Jerry Jones has backed quarterback Dak Prescott to lead the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl despite a dismal performance against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
The "Sunday Night Football" clash at Levi's Stadium was billed as a showdown between two teams that could play in the NFC Championship game in a few months' time, but the Cowboys were outgunned from the get-go. A bruising night for "America's team" ended with a 42-10 loss, with Niners QB Brock Purdy throwing four touchdowns.
Prescott, however, came up short, throwing a trio of interceptions on a night that delivered a brutal reality check to Dallas. He has been questioned in recent years after failing to lead his team beyond the divisional round of the playoffs, and some observers believe Sunday's performance illustrated again that he is not the man to end the team's three-decade wait to lift the Lombardi Trophy.
The team's owner, however, remains unwavering in his support of the 30-year-old signal-caller. “Dak Prescott is a quarterback that can get us to the Super Bowl and that’s the way that’s gonna be. Let me be very affirmative: I completely believe we have the quarterback that can take us where we want to go," Jones said in his weekly interview with 105.3 The Fan.
He continued: "We should recognise we had a very bad outing and San Francisco had a very good outing. We should recognise that and call it what it is and not mislead ourselves to sit here and say, 'We should completely change out the cards'. You couldn't if you wanted to, to reinvent your offense."
Joe Burrow backs Patrick Mahomes after Kansas City Chiefs reach Super BowlPrescott is 19th in the league with a quarterback rating of 87.5 through the opening weeks of the season, with the likes of Justin Fields and Joshua Dobbs ranking higher. The Cowboys are 3-2 with Prescott under center this season, with defeats against the Niners and the lowly Arizona Cardinals.
Prescott has the support of Jones, but former Pro Bowl defensive back Donte Whitner believes the eight-year veteran is holding Dallas back in the pursuit of glory.
"[The Cowboys] talk so much about Dak Prescott being a top-tier quarterback, franchise guy, I don't see it," Whitner told NBC Sports Bay Area after Sunday's blowout.
"I see them trying to cover up for what he lacks. A lot of quick throws, cutting half of the field off and giving him easy throws.
"Other than that he's not a quarterback that can drop back and really take advantage of a defense and carve it up and today we've seen it. The 49ers defense made him look like a tier-four quarterback."