Dak Delivers
January 17, 2023 | Football, Joel Coleman
State’s former quarterback has historic NFL playoff performance.
TAMPA, Fla. – It's been said that big-time players make big time plays in big-time games.
Well, the games get no bigger than the ones in the NFL playoffs. And right there making history with his playmaking ability at quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night was Mississippi State's own, Dak Prescott.
Prescott put forth a historic performance as the Cowboys rolled past the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-14 to advance in the postseason. The final tally for Prescott? 329 yards. Five total touchdowns. A 143.3 passer rating. And most importantly, a Dallas victory that sends the Cowboys to San Francisco for next weekend's Divisional Round.
"I knew what this game meant," Prescott told reporters following Monday's triumph. "I knew how important this game was for us."
Prescott looked every bit like a man locked in as passed for 305 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 24 yards and a score. Numbers don't always tell the whole story, but on Monday night, they certainly did. Just take a look at Prescott's feats:
- Became only the fourth player in the Super Bowl era with four or more passing touchdowns and one or more rushing scores in a playoff game, joining Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan.
- Joined Manning as the only two players in NFL postseason history with four passing touchdowns, a rush TD and a 75 percent or better completion percentage in a game.
- Now the only player in NFL history with a rushing score and passing score in four straight postseason games.
- He's the sixth quarterback in NFL history to record a touchdown pass and rushing TD in four career playoff games overall.
- Prescott is the first ever Dallas Cowboy with five or more total touchdowns in a playoff game.
- Joined Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach as the only three Cowboys quarterbacks to ever throw for four touchdowns in a playoff game.
- Tallied his ninth Cowboys postseason touchdown pass, which stands as the fourth most in Cowboys franchise history.
- At one point, had a string of 11 straight completions which is now the most consecutive completions in Cowboys playoff history.
It was a special night for a special player, and everyone around recognized Prescott's greatness.
"I thought he was outstanding," Cowboys owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones said of Prescott. "Before the game, I was talking with [head coach Mike McCarthy] and we both agreed Dak was going to have to be the one that won it…When you get in a game like this, you've got to have really outstanding quarterback play and boy, he met the mark. He met the mark in every way. I told him right before the game when we were talking, I said, 'Don't you be anything but aggressive. No conservative. Be aggressive.' Not that that made any difference at all, but he was, and it made a difference out there. It lifted not only the plays he made, but it lifted the spirit of the team."
Said running back Ezekiel Elliot of Prescott: "He deserved this moment…For him to step up and do what he did with the lights bright, it means a lot."
For as great as Prescott was and for as much as his play was appreciated, it wasn't exactly surprising. It didn't catch the signal caller himself or his head coach off guard.
Prescott indicated as much when he was asked if he had a hunch he might be able to have a game like he ultimately put together.
"In a sense, yeah," Prescott said. "We prepared well. We knew obviously watching tape [we were] going to be able to create matchups [and] what we were going to be able to do."
And as for McCarthy…
"I anticipate Dak to play like this almost every week just because of how much he puts into it," McCarthy said. "It's just like anything in this game. It's the little things. You talk about who's the first guy to work [or] who's the last guy to work. Anytime you take a lap down to the workout area or training area at 7 or 8 o' clock at night, [Prescott's] still there. He puts the time in. He does all the extra stuff. He does all the things that are needed to be a highly successful quarterback in this league. So, yeah. I'm not surprised at all that he responded."
Prescott's Mississippi State family isn't shocked either. Prescott made himself a Bulldog legend, leading MSU to its first-ever No. 1 national ranking in 2014 and rewriting the State record book over the course of his career from 2011 through 2015. Wearing Maroon and White, big plays in big moments were commonplace for Prescott.
He's got a star on his helmet these days, but some things never change. And if Prescott can make a few more big plays over the next couple of weeks, he might get the chance to make big plays on the very biggest football stage that there is.