impressive as Prescott has been in terms of leading the team and looking unfazed in doing so, it seems like the Cowboys rely more on his heart than his right arm, and that needs to change.
I like Prescott a lot, and there is certainly something about him that makes you think he can be a Super Bowl quarterback. Some guys just have that aura, and Prescott has it.
The question is, does he have the skill?
We haven't really gotten the chance to find out yet, but Prescott needs to take more charge and show us what he can do this coming season.
Now, to be fair to Prescott, a lot of that is also on the coaching staff giving him the freedom to do so, but if and when Jason Garrett begins giving him the green light, Prescott has to step up, because if he can take that next step this year, Dallas could make it back to the Super Bowl for the first time in well over two decades.
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