Dak Prescott Throws for 444 Yards, 3 TD as Cowboys Top Lions 35-27

If Dak Prescott keeps playing like this, the Dallas Cowboys will have to write him a blank check in the spring. 

Prescott had his third 400-yard game of the season as Michael Gallup and Randall Cobb picked up the slack for a quiet Amari Cooper, leading the Cowboys to a 35-27 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.  

The Cowboys can take sole possession of the NFC East lead if the Philadelphia Eagles lose to the New England Patriots later in the afternoon. They currently have the head-to-head tiebreaker and are 4-0 in divisional games; Sunday's victory improved their mark to 2-4 outside the NFC East.

The Lions dropped their third straight game and sixth in their last seven. Matthew Stafford sat out for the second consecutive game, marking the first time since 2010 he's missed multiple starts.   

Notable Stats

Cowboys

QB Dak Prescott: 29-of-46, 444 YDS, 3 TD (6 CAR, 18 YDS)

RB Ezekiel Elliott: 16 CAR, 45 YDS, 1 TD (2 REC, 28 YDS, 1 TD)

WR Michael Gallup: 9 REC, 148 YDS

WR Randall Cobb: 4 REC, 115 YDS, 1 TD

WR Amari Cooper: 3 REC, 38 YDS

Lions

QB Jeff Driskel: 15-of-26, 209 YDS, 2 TD (8 CAR, 51 YDS, 1 TD)

RB Bo Scarbrough: 14 CAR, 55 YDS, 1 TD

WR Marvin Jones Jr.: 4 REC, 43 YDS, 2 TD 

Just Pay Dak Already

The Cowboys aren't going to do better than Prescott at quarterback. There's a reasonable chance that when Prescott retires, people will say the franchise has never done better at the position. 

Still just 26 years old, Prescott is in the midst of by far his finest NFL season as a passer. He looks fully comfortable taking shots down the field after trending more conservative in his first three seasons, a credit to offensive coordinator Kellen Moore turning him loose.

The result has been a slight uptick in interceptions but also a vastly more explosive passing game, with Prescott emerging as just a valuable threat to defenses as Ezekiel Elliott. With Cooper on lockdown status for most of the game, Prescott took what was in front of him and the result was four different Cowboys pass-catchers finishing with 10-plus fantasy points.

Michael Gallup is now on pace for a 1,000-yard receiving season of his own, and Randall Cobb's had a resurgent couple of weeks after a quiet first half of 2019.

There is no point in dragging this out. Prescott is a good-to-great quarterback, and the market is only going to rise once Patrick Mahomes signs what will almost certainly be a record-setting contract. Do the Cowboys really want to play the franchise tag game once Mahomes inks the NFL's first $200 million contract?

The Lions are the NFL's Worst Exciting Team

The Lions have played 10 games this season. Nine of them have been decided by one score. The lone exception was a 42-30 barnburner against the Minnesota Vikings, which was within one score until Dalvin Cook rushed for a touchdown with under two minutes remaining.

Detroit is reliably in every football game and reliably finds ways to blow things every time out. It began in Week 1 when the Lions allowed the Arizona Cardinals to storm back from down 18 points in the fourth quarter to eventually force a tie. Their late woes were on display Sunday when they drove all the way to the Dallas 32-yard line with three minutes remaining only to find themselves in a 4th-and-31 situation three plays later.

It's a credit to coach Matt Patricia that the Lions continue to stay in games despite the absence of Stafford and Kerryon Johnson. However, it's equally befuddling that his team manages to fall apart time and again with the game on the line.

Side note: Shoutout to Marvin Jones Jr., who has broken out to become a reliable every-week fantasy option. He has seven touchdowns in the Lions' last five games and has cracked double digits in PPR formats six times in 10 games. 

What's Next?

The Cowboys travel to play the New England Patriots in Foxborough. The Lions travel to Washington next Sunday.