At some point this preseason there was a concern that Dak Prescott didn't appear high enough in the quarterback rankings. Looking at the Week 1 matchups, I think Dak will be ranked pretty favorably this week.
Dallas plays at the Giants, and that's an opponent whose number Dak has really had over the years. He's won his last 14 games against them, home or away, and put up big numbers in most of those.
(Note: I'm removing last year's Week 18 game, where Dallas lifted its starters, including Dak after just 11 pass attempts. That goes in the books as a loss for Prescott, but shouldn't, and it's certainly fair to remove his stats from that one.)
In his previous 14 games, he threw at least 3 touchdowns six times, and passed for over 300 yards six times. His last meaningful game, in Week 2 a year ago, he passed for 361 and 2 TDs in a 40-37 overtime win. Table shows his games against them the last nine years (he missed a few of the meetings due to injury).
| DAK VERSUS NYG, LAST NINE YEARS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Site | Score | Pass | TD | Int |
| 2017 | H | W, 19-3 | 268 | 1 | 0 |
| 2017 | A | W, 30-10 | 332 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | H | W, 20-13 | 160 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | A | W, 36-35 | 387 | 4 | 0 |
| 2019 | H | W, 35-17 | 405 | 4 | 0 |
| 2019 | A | W, 37-18 | 257 | 3 | 1 |
| 2020 | H | W, 37-34 | 166 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | H | W, 44-20 | 302 | 3 | 1 |
| 2021 | A | W, 21-6 | 217 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | H | W, 28-20 | 261 | 2 | 2 |
| 2023 | A | W, 40-0 | 143 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | H | W, 49-17 | 404 | 4 | 1 |
| 2024 | A | W, 20-15 | 221 | 2 | 0 |
| 20225 | H | W, 40-37 (OT) | 361 | 2 | 1 |
| Average | 277 | 2.1 | 0.5 | ||
Dak won't be projected for 277 yards and 2.1 TD passes this week. It's a new year, new coaching staff for the Giants. But Dak still looks pretty good, and he'll be ranked higher than usual. Whether you selected him as a starter or a backup, good week to consider Prescott.
--Andy Richardson
