It’s easy to forget how far quarterback Dak Prescott has come as he enters his fourth season in the NFL. At this juncture in 2016, he was battling quarterback-turned-safety Jameill Showers for the third-string spot behind Tony Romo and current offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, just trying to make the team. The next part of the story has been told time and time again. Moore broke his fibia and Romo again broke his back. Prescott lit the preseason on fire, completing 78% of his passes for 454 yards and five touchdowns against no interceptions, and never looked back.

Prescott’s reputation has always been that he is at his best when the lights come on. Practice, however, has been a different story. What’s confounded people like Bryan Broaddus, a former scout and current staff writer for the Dallas Cowboys is that what he’s seen on the practice field isn’t matching what he sees on Sunday. In the past, he has called Prescott the practice player flat-out bad.

To quote the great philosopher Allen Iverson, “we talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, we talking about practice.”

It’s obviously preferable for a franchise quarterback to be better in games than practice, but for the offense as a whole to find its rhythm and play at its best, the quarterback needs to be sharp all the time.

By all accounts, it’s starting to turn around for Prescott on the practice fields this summer. It started in mini-camps and has carried over to the extremely early parts of training camp in Oxnard.

It’s true that the pads haven’t come on, and none of these plays count for anything. But the concerns with Prescott has almost never been how he’ll play when it matters most. No one wonders how he’ll perform when the play breaks down. The biggest issue with Prescott’s game through his three-year career are the mundane plays. And this is where practice comes in. He won’t be hit in training camp. It’s about finding a rhythm with his wide receivers.

Here he is with second-year wide receiver Michael Gallup.

Think back to last year. How many times did Prescott overthrow Gallup on this exact play in the 2018 season? It’s hard to tell the exact speed that the play is moving at, but it’s safe to assume it’s close to full throttle. The ball is dropped in the perfect spot and Gallup isn’t forced to break his stride to haul it in.

Here’s another example from practice. This time to wide receiver Amari Cooper.

This placement on this ball is even better than the one to Gallup in the previous clip. The ball goes over the outside shoulder of Cooper. In a game, this pass is right where it needs to be, minimizing the risk of an interception and maximizing the chances at an explosive play, something this Cowboys team desperately needs.

Again, it’s extremely early in training camp to come to any conclusions about where Prescott is headed for 2019. But so far he has taken a step forward. As head coach Jason Garrett often says, it’s about stacking one good day on top of another, and so far Prescott has done exactly that.

Gallery Check out these pics from Day 1 of Cowboys training camp View 37 photos View 37 photos Gallery 2019 Training Camp: Cowboys 53-man roster prediction View 63 photos View 63 photos Gallery 2019 Dallas Cowboys preseason schedule: Time, dates, opponents View 11 photos View 11 photos

Other apps just deliver sports. The USA TODAY Sportswire app lets you pick specific team sites to get only the news that you want to know.

newsletter Get 10 hot stories each day Thanks for signing up.

Please check your email for a confirmation. Thanks for signing up.

Please check your email for a confirmation.