Dak Prescott has quickly become one of the best young quarterbacks this league has ever seen. With the season still early the stage is already set for him to snatch the starter role from Tony Romo.
In Tony Romo’s 12 year career, he has missed an insurmountable number of games due to injury. From broken collarbones, to finger injuries and everything in between, Tony has proven he is nowhere near invincible. Entering his 13th year, the injury bug once again bit the Cowboys quarterback.
What seemed like a regular football tackle turned into a devastating 6 month injury, a crushing blow to the hopes of Dallas fans.
Up steps Dak Prescott. A late fourth round selection passed over by all 32 teams more than once. He has rapidly began to prove his worth is well above his draft grade. To many around the league he was considered a long shot to even make a 53 man roster let alone anchor an offense to a winning record.
Now the season is early but the maturity and leadership that Dak shows each and every week has solidified him as a starter just 5 weeks in.
With Prescott’s breakout season underway, the conversation has now turned to if Tony Romo can ever reclaim his team. If Jerry Jones has his way the answer is yes. Management and coaching staff in Dallas have gone on record stating it’s “Tony’s team” once he returns. The question now posed is, does this ruin the confidence and career of Dak?
The short and easy answer is no, it’s what any fan base would say. The reality is anything but. Time and time again we witness a backup or rookie unseat their predecessor, all unknowing to everyone involved.
Drew Bledsoe was replaced when he went down by Tom Brady. Aaron Rodgers stepped in for Favre when “retired”, even the great Joe Montana was pushed out of town.
This situation has to end the same way if the Dallas organization wants to witness some more Super Bowl success. The Oline is tops in the NFL, Zeke has exploded onto the scene leading all running backs through week five and the defence is firing on all cylinders. How you ask, does a team with such young stars find the chemistry and unity to win games? The answer is Dak Prescott.
Though widely acknowledging that he knows it’s Tony’s team, one would be a fool to believe that as the truth. No grown man would ever admit that another person can do his job better than him. Could you imagine what would have came to be had he of said that he wants that role and he isn’t going to go lightly.
If he even questioned the fact that he felt he shouldn’t be backup, the media would eat him up for breakfast. The press would be nothing but horrible for Dak, the timing just wouldn’t have been right.
Like Carson Wentz in Philadelphia, the rookie quarterback figuratively and literally puts the team on his back to win games. Still without a interception, the longest streak in NFL history, the mistakes can not yet be found in Prescott’s game.
The entire Bengals team told media before their week five matchup that they studied every throw made by Dak and could not find anything wrong. That speaks volumes.
On the other spectrum, Tony Romo has single handedly won and lost games making him a very polarizing player. Fans love to hate him. His stats are fairly decent as well, among them the highest quarterback rating ever in the fourth quarter. The real problem lies in the fact he has little to no postseason success, two wins in six games is abysmal. Yes the stat line is nice but the rings and championships are what really matter.
This all leads to the main statement, the retirement of Tony Romo. Injuries alone should be the deciding factor, only in six of his twelve years has he played in 16 full games. The odds of him being injured for the umpteenth time upon his return are exponentially high.
Why put the play caller and ultimately the team in harms way? Especially when you have a star waiting in the shadows.
The only thing left to do is to wait and see what happens. Tony will almost certainly return as a starter after the bye week, to face a divisional opponent in the Eagles. A smart decision heading into that week considering they will have an extra week to prepare the game plan around Tony, a complete 360 from Dak’s.
The gambler in all of us would love to see Dak start that game, proving to the world he is strong enough mentally and physically to compete with the NFC powerhouses. Look for him to regain his spot that will surely be taken in week 9-10, and watch for him to take it back with authority. The future is here Dallas, its name is Dak Prescott, time to thank Tony for the memories.