When the Dallas Cowboys faced off against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night, many believed they had no chance to win the game. Dallas entered Week 1 as the biggest underdog (+8.5 points) of any team on the entire slate.<\/p>\n
While the Cowboys ultimately did not pull off the upset over the defending champs, Dallas played much better than many expected they would. If CeeDee Lamb was able to haul in one of the three passes he dropped in the fourth quarter, there\u2019s plenty of reason to believe the Cowboys would have pulled off the shocking upset.<\/p>\n
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Despite the loss, there was plenty to be excited about. Many Cowboys exceeded expectations on Thursday night, but none did so more than Dallas\u2019 quarterback Dak Prescott. The 32-year-old looked like his old All-Pro self, earning him this week\u2019s game ball.<\/p>\n
After his season-ending hamstring injury last season, some doubted whether Prescott would still have the mobility that made him such a weapon for the first nine seasons of his NFL career. The signal-caller put that narrative to rest Thursday night, looking every bit as comfortable and elusive in the pocket as he possibly could.<\/p>\n
While Dallas\u2019s offensive line played well, Prescott still faced some consistent pressure, especially in the second half. The former All-Pro was pressured 13 times during the contest but did not get sacked once. Prescott was able to consistently keep plays alive and avoid sacks time and time again throughout the night.<\/p>\n
On the surface, Prescott\u2019s stats from Thursday night (21-0f-34 for 188 yards) may not look all that impressive, but they clearly don\u2019t tell the whole story. Prescott made four big-time throws (according to Pro Football Focus<\/em>) over the course of the game, and was PFF\u2019s highest-graded offensive player of the contest (90.0) on either side.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, if CeeDee Lamb hauls in one of Prescott\u2019s perfect passes late in the fourth quarter, Dallas\u2019 quarterback\u2019s outstanding return would be the talk of every sports show all weekend long.<\/p>\n Given Prescott\u2019s recent injury history and advanced age for his position, there are valid reasons to be concerned about whether he can stay healthy and on the field for the entirety of this 2025 season. If, however, he\u2019s able to do so, there\u2019s no denying he will be one of the most productive quarterbacks in football.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that last season, Prescott\u2019s shortcomings were more a product of Dallas\u2019 inability to build around him on offense rather than plain poor performance from the quarterback himself. It\u2019s extremely early, but on Thursday night in Philadelphia, Prescott looked like the guy who finished second in MVP voting back during the 2023 season.<\/p>\n If Dak Prescott can maintain this level of performance throughout the regular season, the Cowboys will win plenty of games and have one of the most productive offenses in football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you had to give a game ball out after Thursday\u2019s Cowboys game, who would you give it to and why?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":89475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[87,1818,89,54,327,974],"class_list":["post-89471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-ceedee-lamb","tag-chase-daniel","tag-dak-prescott","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-the-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"\n