In one respect, Sunday night’s primetime NFL game will be the quarterback battle I-can’t-believe-how-much-they-paid-him vs I-can’t-believe-how-much-they’re-gonna-pay-him.
This is Dak Prescott vs. Brock Purdy in 2024, the Week 8 matchup that we all thought would be about defining NFC supremacy at midseason. Instead, this match has descended into a crossroads of desperation and pressure.
The focal point of creeping calamity: which quarterback can save their team’s season and what that says about their money. The Dallas Cowboys desperately need Prescott to justify his spot as the highest-paid player in the NFL, and the San Francisco 49ers desperately need Purdy to prove he’s worthy of being in that same financial stratosphere.
We can say this isn’t a game about quarterback money, but when it’s over, take a walk through the fanbase of the quarterback who loses this game. That’s the prism through which Prescott and Purdy have focused their losses this season: the “is he worth it” distortion field. Despite mounting failure, is Prescott worth the $60 million per season the Cowboys are paying him, and is Purdy worth the $60 million per season the 49ers are expected to offer him.
Of course, that’s a debate that will require a broader look at their careers, along with mountains of data and a seminar on how the league’s warped quarterback market currently functions. It’s an argument that will be revisited weekly, monthly, seasonally – all the way until retirement. But for now, in this time frame, it comes down to a simple calculation: what everyone can do to help their teams, which are in various kinds of disarray, recover.
This is what happens when you’re Prescott and Purdy, midseason is approaching and everything around you is turning upside down or falling apart. One quarterback in Dallas, who was coming off a 3-3 season that recently included a 47-9 home loss to the Detroit Lions. San Francisco’s other quarterback was coming off another frustrating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, with three costly interceptions helping cement the loss and a 3-4 record.
Both losses have exposed some surprisingly visible organizational frays. First with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones casually threatening to have a pair of radio hosts fired – live on air – who work for the team’s flagship station and pressuring Jones on his overall management decisions. A few days after that, in the locker room after the 49ers’ loss to the Chiefs, reporters witnessed head coach Kyle Shanahan deliver a demonstrative tirade to Purdy’s face, in the locker room and in full view of the media and Purdy’s teammates. To be fair, neither event was a first for Jones and Shanahan. Both have had their moments with the media or their players. But it’s compelling that these things are happening on the doorstep of the Cowboys and the 49ers facing off, both desperately needing a win to quell some discontent.
Which brings us back to Prescott and Purdy – neither of whom are playing at their ideal level – and the task they both have in front of them.
For Prescott, there are a lot of issues surrounding him. The Cowboys’ plan has been wildly uneven, with the worst running game in the league and a complete inability to stick to a scoring scheme that can involve both passing and rushing aspects. CeeDee Lamb is clearly Prescott’s favorite player, but their timing and chemistry have been a bit of a rollercoaster all season, especially in critical moments when a play connection from both is needed. Besides Lamb, Prescott also hasn’t found consistency or rhythm with other pass catchers. His accuracy is significantly lower than last season, while his interception percentage is significantly higher. And it all comes on the heels of a massive contract extension that sets the expectation that Prescott will be in the class of quarterbacks who cover up bad circumstances, rather than fall victim to them.
In Prescott’s own words? He has been ‘average’ this season.
“I would say I’ve been playing average, and average isn’t good enough in any way right now,” Prescott told reporters this week. “It’s never been good enough for me. I can’t say I’ve been happy or excited after any of the games I’ve played.”
The solution? To be honest, there isn’t much clarity on that. Perhaps the only breadcrumbs came from Lamb, who told reporters that he and Prescott used the bye week to do extra work on the timing and chemistry of their routes. So there’s that. There is an offensive line that can play better. There are two offensive minds, head coach Mike McCarthy and Brian Scottenheimer, who can continue to think about how to stay two-dimensional even if Dallas doesn’t start games by jumping out with a lead. And then there’s Prescott himself, who must find a way to lift all boats with his performance. That’s the responsibility that comes with a $60 million per season salary. “Play better” is a vague, clichéd expectation that elite, highly paid quarterbacks often place on themselves in the NFL. It’s real too.
It’s certainly something Purdy will have to deal with with his multitude of issues – which are extensive and seemingly getting worse. Wideout Brandon Aiyiuk is officially done for the season with a knee injury. Wideout Deebo Samuel Sr. comes out of the hospital with pneumonia. George Kittle is dealing with a foot sprain that has limited his practice time. And running back Christian McCaffrey still hopes to return during Week 9, but until he’s back on the field, nothing is written in stone. Honestly, even if McCaffrey returns, no one is sure how he will look as he is nursing issues in both Achilles tendons. And all of this comes at a point in the season where critics have found a new chord to strike in Purdy’s game: his battle against male coverage this season.
Overall, the implication is hard to miss. If Purdy signs an extension next season and pays him $50 million per season… or $55 million… or $60 million… this is the point he should be able to point to during negotiations, and essentially say: When the team hit a wall of injuries, I was the one who shouldered the charge and climbed over it. If he can do that, it will go a long way toward pacifying those who continue to focus his fight on whether he’s worth a massive expansion.
Given the injuries and the shuffling of the wideouts, it won’t be easy. The 49ers offense relies heavily on timing and route chemistry with pass catchers. Juggling them so aggressively this season seems to be part of the problems Purdy is running into.
“Yes, [timing] is huge,” Purdy told reporters this week. “When you have some young guys coming in and you’re used to throwing [Aiyuk]Deebo, [Jauan Jennings] – and you just understand how they move in routes and their landmarking and depths and just the timing of a concept and route. And then new guys come in who you haven’t had a lot of reps with, it’s hard.
Again, that’s part of being an elite quarterback. A man who comes in and provides cover for bad conditions. As Shanahan put it: “A quarterback who can make mistakes and make amends.” That’s what Purdy should be. And if he meets that standard, he gets paid for it. Just as Prescott has done in the past, and must do again now.
When they face each other, it’s a crucial problem-solving week for both. It’s an important opportunity to right the wrong in time and make it right, both for themselves, their franchises and for the rest of a once-promising season that’s closer than ever to disappearing.
