Dak Prescott on par with Kirk Cousins, Cowherd says

Is Dak Prescott not built for prime time? Colin Cowherd doesn't think so.

"The Herd" host was highly critical of the Cowboys' starting QB after Cooper Rush's winning effort Sunday against Cincinnati, taking former 49ers quarterback Steve Young's evaluation of the game to another level.

Earlier this week, Young recalled his time as a veteran QB, revealing that when Steve Bono replaced him amid an injury, the future Hall of Famer had some important self-reflection to do in light of Bono's efficiency.

"Remember when Steve Bono took over and went in and just ran the offense?" Young said, via ESPN. "Just do the job. Nothing fancy, just do the job. And it really told me something that I needed to kind of reiterate to myself. I want him to really study Cooper Rush, because in ways it's doing those fundamental things that can really help Dak when he comes back."

Some of Prescott's supporters didn't view the comments as constructive criticism.

"Oh, the fanboys came out of the woodworks!" Cowherd said. "[Prescott] cannot beat good teams since his rookie year, a year in which he easily had the best running game and O-line in the league. Here is Dak Prescott against playoff teams in his career: 12-21, and he's had more than enough weapons before this year. What is he, Kirk Cousins on ‘Monday Night Football’? Oh wait, that's actually what I've compared him to the last few years. 

"Look at their career numbers. They're identical. Completion percentage, passing yards a game, passer rating, TD-INT ratio. Identical. The difference is you mock Kirk Cousins, you coddle Dak Prescott. They are the same player, one's just more popular, cooler. By the way, Dak has had two offensive coaches, that matters. And has been supported since day one in Dallas. Kirk Cousins, they hated him in Washington, and in Minnesota, his last coach wanted to replace him."

Those are fair points, and Young's can't be ignored either. If Prescott is ultimately going to live up to Dallas' lofty standards and deliver in the biggest moments, perhaps he needs to take some notes on his backup. 

FOX Sports Cowboys writer David Helman, however, believes the notion that Prescott should be studying Rush is preposterous.

"It's patronizing to assume that Dak Prescott, a guy who's thrown for 4900 yards in this league, a guy who threw for 37 touchdowns last year, doesn't know how to progress from read one to read three," Helman asserted on Wednesday's edition of "Speak." "If anything, if we want to give constructive criticism of Dak Prescott, sometimes I think he over-processes, sometimes I think he presses."