The bolded sentiment I've seen everywhere today. I've seen things like "Dak looked like a MVP Candidate", "Brady won the game, Dak won the night", on and on it goes. I don't see it. More specifically, I watched the game, and I didn't see it. To me it wasn't even close, in the other direction. So I decided to see if it was my bias showing, and looked closer at the numbers. Here's what we've got:
Dak Box Score: 42 Completions, 58 Attempts (72%); 403 Yards; 6.9 Y/A; 3 TD; 1 Int; 1 Sack (12 yards); 101.4 Passer Rating
Brady Box Score: 32 Completions, 50 Attempts (64%); 379 Yards; 7.6 Y/A; 4 TD; 2 Int; 0 Sacks; 97.0 Passer Rating
So Dak won the Box Score. However, let's say for a moment Brady cared about stats. Let's say he kneeled at the end, then spiked with time remaining, rather than throwing 3 incomplete passes deliberately to burn clock, sacrificing 1 yard of field position for 3 fewer incomplete passes. Let's say he didn't throw the hail mary at the end of the half as a near zero risk, high reward play, because of the likelihood of being intercepted (even though the interception in that situation is harmless). What would his stats look like then?
Selfish Brady Box Score: 32 Completions, 46 Attempts (69.5%); 379 Yards; 8.23 Y/A; 4 TD; 1 Int; 0 Sacks; 114.3 Passer Rating
This of course pays no attention to the Fournette bobble (Brady earned that Int, that pass was too high) the Godwin Fumble, the Drops, and so forth. Both teams had missed opportunities and I'm not here to play revisionist history, I'm just pointing out that Brady actively made choices to take actions detrimental to his stats for the sake of improving their odds of winning the game, and setting those actions aside, his passer rating crushes that of Prescott, because he had a better and more impressive game, at least in my eyes.
Looking at the overall context, we also see this:
Overall Drive Results:
Cowboys - 6 trips to the red zone, 3 TDs, 2 FGs, 1 missed FG
Bucs - 6 trips to the red zone, 4 TDs, 1 fumble (Godwin), 1 FG (as time expired)
So Dak and the Cowboys drove it home less often. Brady was 7 of 9 on deep balls not thrown as hail marys to end the half, Dak had 4 deep ball incompletions before the 1st half had ended, and another 2 and an Int tacked on in the second half. While Brady attacked every part of the field successfully and repeatedly, Dak mostly made his money on short passes left and right. I say mostly, but 40 of 42 completions by Dak were classified as "short", so really I mean virtually all.
Play-by-play action for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Dallas Cowboys NFL game from September 9, 2021 on ESPN.
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Brady had more deep passes before the first Quarter was done (3) than Dak had all game (2). He threw darts over the middle. He threw rainbows that dropped in the bucket at the perfect spot. He threw bombs downfield. He showed he could make every throw, Dak by and large did not.
Most importantly, all of that put together, Brady did what was needed to put his team in the position to win (and they did), while Dak came up short, despite nearly every bounce going their way, and having 4 turnovers gifted to his team. So how is it that everyone is talking about how Dak outplayed Brady, when he largely played a more limited game, with worse results, and thus despite winning the turnover battle, he lost the game? Why would you take him as the All Pro or MVP, over the guy who threw for more TDs, threw a larger variety of throws, had more success per attempt when throwing the ball, and who is ultimately the guy who won the game?
It's here that I'll mention that Brady in 1 game moved to having the 2nd best season by a 44 year old in NFL history, trailing only Vinny Testaverde (94/172. 952 yards. 5 TDs. 6 INTs.). It wasn't about his age though, Brady was just on fire yesterday, and played a fantastic game. Yet everyone is acting like he didn't throw 4 TDs and carry his team to victory on a day where they only managed 52 yards on the ground. Why is that?