Dak Prescott 'Didn't Have to Win' Games for Cowboys, Per Doug Pederson

While it was a largely complementary statement, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson will likely face questions after saying Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott "didn't have to win the games" for his team in 2016.

Pederson made the statement when asked to discuss the Cowboys quarterback in an appearance on the Doomsday Podcast with Ed Werder and Matt Mosley.  

“He didn’t have to win the games for them,” Pederson said (via Andrew Porter of CBS Philly). “He knew that he had a good defense, a tremendous offensive line, a great runner. He had some veteran players that he could rely on and he learned that early, as soon as he had the opportunity to play and that was from day one.

That’s something that a young quarterback sometimes, take ... a while to figure out. ... The impressive thing is he learned to handle that business that well, utilize the people around him and understand that he didn’t have to go win the game.”

Prescott, 23, threw for 3,667 yards and 23 touchdowns against four interceptions as a rookie. He added 282 yards and six touchdowns on the ground while leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 regular season and NFC East championship. 

Dallas lost its first playoff game, a 34-31 thriller against the Green Bay Packers, in which Prescott threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns. Down 15 points going into the fourth quarter, Prescott engineered a pair of touchdown drives and a game-tying field goal march with 35 seconds remaining until the Packers won on a last-second field goal.

The Eagles finished last in the NFC East at 7-9 during Pederson and quarterback Carson Wentz's first season in Philadelphia. Pederson said the division is ripe with talent at the quarterback position at the moment. 

“You look at the NFC East over the last few years, the decades, Tony Romo has been in there for many years with Eli Manning,” said Pederson. “And now you’ve got kind of the young quarterbacks coming in, even in Washington with Kirk Cousins—is a relatively young quarterback. With Dallas and with Dak, and we’ve got Carson, and the Giants still have a great quarterback in Eli Manning. And really this is a division where all four teams have the guy they want.”

Odds are, given their performance in 2016, Prescott and Wentz will be battling for the title of best quarterback in the division for years to come. Especially with Cousins still not under contract past 2017.