In one respect, Sunday night’s prime-time NFL game is going to be the quarterback battle of I-can’t-believe-how-much-they-paid-him vs. I-can’t-believe-how-much-they’re-going-to-pay-him.
This is Dak Prescott versus Brock Purdy in 2024, the Week 8 matchup that we all thought would be about defining NFC supremacy near the midpoint of the season. Instead this matchup 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 perch 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 may say this isn’t a game that’s about quarterback money, but when it’s over, take a walk through the fan base of whichever quarterback loses this game. That’s the prism that Prescott and Purdy have losses focused through this season: The “is he worth it” distortion field. In the face of 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 will be expected to offer him.
Of course, that’s a debate that requires a wider lens on their careers, along with mountains of data and a seminar on how the league’s warped quarterback marketplace currently functions. It’s an argument that will be revisited weekly, monthly, seasonally — all the way into their retirements. But for now, in this window of time, it boils down to a simple calculation: What each is capable of doing to help fix their teams, which are in different varieties of disarray.
This is what happens when you’re Prescott and Purdy, nearing the midseason mark and everything around you is either turned upside down or breaking into pieces. One quarterback in Dallas, navigating a 3-3 season that recently went through a 47-9 wood-chipper home loss to the Detroit Lions. The other quarterback in San Francisco, coming out of another frustrating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, which featured three costly interceptions that helped cement defeat and a 3-4 record.
Both of those losses have showcased some surprisingly visible organizational fraying. 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 were pressing Jones on his general managing decisions. A few days after that, in the locker room following the 49ers’ loss to the Chiefs, reporters witnessed head coach Kyle Shanahan deliver a demonstrative diatribe into the face of Purdy, inside the locker room and in full view of media and Purdy’s teammates. To be fair, neither occurrence was a first for either Jones or Shanahan. Both have had their moments with either the media or their players. But it’s compelling that these things are happening on the doorstep of the Cowboys and 49ers facing each other and both badly needing a win to quell some discontent.
Which brings us back to Prescott and Purdy — neither of whom is playing at their ideal level — and the task they’ve both got ahead of them.
For Prescott, there are a multitude of issues that surround him. The Cowboys’ scheme has been wildly imbalanced, featuring the worst run game in the league and a complete inability to stay on a scoring schedule that can both keep aspects of passing and rushing involved. CeeDee Lamb is clearly Prescott’s chosen go-to player, but their timing and chemistry have been a bit of a roller coaster all season, especially in critical moments when a play connection is needed from both. Beyond Lamb, Prescott hasn’t found consistency or rhythm with other pass-catchers, either. His accuracy is significantly down from last season, while his interception rate is significantly up. And it’s all coming on the heels of a titanic contract extension that creates the expectation of Prescott being in the league of quarterbacks who cover up bad circumstances, rather than falling victim to them.
In Prescott’s own words? He’s been “average” this season.
“I’d say I’ve played average, and average isn’t good enough right now by any means,” Prescott told reporters this week. “It’s never been good enough for me. I can’t say that I’ve been happy or excited after any of these games that I’ve played.”
The fix? Frankly, there isn’t a lot of clarity on that. Perhaps the lone bread crumbs came from Lamb, who told reporters that he and Prescott used the bye week to get in extra work on the timing and chemistry of their routes. So there’s that. There’s an offensive line that can play better. There are two offensive minds in head coach Mike McCarthy and Brian Scottenheimer who can continue to wrench on how to stay two-dimensional even when Dallas doesn’t start out games by jumping out with leads. And then there’s Prescott himself, who has to find a way to raise all boats with his performance. That’s the responsibility that comes with a $60-million per season salary. “Play better” is a nebulous, clichéd expectation that highly paid, elite quarterbacks often place on themselves in the NFL. It’s also real.
It’s certainly something that Purdy is going to have to do with his multitude of problems — which are expansive and seemingly getting worse. Wideout Brandon Aiyiuk is officially done for the season with a knee injury. Wideout Deebo Samuel Sr. is coming off being hospitalized with pneumonia. George Kittle is battling a foot sprain that has limited his practice time. And running back Christian McCaffrey is still hopeful to return during the Week 9 bye, but until he’s on the field again, nothing is etched in stone. Frankly, even when McCaffrey returns, nobody is certain what he’s going to look like as he nurses problems in both Achilles tendons. And all of this comes at a point in the season when critics have found a new string to pull at in Purdy’s game: His struggles against man coverage this season.
Taken as a whole, the implication is hard to miss. If Purdy is going to sign an extension next offseason paying him $50 million a season … or $55 million … or $60 million … this is the juncture that he needs to be able to point at during negotiations, effectively saying: When the team hit a brick wall of injuries, I was the one who put the offense on my shoulders and climbed over it. If he can do that, it will go a long way toward quieting those who continue to focus his struggles through whether he’s worth a massive extension.
Given the injuries and shuffling with the wideouts, it won’t be easy. The 49ers’ offense is highly predicated on timing and route chemistry with pass catchers. Juggling them so aggressively this season seems to be a part of the problems Purdy is running into.
“Yeah, [timing] is huge,” Purdy told reporters this week. “When you’ve got some young guys that come in and you’re used to throwing to [Aiyuk], Deebo, [Jauan Jennings] — and just you understand how they move in routes and their landmark and depths and just the timing of a concept and route. And then you get new guys coming in that you haven’t gotten many reps with, it is tough.”
Again, that’s part of being an elite quarterback. A guy who comes in and covers for bad circumstances. As Shanahan has framed it, “A quarterback who can take wrong and make it right.” That’s what Purdy is supposed to be. And if he lives up to that standard, that’s what he’ll get paid to be. Just like Prescott has done in the past, and now needs to do again.
Facing each other, it’s a vital problem solving week for both of them. It’s a significant opportunity in time to take wrong and make it right, both for themselves, their franchises, and the remainder of a once-promising season that is closer than ever to slipping away.