CLEVELAND – Another week, another matchup with a rookie quarterback drafted ahead of Dak Prescott.
Last Sunday was Philadelphia's Carson Wentz. This Sunday was Cleveland's Cody Kessler.
If you think that fun fact was the driving factor in Prescott's three-touchdown performance in a convincing 35-10 victory over the Browns, think again.
More so, it was driving throws off his back foot – restoring the normally-sound fundamentals Prescott noticed had slipped seven days ago in the Cowboys' overtime win over the Eagles.
"I felt myself a couple of times on my back foot," he said, "so that's something I'll go back and check on film to see if I made progress. Certainly, right after the game, I feel like I did.
"Those guys around me just made plays all day long. The offensive line protected. The receivers and running backs did what they always do."
Prescott finished with a season- and career-best 141.8 passer rating. He completed 21 of 27 attempts for 247 yards and added 20 rushing yards. His three touchdown passes matched his largest single-game total, too.
"I thought he was really efficient," Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said. "Obviously, we ran the ball very well and got a lot of stuff off of the run, but there were a lot of plays to be made out there in the passing game, and he made them time and time again."
Kessler, the Browns' third-round pick, completed 19 of 27 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown for a 104.4 rating.
Two rookie-vs.-rookie storylines. Two victories.
Filling in for an injured Tony Romo, Prescott has led the Cowboys to a 7-1 start - the best record to start a career by a Cowboys rookie quarterback.
He joined Johnny Lujack (1948 Chicago Bears) as the second rookie to start a career winning seven of his first eight starts. He's the third rookie quarterback with a seven-game winning streak since the 1970 NFL merger, joining Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh, 2004) and Kyle Orton (Chicago, 2005).
Pretty good company.
But Prescott insists he has never measured his skills against any other quarterback, including his peers in the 2016 draft.
"They're not the ones trying to stop me," he said, "so I'm not really worried about them. I know my defense is going to make it hard on them. I'm just excited for every opportunity I get to go play this game."
