As Dak Prescott goes, so go the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys. Or maybe it’s as the Dallas Cowboys go, so goes Dak Prescott. Both need to bounce back from disastrous 2024 seasons, and to do so they need to solve a few core issues on the team.
It’s important to point out that before falling to a season ending injury last year, Prescott was having a certifiably poor season. His 45.3 QBR marked a career low. He had the second-highest interception rate of his career, and his air yards per completion of 5.6 tied a career low. After rating No. 4 overall in EPA+CPOE composite score between 2021-2023, Prescott fell to 25th in 2024. Prescott was suddenly on pace for the first losing season of his career (where he played at least half the games) and it’s not hard to see why.
Overall, the issues that plagued the Cowboys in 2024 have been addressed in some form or fashion. All of those detailed above will have to show improvement in some way or Prescott could, once again, be in store for another poor season in 2025. But if things rebound around him, there’s no reason to think Prescott can’t rebound as well and move back up into top five status as a passing game producer.
Prescott didn’t suddenly get bad at quarterback so it’s necessary to identify what prevented him, and the Cowboys, from success in 2024. With any luck, the Cowboys have addressed such issues and set the team back on the path to success in 2025.
Cowboys’ pass protection problems
The Cowboys offensive line was abysmal in pass protection last season. Dallas’ two starting tackles, Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele, combined to be arguably the worst pass protecting starting tackles in the league, and the various late-season replacements did little to improve that situation. Prescott was regularly running for his life on obvious passing downs and the Cowboys offense looked stuck in the mud most of the year.
Of those with at least 300 dropbacks in 2024, Prescott’s time to throw (TTT) ranked ninth worst in the NFL (out of 43). Cooper Rush finished the season with an even worse TTT, finishing second worst in the league, and validating it wasn’t just a Prescott issue, but rather a team issue. It turns out time in the pocket is pretty important for passing offenses. The constant pressure gave Prescott happy feet, pushing him from the pocket and rushing him to make uncharacteristic decisions.
It should be no surprise the QBs with the most TTT, Lamar Jackson, Caleb Williams, Jalen Hurts, Jayden Daniels and Josh Allen, posted impressive statistical seasons. It turns out time in the pocket is pretty important for a QB. Go figure.
The Cowboys took a big step to improve the situation by bringing in Klayton Adams from Arizona. Adams is an O-line guru who can scheme success in both phases of the game. Together with the first-round addition of guard Tyler Booker, the Cowboys hope to improve an offensive line PFF ranked just 25th.
Cowboys’ woeful rushing attack
There wasn’t much complementary football in Dallas last season. The Cowboys ground game was poor most of the year, often digging the Cowboys into a hole on early downs and asking the ineffective passing attack to bail them out.
Overall, the rushing attack ranked 26th in EPA and 14th in success rate last season. It was a driving force behind some of the Cowboys’ top coaching hires in 2025 and a major reason both of the top two rushers were effectively replaced over the offseason.
Like the pass protection issue, time will tell if Dallas did enough. They didn’t invest much in the running back room, signing a replacement level player in Javonte Williams and drafting a fifth-round wild card in Jaydon Blue.
CeeDee Lamb or bust
The Cowboys simply ran out of weapons on offense. Brandin Cooks never quite gelled on the team and Jake Ferguson had an embarrassingly poor season following his Pro Bowl year in 2023. It was Lamb or bust in Dallas and oftentimes that meant bust.
The Cowboys took steps to address this in 2025, most notably adding George Pickens to play alongside Lamb at receiver. Those two star WRs form one of the NFL’s best duos and allow other playmakers like Jalen Tolbert and KaVontae Turpin to play more complementary roles.
That bad, bad defense
What does a defense have to do with Prescott’s success? A lot more than some people want to admit. With so much pressure to score every drive, Prescott and the offense are suspectable to forced errors. As a whole, the Cowboys ranked 28th in defensive EPA last season but their rushing defense was navigating in historically poor territory, ranking 31st overall. Injuries, personnel, discipline and scheme all doomed the defense.
The Cowboys didn’t do much to address their biggest need, a run-stopping defensive tackle, but they worked to address most other areas of concern. It stands to reason they think the issue at DT isn’t as severe as those outside the organization seem to think it is.
There are still a number of injuries at cornerback and linebacker that should be cause for concern in 2025, but Band-Aids have been added and a path for recovery has been mapped. The Cowboys just have to survive the journey.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: 4 must-fix things for Cowboys, Dak Prescott to have successful 2025 season
Reporting by Reid D Hanson, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
