The Dallas Cowboys laid a huge egg Sunday that looks almost like the annual Dak Prescott MVP debate has ended.
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Don't get me wrong, Dak is good. He's not the MVP of the league and -- hot take coming, though it shouldn't -- he's certainly not going to be. Prescott has been a favorite MVP since 2016, when he was named Offensive Rookie-of-the Year. This year, the Cowboys went 13-3 and lost in the divisional round.
Media and Oddsmakers alike have been clamouring to name him the next MVP despite the fact that he has yet to win a single MVP vote and that the team has not reached the 2016 highs in four years.
After the Cowboys' win over the Patriots in overtime three weeks ago, FoxSports1's Speak For Yourself featured Marcellus Wiley discussing whether Dak had "cement his MVP status".
Are you Cemented? Let me check my calendar real quick. It was Week 6.
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"He has cemented his MVP status. He has cemented his MVP status. This show is all about facts and not feelings. This is not an emotional statement. Acho said, "I'm saying these facts-based."
It was true, but I didn't know it. I feel foolish now. My embarrassment is evident in my reddened face. What has he done over the past three weeks? This isn't the type of take that takes no time to make hilariously terrible.
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They had a bye in Week 7. Prescott was not available for Week 8's Cowboys game against the Vikings. They won 20-16 with Cooper Rush as their quarterback. In Week 9, Dak returned from the Broncos' game at home and they were down 30-0. Prescott's garbage-time passing yards made him the envy of the league. The game ended at 30-16.
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Prescott was 19-for-39 and at one time, 8-for-24. This is not a great performance for MVP. This, combined with the fact that he missed a single game (something no MVP has done except for the last one because they had the top seed in the playoffs) seems to have quietened the MVP talk.
They haven't stopped talking, which is quite amazing. He's still tied for sixth at +1100 in MVP odds, just behind Lamar Jackson, who, I hate to say it, is better at everything. Jackson was even awarded MVP.
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All this is to encourage you to ask a question. Imagine Dak Prescott's career numbers were identical to his current -- equal winning percentage and equal passing yards -- but he was playing in Minnesota. Or Cincinnati. Or any other mid-sized team that you can think. If Dak wasn't playing for Cowboys, would all the talk about him "cementing his MVP title"? I doubt it.
The Dak MVP debate is just one part of a larger, strange obsession that national media has about the Cowboys. They're "America’s Team" because they were really great during a time I don't recall because I was not born yet.
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It's also possible to talk about the fact that no one knows what the MVP award means. It's not only for football but also basketball it's more of an award for the "best season." It's almost a "which quarterback hasn’t won this award yet?" award in the NFL. Everyone wants it to be Dak.
Can we just talk about Dak, the Cowboys and the Cowboys enough? This year, the Cowboys will still be 6-2 and will coast to a playoff spot atop the horrible NFC East. Next year, however, when they return to the 9-7 record or 8-8 record that has been the Cowboys' hallmark, we can treat them as any other average NFL team.
