If a player's Week 1 performance is an indication of what's to come the rest of the season, then Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is primed for a career year -- one in which he breaks into a new tier in terms of skill and productivity at the QB position.

Prescott wasn't perfect in the 35-17 victory over the New York Giants, but he was closer to perfect than he's been at any other point in his career.

With that in mind, let's dive into a full review of Prescott's play against the Giants.

Statistics

Prescott finished 25 of 32 (78.1% completion rate) for 405 yards and four touchdowns to go with four rushes for 12 yards.

In 2018, Prescott averaged just 7.39 yards per pass attempt (18th among all QBs) and 6.22 adjusted net yards per attempt, which is the QB statistic most correlated with winning. He shattered those averages Sunday afternoon, finishing with 12.66 yards per attempt and 15.16 adjusted net yards per attempt (both ranked second among all QBs in Week 1, behind only Baltimore's Lamar Jackson).

After finishing poorly in touchdown percentage (4.2%; 21st among all QBs) and sack percentage (9.6%) last season, Prescott's touchdown percentage hit an absurd 12.5% (tied for second behind Jackson) while avoiding a single sack against the Giants.

Prescott on Sunday was especially lethal with play-action passes, which accounted for 46.9% of his dropbacks -- up significantly from his 24.9% play-action rate in 2018, according to Pro Football Focus. Here are Prescott's stats with and without play action against the Giants:

With play action: 14 of 15 (93.3% completion rate) for 207 yards and three touchdowns; 13.8 yards per attempt.

Without play action: 11 of 17 (64.7%) for 198 yards and one touchdown; 11.6 yards per attempt.

Aside from the 28.6% jump in completion rate, Prescott completed 2.1 more yards per attempt, which goes to show why many have been advocating for increased use of play action throughout the offseason. Not only is he more accurate historically on play-action passes, but he also targets receivers further downfield, further cementing why it's important to have a heavy emphasis on play-action passes with Prescott.

One of Prescott's biggest hindrances last season was his lack of aggressiveness through the air, which was easily captured by NFL Next Gen Stats' air yards to the sticks (AYTS) metric -- one that captures the "amount of air yards ahead or behind the first-down marker on all attempts for a passer."

In 2018, Prescott finished 29th out of 39 qualifying QBs in AYTS at minus 1.5 -- meaning, on average, he threw the ball 1.5 yards short of the sticks. Against New York, he finished seventh among qualifying QBs at plus 0.4 -- 0.4 yards past the first-down markers -- which is an incredible improvement over last season, even for a one-game sample.

It's important to note that a one-game sample in 2019 isn't enough to throw out a full season's worth of samples from the previous year, but it is a great indication of Prescott's potential improvement.

Passing chart

Thanks to this handy-dandy chart, courtesy of NFL Next Gen Stats, we can see that even though Prescott did most of his work between 0-10 yards, he was extremely productive when targeting receivers downfield.

Last year, he received a lot of criticism for his deep passing (though it was closer to league average than critics would have you believe), especially when targeting Michael Gallup, who had a 33.3% catch rate on throws 20 or more yards downfield.

Yet that wasn't the case against New York, as Prescott went 5 of 6 for 155 yards and three scores on throws 20 or more yards downfield (which counts the two touchdown throws down the middle that barely touched the 20-yard line on the passing chart). In 2018, he had just eight touchdown passes travel 20 or more yards in the air, so his three deep touchdowns against New York represent nearly half of his total from the previous season.

Prescott systemically picked apart the Giants in the short-to-intermediate areas of the field before taking full advantage of them with shots downfield.

On top of that, he was especially lethal when throwing to his right, logging just two incomplete passes out of 11 total throws to the right side of the field.

FILM REVIEW

The good

Before we get into the positive aspects of Prescott's performance as passer, it's important to note how comfortable and confident he appeared to be with his pre- and post-snap decision-making.

After a year in which he was the fourth-most pressured QB in the NFL, according to PFF, Prescott was the least pressured in Week 1 (among those with at least 10 dropbacks).

Dak easily beats the blitz pic.twitter.com/jG42ULFqb1 — All22Hype (@All22Hype) September 10, 2019

A lot of that is due to New York's abysmal pass rush and the Dallas offensive line being at full strength, but it's also an indication that Prescott was seeing the field well pre-snap, as he and Travis Frederick continuously put the Cowboys in correct protections to stymie blitzes. This is why Prescott finished 9 of 12 for 140 yards with a 113.2 passer rating -- accumulating six first downs and 11.7 yards per attempt in the process -- when blitzed Sunday.

Prescott's sound pre-snap process also got Dallas out of plays for which New York was in the perfect call to stop. Here's an example:

I could be wrong but this seems like a sight adjustment to being out leveraged on the front side of this run (5 defenders, only 4 play-side blockers pre-snap).



Seems like Dak knew if he carried out a full fake the CB, who was playing off, could have driven on Gallup's slant. pic.twitter.com/5uSBj8OUEM — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 10, 2019

While this play may seem like a play-action pass at first glance, it actually appears to be an adjustment made by Prescott in response to being out-leveraged on the outside zone run.

Teams will often "tag," or add an "alert" to, a run play with a pass on the backside in case the defense has the offense out-leveraged to the play side, which means it's on the QB to identify the out-leveraging and pull the trigger on the "tagged route," which is exactly what Prescott does here.

Pre-snap: The Giants have five play-side defenders within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage while the Cowboys have just four play-side blockers, which means there would be one unblocked defender (the strong safety ends up bailing at the snap, but it's impossible to know that beforehand). It doesn't take Sean McVay to figure out that's typically a losing proposition for the offense, especially when Tony Pollard is in the game at running back.

So when the ball is snapped, Prescott feints for a split second as if he's going back to hand the ball off before quickly setting up and firing to Gallup, who was running the "alert" slant route on the play's backside.

This play was a great example of Prescott's vision, intelligence and confidence. Not only does he identify that he's being out-leveraged to the play side, but he also showed the confidence to pull the trigger on it.

In terms of actually throwing the ball, Prescott was outstanding. At the beginning of the game, he appeared to move through his progressions a tad quickly, but settled down and looked outstanding as the game wore on.

Prescott made a number of impressive throws, but for the sake of word count, let's focus on the ones that displayed his potential growth as a passer.

Throughout the offseason, much was made about how new QBs coach Jon Kitna was going to help improve Prescott's footwork. His poor footwork often prevented him from incorporating his lower half into throws and forced his arm to overcompensate, which led to general inaccuracy and power-drain issues, especially when pressured in the pocket.

While he did have a couple of throws where previous bad habits showed up, Prescott's footwork looked much improved for the most part, which enabled him to incorporate his full body into throws and really drive the ball to his receivers in tight windows. Here's a great example:

Here, Prescott faced a third-and-4 situation in the first quarter when he had to fit a tight-window throw into Gallup for the first down. This type of pass requires a great deal of velocity and pinpoint accuracy to fit the ball in-between the cornerback and linebacker in coverage. Prescott's efficient footwork enabled him to generate power with his lower body and hips, leaving his arm to place the ball exactly where it needed to be.

Notice how he gets his back foot's "ankle eye" -- also known as the medial malleolus -- pointed toward his intended target. This puts him on a direct line with his receiver and in proper position to be as efficient as possible.

On top of that, take note of the distance between Prescott's feet during his release. It's not the distance akin to riding a bike (too narrow) or riding a bull (too wide). Instead, the distance between his feet is more akin to riding a horse (just right). (Check out this video of Kitna explaining the reasoning for those visual cues.) This allows Prescott to remain balanced and effectively transfer his weight (incorporating his full body into the throw) to generate the force necessary to make this throw.

While it's all fine and dandy to show good mechanics with a good pocket in place, the true litmus test for Prescott's improved footwork will be when there's pressure in his face, as QBs tend to revert to bad habits when pressured. While it didn't happen often against New York, Prescott's improved footwork sustained even with pressure in his face. His best throw of the day, for example, came on a play where he displayed good footwork with pressure in his face:

Here, Prescott is able to drop a perfectly placed pass to Gallup on a fade (or go) route for 36 yards near the sideline. It's a tight-window throw that requires force, touch and pinpoint accuracy -- all of which were accomplished because Prescott's footwork put him in position to do so.

The most impressive thing about this throw is how aware Prescott is of the space surrounding him. Even with the impending pressure, he understood he didn't have to rush his footwork because he still had enough space to step into the throw. Because Prescott is able to step into it, he's able to transfer his weight enough to generate the force and touch necessary to place the pass over Gallup's shoulder.

More so than any other pass in the game, Prescott's 36-yard dime to Gallup under pressure was the best indication that the Cowboys quarterback's improved footwork and throwing mechanics will sustain throughout the year.

Prescott also did a masterful job of manipulating defenders with his eyes throughout the game. On his touchdown throw to Amari Cooper (above clip), Prescott did an excellent job of holding the deep safety in the middle of the field with his eyes, giving Cooper a legitimate one-on-one opportunity while eliminating any chance of that safety making a play.

Both of Dak Prescott's first-half zone read keepers vs NYG pic.twitter.com/TOEDy78ZY3 — All22Hype (@All22Hype) September 8, 2019

In addition to his efforts as a passer, Prescott's legs were also a factor as he picked up two different first downs off zone reads on short down-and-distances to keep drives alive.

In fact, Ezekiel Elliott's touchdown run was set up by Prescott's earlier zone reads. Earlier in the game, the Giants' unblocked edge defender was crashing to the running back at the mesh point (above clip), allowing Prescott to dart outside and pick up a couple of first downs.

But in the third quarter, the Giants had their unblocked edge defender stay home to defend the quarterback against zone reads. This caused Prescott to give the ball to Elliott at the mesh point without the threat of a backside defender chasing him down, as the Giants were too occupied by the threat of Prescott's legs.

Furthermore, the threat of Prescott's legs had the additional benefit of holding Giants linebacker Alec Ogletree (No. 47) in the middle of the field long enough for Elliott to beat him to the edge and build the momentum necessary to get through contract to the end zone.

So while there is always talk about how a productive running back can make life easier for a quarterback, a productive dual-threat quarterback can also make life easier for his running back, which is exactly what Prescott did for Elliott.

The bad

As you probably guessed, there wasn't a lot "bad" from Prescott in a game in which he finished with a 158.3 passer rating. As tends to be the case when a QB plays as phenomenally as Prescott did, the negatives mentioned here will certainly be nitpicking in nature. Still, in a game in which the difference between teams is often the tiniest of margins, they deserve to be mentioned.

As noted above, Prescott's mechanics and footwork looked vastly improved, but that doesn't mean that some of his previous bad habits didn't make appearances. In fact, his incomplete pass to Cooper on the initial third down of the game was a result of poor mechanics:

This is the type of play that was commonplace for Prescott in previous years. His hesitation prevents him from stepping into the throw -- preventing the transferring of weight to generate force -- putting all of the pressure on his arm to aim and generate force.

The result is a poor, off-target throw that may have also been slightly tipped, which fell incomplete and forced the Cowboys to punt on the opening possession of the game.

After his initial hesitation, Prescott should have reset, getting the "ankle eye" of his back foot pointed toward the receiver so he can throw on a direct line and be as efficient as possible with his footwork and throwing mechanics. This likely would have resulted in an accurate throw that put Cooper in a position to gain some yards after the catch and pick up a first down.

Luckily for Prescott, as indicated in the "good" section, this old bad habit didn't appear much after that.

He also was a little hit-or-miss in regard to his reads on run-pass options. On a few occasions, Prescott threw the ball when he should have handed it off, or vice versa. Here's an example:

Really liked how Dak was mindful to re-set his base and fire on this throw into a tight window off the RPO.



Still think he should have given the ball to Zeke at the mesh point with the LB staying home. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/IDtiuzel7Z — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 10, 2019

This appears to be a second-level RPO, where Prescott is reading the movement of Ogletree (No. 47). With Ogletree maintaining depth, Prescott likely should have handed the ball to Elliott, who had four play-side blockers to take on four Giants defenders -- exactly what you're looking for on the run part of the option.

To his credit, Prescott does a great job resetting his feet, working through his progressions quickly from inside-out and making an accurate throw for the completion. The run, however, would have been the better option in this case.

Both of Dak Prescott's first-half zone read keepers vs NYG pic.twitter.com/TOEDy78ZY3 — All22Hype (@All22Hype) September 8, 2019

The other aspect of Prescott's performance that deserves nitpicking is his disregard for his own well-being as a runner. On both of his first-down pick-ups off zone reads, he opted to run into contact instead of sliding. While it's great to see that Prescott isn't afraid of physicality, it's never a good idea for the most important player on the team to expose himself to unnecessary punishment.

Prescott needs to be mindful of his body and slide more often instead of absorbing contact as a runner, especially when he's already picked up a first down.

Final thoughts

It's unlikely Prescott will be able to keep this kind of performance up throughout the season, considering he's on pace for an unsustainable 16-game stat line of 6,480 passing yards and 64 touchdowns with a 78% completion rate. Still, Sunday's outing was no fluke -- his effectiveness and productivity were rooted in the proper process and great decision-making.

Even though Prescott's footwork is improving, it's nowhere near perfect, as his bad habits still appear on occasion.

Nevertheless, it's important to note that he displayed cleaner footwork on a much more consistent basis -- against New York and throughout training camp/preseason -- which, combined with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore's increased usage of pre-snap movement and play action, should help Prescott become a more effective and productive passer in 2019.

Enjoy this post? More film studies:

-- 3 things we learned about the Kellen Moore-led Cowboys offense against the Giants

-- Breaking down a clever wrinkle that helped Cowboys' defense keep the Giants in check

-- The 5 players who have impressed the most at Cowboys camp

Twitter: @JohnOwning