Week 5 Rewind: Dak Prescott’s injury happened at the worst possible time

Week 5 was a chaotic week in the NFL. From the schedule being tinkered with to account for COVID-19 cases to Alex Smith making his return two years after a gruesome leg injury, Week 5 was a transformative week during an unforgettable season.

Two teams saw their futures change right before their eyes this week — one via a voluntary management decision and the other coming during an unfortunate injury against a divisional rival.

This week’s rewind can only start in one place.

1) Thoughts and prayers out to Dak Prescott

Man, that was just brutal.

Everyone knows the scope of Dak Prescott’s horrific injury that he suffered against the Giants. His ankle is broken, his season is over, his financial future may have taken a hit and the NFL lost one of it’s ascending quarterback talents.

Prescott was finally establishing himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the league and the clear engine of Dallas' offense. Every week, it seemed like Prescott was taking steps forward in his game. He’s developed into a quarterback you win behind because he’s the QB, not one that’s just carried by a supreme supporting cast. Dallas has flirted with playoff status in every year of his career, even as the supporting cast has changed around him. Prescott has been the constant for a Dallas offense that transformed itself over the past few seasons. Prescott has only posted one season below seven yards per attempt, which came in 2017 when Dez Bryant was on his last leg as a Cowboy. Prescott still made enough plays that season to finish fourth in ESPN’s Quarterback Rating and led Dallas to a 9-7 record.

It feels gross to talk about financials after such a raw, heartbreaking moment like this, but Prescott’s contract situation is a massive reason why this story is so captivating and melancholic at the same time. Anyone that says they’ll know what’s going to happen to Prescott after his $31.4M franchise tag expires at the end of the season is lying. Had Prescott been able to continue on his path as one of the most productive quarterbacks in the league, and the only reason Dallas ever had a chance to win a game this season, he would have had a bulletproof case to be one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league.

Now, his entire future is in doubt.

Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones voiced words of support for Prescott on Monday afternoon. “He’s our future,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan. “If anyone can overcome anything it’s Dak. This is something that our doctors feel good that he’ll overcome and come back better than ever.”

Hopefully that’s true because Prescott has genuinely grown into a quarterback with long term staying power. He immediately outplayed expectations as a compensatory fourth round draft pick and never shied away from the spotlight that came with being the face of the Dallas Cowboys.

This is a tough break for an athlete that has bet on himself and played well enough to justify those decisions. It’s a tough break for Cowboys fans that wanted to see how he would grow with their talented trio of wide receivers, and for a league that needs young quarterbacks to ascend as the established class of veteran starters retire over the next few years.

It just sucks.

On the bright side for Cowboys fans, the NFC East is such a disgrace this year that Dallas absolutely has a chance to win the division with Andy Dalton. Their offensive ceiling isn’t as high, but they should still have enough pieces to scrape by the Giants, Eagles and Washington Football Team.

Unfortunately, Prescott’s injury dampers any hopes of a long Cowboys playoff run. Dalton just isn’t the same caliber of playmaker as Prescott, which will make winning in the postseason a struggle — Dalton hasn’t cleared eight yards per attempt since 2015 and has only hit that mark once in his career. Prescott has done that in three straight seasons.

Here’s to Prescott coming back stronger in 2021. The game needs him.

2) New Orleans has a quarterback problem — and maybe a solution

Just because the Saints beat the Chargers on Monday Night Football doesn’t mean we have to ignore the obvious: Drew Brees is washed.

His numbers after their win over the Chargers were fine: 325 yards, 6.9 yards per attempt, a touchdown and an interception. However, watching Brees play football now is a much different experience than it has been over the past decade.

Football just looks hard for Brees these days. He’s actively capping the explosive potential of this offense. Brees is averaging just 5.6 air yards per pass, which is dead last in the NFL, according to The Athletic.

Brees doesn’t even believe in his own ability to throw the ball deep anymore. Even when his offensive line gives him time to find targets downfield, he still opts for shorter passes that don’t give his receivers a lot of room for yards after the catch. The first half of his game against the Chargers was filled with plays like that.

Getting superstar wide receiver Michael Thomas back in the lineup will certainly help, but Brees still has to do his part when it comes to opening up the Saints offense. Considering the Saints are projected to be a whopping $78 million over the cap next year according to Over The Cap, this might be the last chance that this core has a chance to make a playoff run.

Now, I’m not predicting the Saints will bench Brees if their offense continues to sputter, but they do have a stick of dynamite sitting on their bench.

No, not Taysom Hill. I can’t endorse Hill usage in good faith.

Jameis Winston. Winston is the ultimate high variance quarterback that’s a big play machine, both for the offense and the defense. Winston famously threw for 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions, sealing his magical 30 interception season on a pick six in overtime to lose against the Atlanta Falcons.

Is starting Winston guaranteed to jump start the Saints offense? Absolutely not. Winston is the furthest thing from a guarantee, that’s basically the entire reason that he’s a backup.

However, he would give the Saints a chance to revive their deep game. At the very least, Winston will throw the ball down the field. Last season, Winston averaged an absurd 10.6 air yards per attempt, which undoubtedly led to some of his interception issues.

Maybe Winston’s reckless style of play can pump just enough life into the Saints offense to make them a big play threat again. They would definitely have to live with some goofy looking interceptions and turnovers in this scenario, but the ability to throw deep is something this offense is sorely lacking.

At the very least, trotting Winston out there would be more fun than watching Hill masquerade as a quarterback a handful of times a game.

3) What’s next for the Falcons?

A breath of fresh air.

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank did what he should have done 10 months ago this week when he fired head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff. Quinn and Dimitroff had some success together, including allowing thousands of people to rid themselves of wretched Falcons fandom, but it’s just time for new faces in Atlanta.

Whoever takes over this Falcons roster is in for one hell of an offseason. This team is bad. Really, really bad.

The defense, as usual, is arguably the worst in the league, allowing a league-worst 8.9 adjusted net yards per pass attempt. They’re 30th in yards per play (6.5), 29th in points per drive (2.93) and 29th in yards per drive (39.8).

Every week, Atlanta’s defense does something that sets football back a decade. This past week, they allowed Panthers wide receiver D.J. Moore to take a two-yard whip route 57 yards for a touchdown.

This defense stinks. They need to revamp their secondary, add linebacker depth and find edge rushers who can actually sack the quarterback. That’s going to be difficult considering Atlanta is currently projected to be $24.9 million over the cap for the 2021 offseason.

The Falcons are kind of at a crossroads. There’s a strong argument to be made that the Falcons should blow up their roster, trade key players to contenders for premium draft picks and identify the young core talent to keep for the next regime. This team is 0-5 and the offense is almost as discombobulated as the defense. It’s hard to foresee a scenario where this team gets hot like they did at the end of last season when they finished with a 6-2 record after starting off 1-7.

Matt Ryan isn’t playing particularly well this season, ranking 25th in expected points added per play (0.096) and 20th in yards per attempt (7.2). That makes for an interesting discussion if the Falcons continue their march towards futility and end up with a pick at the top of the 2021 NFL Draft.

If the Falcons are in a position to draft Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields or North Dakota State’s Trey Lance to take over once it’s financially feasible to move on from Ryan, that’s a hard proposition to turn down. Atlanta would be setting themselves up for a great chance at continued high level quarterback play after Ryan moves on.

However, Ryan’s contract is unrealistic to move until 2022 and even then, the Falcons would be stuck with a dead cap charge of $17.9 million if they were able to find a trade partner post June 1. Any quarterback selected at the top of the draft would have to sit on the bench for a few seasons.

Moving Julio Jones is equally as costly. The fact that Ryan and Jones are essentially entrenched on the Falcons roster for the next two seasons may cause a new regime to just maximize their remaining years in Atlanta and then hit the reset button once it becomes untenable.

The Falcons are bad enough to land a premium draft pick. What their new general manager and head coach decide to do with it will influence the generation of this franchise.

4) Should the Ravens be concerned

The Baltimore Ravens once again got off to a fast start this season, but they don’t feel as inevitable as they did a season ago. This Ravens team is 4-1, largely due to the strength of their defense.

Outside of a dominant Week 1 performance against the Cleveland Browns, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense have hardly looked like the unit that cut through defenses with ease last season. Baltimore ranks 13th in expected points added per play (0.095), falling far from their No. 1 ranking in 2019 (0.177 expected points added per play).

Part of this was to be expected. It would’ve been unreasonable to expect Jackson and the Ravens offense to average over three points per drive again with ruthless efficiency through the ground and air. Regression was going to happen, but the Ravens offense has been a disappointment through five games.

Jackson ranked just 24th in yards per attempt (7.0) and has two games this season under five yards per attempt. Jackson failed to throw for 200 yards in three straight games, but the Ravens were able to go 2-1 despite an inconsistent passing game.

Something isn’t clicking for the Ravens passing game. The running game is still one of the best in the league, but their passing efficiency has plenty of room to improve.

Jackson has taken far more sacks this season than he did last year.

Jackson was sacked on just 5.4% of his dropbacks in 2019. That number jumped to 8.2% this season. Only nine quarterbacks have a higher sack rate than Jackson right now.

Baltimore definitely misses future Hall of Fame offensive guard Marshal Yanda, who retired this offseason, but Jackson can also help his offensive line out by getting rid of the ball a bit quicker and not playing like a superhero.

Still, there isn’t reason yet for Baltimore to hit the panic button. Jackson was a unanimous MVP for a reason and we’ve seen him play at that level this season, even if it was only one time. This is still a young offense that’s featuring a ton of players still on their rookie contracts.

Luckily, Baltimore’s defense has been absolutely stellar while the offense works through their struggles. The Ravens are currently ranked third in opposing expected points per play (-0.092) and are one of only seven defenses forcing negative expected points per play. The secondary has been lights out and rookie Patrick Queen has helped the Ravens rediscover themselves as a dominant run defense.

There are worse problems to have than leaning on an elite defense while a former MVP gets into a groove. The AFC North will be tough with the Browns and Steelers playing well up to this point, but Baltimore has the personnel to win the division again.

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