Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys offense got punked in the first game of the 2018 season. The Carolina Panthers stole the Cowboys' lunch money, and despite its efforts, Dallas couldn't do a single thing about it.

The Cowboys only scored eight points (third-worst in the NFL) and gained just 232 yards, averaging just 4.1 yards per play (fourth-worst).

Prescott wasn't much better. The Mississippi State product finished 19 of 29, a 65.5 completion percentage, for 170 passing yards with 19 rushing yards on five carries. Prescott averaged just 8.9 yards per completion (29th) and 5.9 yards per attempt. Furthermore, Prescott threw 3.94 adjusted net yards per passing attempt (23rd), the passing statistic most correlated with winning.

Unfortunately, subpar performances are nothing new for the Cowboys offense, as Prescott has only thrown for over 200 yards in two of his last nine games, and the Dallas offense hasn't scored 21-or-more points in their last four contests.

Teams are loading the box against the Cowboys, choosing to focus the majority of their attention on stopping the run while taking their chances against the Dallas passing attack. Until Prescott can make defenses pay for selling out to stop the run, the Cowboys offense is going to struggle.

So what went wrong with Prescott and the Cowboys passing attack against the Panthers? Let's take a look:

"See it, throw it"

One of the traits that separates the good quarterbacks from the elite ones is anticipation. Because passing windows are so small in the NFL, the ability to anticipate those throwing windows before the receiver is open sets the quarterback up for success. It takes a keen understanding of the route concepts on any given play along with the coverage of the defense. The ability to "throw his receivers open" is not a make-or-break trait for quarterbacks, especially ones blessed with immense arm strength, but it certainly is a gigantic bonus.

Prescott has always struggled to throw with anticipation. Instead, he is known as a "see it, throw it" quarterback, meaning he typically must see the receiver get open before cutting it loose rather than anticipating it. That leads to small throwing windows and less yards-after-catch opportunities for the intended receiver.

This became a problem against Carolina because the receivers failed to create much separation from defenders with their routes. The Cowboys offensive staff failed to adjust their game plan and scheme to open up receivers against Carolina's defense.

Here's an example of Prescott's lack of anticipation:

On this play, the Cowboys are a facing a critical fourth-and-10 near midfield with 2:18 left in the fourth quarter. After the ball is snapped, Prescott reads, quickly identifies the single-high safety and immediately locks on to Deonte Thompson, who is running a deep comeback just beyond the sticks.

The deep comeback route is one of the hardest routes to defend, but it's also extremely difficult to complete. A quarterback not only needs the anticipation to make the throw before the wide receiver comes out of his break, but it also takes immense arm strength to drive the ball into a tight window.

Instead of throwing it as Thompson slows down to make his break, Prescott holds the ball and waits until Thompson is essentially out of his break before making throw, making a tight window throw even tighter with the sideline as an extra defender. Ultimately, Prescott makes a good throw considering the tiny window, but it's still a tad too high and to the outside for Thompson's outstretched arms.

The throw would have had more room for error if Prescott started his throwing motion when Thompson was gearing down.

Here's an example of Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr properly throwing with anticipation on a deep comeback route:

Notice how Carr starts his throwing motion as Cooper gears down, which maximizes his throwing window and gives Cooper a chance to pick up some yards after the catch.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, "see it, throw it" QBs don't usually become anticipatory throwers. Again, lacking anticipation isn't the deathknell for a QB in the NFL, it just makes things easier. Plenty of "see it, throw it" QBs have become successful in the NFL, including Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and Los Angeles Rams QB Jared Goff.

However, if there was any doubt before, it will likely keep Prescott from joining the top tier of QBs in the NFL.

Lazy mechanics leads to poor accuracyand ball placement

Among the more disturbing trends from the loss Sunday were Prescott's mechanics. Last week, we discussed how Prescott's poor footwork prevented Dallas from creating explosive plays in the passing game in 2017. Those issues don't appear to be fixed.

Even more alarming was the tendency for Prescott to get lazy with his mechanics, forcing him to rely solely on his arm talent, which resulted in a few errant passes. Here's an example:

Here, the Cowboys are in a second-and-15 near midfield with 3:23 left in the fourth quarter and down 16-8 on the scoreboard. Dallas is in a shotgun formation with 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers).

After the ball is snapped, there is a breakdown in Carolina's coverage, as the cornerback across from Michael Gallup mistakenly plays zone coverage while the rest of the defense plays Cover 1 (man coverage across the board with a safety defending the deep middle). This allows Gallup to get wide open on the short crossing route.

Sure, Gallup drops the pass, but Prescott's ball placement was terrible. He placed the ball behind Gallup, forcing the rookie receiver to slow his momentum and make a 180-degree turn in order to attempt to catch the ball.

Lazy mechanics led to Prescott's poor ball placement, as he failed to step off his mid-line, which locks hips and eliminates his ability to transfer his weight effectively. This forces him to rely solely on his arm to aim the pass and generate velocity on the throw. Furthermore, Prescott's throwing motion leaves a lot to be desired, as he short arms a 3/4 release, which results in the ball being behind Gallup.

Typically, Prescott has a perfectly fine throwing motion, with his footwork at the crux of his issues. but failing in both areas led to the poor ball placement on this throw.

If Prescott used proper mechanics and placed the ball out in front of Gallup, allowing him to catch the ball in stride, the receiver likely doesn't get touched until he is in field-goal territory.

The Cowboys were instead bailed out by an illegal contact penalty. However, Dallas lost 13 yards on the next three plays and were forced to punt. Prescott's misfire almost assuredly cost the Cowboys points and a chance to tie.

Some quarterbacks possess the requisite arm talent to make up for some issues with their throwing mechanics, especially on short passes. Prescott is not one of those quarterbacks. He has to rely on proper throwing mechanics to make accurate throws no matter what the distance.

Prescott feeling the pressure

Prescott was under fire all game long against the Panthers. He was under pressure on 41 percent (10th highest) of his dropbacks in Week 1, per Pro Football Focus. On the 16 dropbacks where Prescott was pressured, he was sacked six times (37.5 percent of the time; third most).

The pressure greatly affected Prescott. He completed 25 percent of his passes when pressured (32nd among 35 eligible QBs), going two of eight (with one drop) for 17 yards (2.1 yards per attempt). When he wasn't pressured, Prescott completed 85 percent of his passes (eighth among 37 eligible QBs), going 17 of 21 for 153 yards (7.3 YPA), per PFF.

After Carolina started to apply more pressure Sunday, Prescott's internal clock was forced to speed up. That led him to bail from the pocket prematurely on occasion. The Cowboys need to do a better job keeping Prescott clean in the pocket so he can be effective.

Sunday was no aberration. Prescott struggled when under pressure in 2017 as well, finishing with an NFL passer rating of 68 (27th best in the NFL) and a completion percentage of 47.4 (34th) when under pressure, per PFF.

Prescott has shown a unique ability to scramble for yards when pressured, finishing in the top seven in scramble yards among QBs, but he struggles mightily when he's forced to win with his arm under pressure.

The Cowboys offensive line and coaching have to do a better job of keeping and scheming Prescott clean opportunities in the passing game. If they don't, Week 1 will be the first of many ineffective days for the Cowboys offense.

John Owning writes about NFL player evaluation for SportsDayDFW.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnOwning.