Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has reflected about many things since having his 2024 season end in Week 9 because of a hamstring tear.
That includes taking a look around the rest of the NFC and appreciating some of the high level football around being played around the league. When asked on Tuesday who his top NFC contenders are, Prescott named just one team as being head and shoulders above the rest: the 11-1 Detroit Lions. His reasons for his selection included the various ways they’ve won with quarterback Jared Goff throwing for as many incompletions as touchdowns in some weeks (Week 8 vs. the Tennessee Titans) or throwing five interceptions (Week 10 at the Houston Texans). Detroit also made quite an impression when the Lions smacked the Cowboys 47-9 in Week 6.
“Right now, I think it’s hard to look any further than Detroit,” Prescott told CBS Sports on Tuesday. “Just obviously with the way that they’re playing, the momentum that they’ve carried it from last year into this year with the team that they’re, they’re able to put out there on the field. Obviously, the way that they handled us at here at home [in Week 6] plays part in me choosing those guys. They’re lights out. You watch that offense, you watch a team where quarterback goes and puts those numbers up and has two incompletions and six touchdowns or whatever and they win by a lot. Then, they come back and the guy may throw five interceptions and the team still finds a way to win is impressive to the coaching and to that whole outfit. So they’ve got it right now.”
Detroit is on pace for their best regular season on franchise history, just one win away from tying their most wins in a season (12, which they did in 1991 and in 2023). Their current 11-1 start is their best 12-game beginning to a season in team history, and their current 10-game winning streak is tied for their longest in Lions history, along with a 10-game streak they had back in the 1934 season.
The Lions also currently possess the No. 1 scoring offense (31.9 points per game) and the No 2 scoring defense (16.9 points per game) this season. If they can improve upon this pace and run their scoring defense’s production to the top of the league, then they can expect to be hoisting their first Vince Lombardi trophy as Super Bowl champions at the end of the 2024 season. Only two teams since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger have finished with the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense and No. 1 scoring defense, per CBS Sports Research. Those teams were the 1972, perfect season Miami Dolphins and the 1996 Green Bay Packers, both of whom won the Super Bowl in their respective such seasons.
