Dallas Cowboys studs and duds Week 17: Dak Prescott struggles mightily in loss

Dallas Cowboys Dud: Dak Prescott, QB

Before the game, Dak Prescott had spoken up that he was tired of discussing the team being in a slump on offense — and while they dropped 56 on Washington last week, their play against the Cardinals did nothing but highlight their issues.

The biggest problem for them on Sunday was their star player as Dak Prescott was simply off. Despite the Cardinals being short-handed on defense, Prescott was unable to take advantage as he missed open receivers, had a handful of passes batted down, and failed to deliver on one third-down pass after another.

He then had a costly fumble that allowed Arizona to make it a two-score game, eventually ending their chances of a comeback.

Dallas Cowboys Stud: Randy Gregory, EDGE

He did have a costly penalty on a third-down play but for most of the night, Randy Gregory was causing problems for the Arizona Cardinals offensive line — as well as quarterback Kyler Murray. Gregory made a couple of plays against the run in the backfield and even chased the speedy Murray down on the sidelines during a first-half play.

He then set the Cowboys up with their best field position of the game late in the third quarter when he blew past his defender and hit Murray in the backfield. While he didn’t get the sack, it did lead to Dorance Armstrong recording one and the Cowboys then got the ball on the Arizona 31 after CeeDee Lamb ran the punt back 17 yards.

That gave the Cowboys a spark and they made it a game but in the end, they were in too big of a hole to pull out the win.