Andy Dalton can absolutely lead the Dallas Cowboys to the playoffs

With Dak Prescott out for the season, what does the Dallas Cowboys’ season look like with Andy Dalton under center?

The Dallas Cowboys escaped with a 37-34 win over the New York Giants on Sunday, but that was not the big story out of the game. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a serious right leg injury, and he’s out for the season. Andy Dalton stepped in and played well (9-for-11 for 111 yards) in relief and now he’ll start.

At 2-3, the Cowboys are leading the moribund NFC East. An 8-8 or 9-7 record might win the division again, and Dallas has five of their six division games left (two between now and a Week 10 bye).

Can the Cowboys win with Andy Dalton under center?

A bad Cowboys defense led to Prescott leading the league in pass attempts through Week 4 (201) and put him on a record pace through four games with 1,690 passing yards. The Giants had a defensive touchdown in Week 5, but after failing to reach 17 points in any of their first four games they scored 27 offensive points on Sunday. So a bad defense is not going away, even if Dalton doesn’t average 50 pass attempts per game like Prescott did in the first four games.

Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has 89 carries and 24 receptions (32 targets) through five games, so he’s not struggling to get enough work. But any call for a shift in offensive strategy is now toward the top of the conversation, and Elliott’s balance of touches should tilt toward carries in the running game with Dalton under center.

Dallas also has three very good wide receivers in Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup, along with an emerging tight end in Dalton Schultz. Dalton simply has to go where the coverage dictates, and be accurate with the football.

The Cincinnati Bengals made the playoffs in each of Dalton’s first five seasons (2011-2015). An injury cost him the end of that fifth season, but he was 50-26-1 as the starter during the regular season over that span. Then the talent level deteriorated in Cincinnati, and Dalton had a 20-35-1 record as the starter over his last four seasons there.

Dalton was a clear upgrade behind Prescott for the Cowboys. That move now looks pretty good. He is not a star, but Dalton is plenty good enough to win games with the talent that’ll be around him–similar to the peak of his time with the Bengals.