[brid autoplay=”true” video=”858053″ player=”23231″ title=”10%20bold%20predictions%20for%202021%20NFL%20season” duration=”223″ description=”The 2021 NFL season is slated to get started Thursday when Tom Brady and the reigning champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Dallas Cowboys. Both teams hope to be in the championship conversation in 2021. For Dallas, that will have to include Dak Prescott remaining healthy.Another season that will certainly be defined somewhat by the pandemic also includes a number of young players set to make their marks. This includes second-year quarterback Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow attempting to take that next step. These are among the individuals and teams we look at in giving you our 10 bold predictions for the 2021 NFL season.” uploaddate=”2021-09-06″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/thumb/858053_t_1630956328.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/sd/858053.mp4″]
Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Dak Prescott will take to the field Thursday evening against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the first time since Oct. 11 of 2020.
Prescott suffered a devastating ankle injury that day and was lost for the remainder of the campaign. After dealing with a shoulder injury earlier this summer, the recently-extended signal caller is 100% and ready to go.
In talking about his return to the field against the defending Super Bowl champions, Prescott is setting high expectations for himself. He’s also not too worried about the numbers that defined his 2020 performance before that aforementioned injury.
“Obviously, I have high expectations for myself. I plan to come out starting fast. I’ve said before, I don’t necessarily want the numbers that I had that early because we weren’t winning games and we weren’t being competitive early, and that’s why some of those numbers came about,” Prescott said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “I plan to come out better than I was last year, to be honest. That’s just the work that I’ve put in going all the way back to February when I got back on the field. I’m excited for it.”
Talk about understanding the situation at hand. Dak Prescott was on pace for nearly 6,000 passing yards before he went down to injury last season. Said number would have shattered Peyton Manning’s single-season mark of 5,477 yards.
Click here for our Buccaneers vs Cowboys NFL Week 1 preview
However, that did not come with team-wide success. Dallas boasted a 2-3 record in Prescott five starts. Despite the team averaging north of 30 points per game, it just couldn’t stop opposing offenses during that span. Hence, why Prescott is talking about how his individual numbers don’t matter.
Will Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys improve in 2021?
There’s certainly things Dallas’ offense can do better than last season. Converting on third down and having more success in the red zone are two primary examples. With Prescott in the mix, a natural improvement should be in the cards.
It’s also important to note that the Boys have an elite skill-position group, including wide receivers Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup. If Dallas’ offensive line can stay healthy, this unit will score a lot of points.
However, team-wide success will be predicated on how the Cowboys’ defense performs under respected new coordinator Dan Quinn. Here’s a unit that gave up a whopping 29.6 points per game in 2020. That’s just not going to cut it.
So, Dak Prescott is correct in indicating he doesn’t want to put up the eye-opening numbers we saw in Big D through the first five games of the 2020 campaign. This would mean a lack of improvement on the part of the defense and more struggles to remain relevant as a team.
Click here for our Dallas Cowboys 2021 preview with predictions