Jerry Jones pushes back on Dak Prescott criticism, saying Cowboys QB is more than a 'bus driver'

Jarrett Bell | USA TODAY

Maybe you, too, saw this as a make-or-break type of season for Dak Prescott.

Think again.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn’t flinch in declaring that regardless of how this season turns out or what mediocre statistics suggest, Prescott’s status as his franchise quarterback is no type of jeopardy.

“He’s long-term,” Jones told USA TODAY Sports while in New York this week for NFL owners meetings. “Anything we need to see and need to know, I see with him.”

This seems a bit presumptuous in the competitive climate of the NFL and with Dallas (3-3) heading into an NFC East showdown at Washington with the league’s 29th-ranked air attack. In a league that has hit all-time high markers through six weeks for several major offensive categories, including TD passes (328), Prescott has thrown for just seven scores and passed for 200 yards just twice.

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Jones has essentially concluded that Prescott – coming off his best game of the season in a 40-7 rout of the Jaguars in Week 6 – isn’t the big problem. The biggest issue is that Dallas hasn’t done enough to support its young quarterback.

Of course, the day will come, perhaps next offseason, when Jones can add substance to his long-term commitment by signing Prescott to a contract extension. Prescott is in the third year of a rookie deal that expires after the 2019 season, and NFL teams typically don’t let quarterbacks they intend to keep play out the final year of a contract. At this point, Jones hardly seems worried about giving up any leverage in contract negotiations by stating that his starting passer's job is secure.

“We know the problem with saying that about any player, but I don’t mind saying it,” said Jones. “I said it about (Troy) Aikman. I said it about Tony (Romo). When you get one of those top ones, you can basically be that definitive.”

Is Prescott, who entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick, really a top quarterback? The numbers certainly don’t indicate that, while the debate on him escalates given his standing for the most visible team in the NFL.

Although he demonstrated his impact as a multiple-threat dimension in an impressive outing against the Jaguars – passing for 183 yards and two touchdowns as well as running for 82 yards and another score – Prescott typically plays a supporting role in an Ezekiel Elliott-centric offense. Of quarterbacks who have started every game this season, Prescott has produced the fewest passing yards (1,144) while ranking 31st for yards per attempt (6.69) and 26th for completion rate (62 percent) and passer rating (85.5).

Not exactly cream-of-the-crop stuff. Sure, there are extenuating circumstances. With Jason Witten retired to ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth and Dez Bryant tweeting on game days after getting released in April, the Cowboys haven’t come close to finding reliable targets in the passing game. Meanwhile, an offensive line that has lost center Travis Frederick indefinitely due to Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease, hasn’t dominated like it used to. And the creativity of the coaching staff, headed by Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, has been under fire, too.

While Elliott ranks second in the NFL in rushing (after the Rams’ Todd Gurley), it’s obvious that the conditions haven’t been optimal for Prescott. But he’s fueled some of outsiders' concerns, too, with inconsistent accuracy. Jones insists the adversity has not reduced his confidence in the man under center.

“As a matter of fact, increased it,” Jones said. “Because these are the kind of times you look for. You don’t want to have ‘em, just to see if he passes a test or not. But how he comes back and plays is an indicator.”

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Jones said Garrett, whose long-term status is the subject of another type of debate, pointed to a defining moment Sunday that illustrated the resiliency in Prescott he’s come to appreciate. In the first quarter, Prescott threw a rope to connect with rookie wideout Michael Gallup for an apparent 17-yard touchdown. But the score was wiped out after a replay confirmed that Gallup didn’t tap both feet in the end zone. On the following snap, Prescott raced around left end for a score.

“That was showing, ‘I’m not going to let it mess with me,’ “ Jones said.

There are few, if any, figures in the NFL who can sell an idea as well as the Cowboys’ flamboyant owner. This surely applies with his defense of Prescott, whom he’s compared recently to Cam Newton and Jared Goff, but is more widely characterized as a “bus driver” as he keeps the turnovers and, well, 300-yard games at a minimum.

“He’s not a ‘bus driver,’ “ Jones said. “He’s a weapon. And as mobility diminishes (on a given play), then you’ll pick up where he is with that great decision-making, with the mind he’s got.”

Yeah, but the accuracy on his throws tends to run hot and cold.

“I take offense with any serious, projected criticism about his accuracy,” Jones said. “He can get the ball within the circumference of where receivers can catch it. They need to help.”

It works both ways, which is how Prescott can prove his value. Never mind the stats. With the Cowboys still in position to make a run at claiming the crown in an NFC East race that is very much up for grabs, winning ugly can count just as much.

Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.