There was a real reason that Tony Romo retired when he did. An injury kept him out to open the 2016 season and led to a rookie named Dak Prescott taking over for him. He was the starter for the entire campaign, guiding the Dallas Cowboys to a wildly impressive 13-3 record.
From there, it was his full-time role and Romo was gone. In three other full seasons as a starter, Prescott led his team to records of 9-7, 10-6 and 8-8. They never finished with a losing record.
And so, when he was out last season, the team struggled to win. This is a terrific QB who got paid as he should have. His 2021 is looking good so far. This is their dude.
Good to See Him Paid
Despite suffering a gruesome season-ending injury in the fifth game of 2020, Dak got paid this summer. The team gave him a four-year contract worth $160 million. He had earned north of $30 million a season ago, and now he finally has the job security he has long been seeking out.
The team refused to cough up the money for so long, but once they did, it was clear they gave him the keys to the future. The team has but one playoff win in his first four full years with him QB’ing here, but the future is where it is going to be at.
When he had worse receivers, Dak still made it work. And giving him the talent they have now, it is clear he can make them even better. It’s what the top-tier guys do. When you have a tremendous group of wideouts, you sling the ball all over the place and make good things happen.
Mr. $40 million a year is trying to get his team back to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
Onwards and Upwards
There is a lot of pressure on the Cowboys to win every year. Jerry Jones talks a big game, and fans are out here getting ridiculous tattoos projecting their victories and titles and other accolades. They have a crazy fanbase, but that’s what happens when you are “America’s Team”.
Dak knows that he has to get his team back on track after how disastrous they were in his absence last year. He has gotten Dallas off to a 2-1 start, firing off six TD passes to just two picks through these first three starts. He has 878 yards, just less than 300 per outing.
And prior to that absence, he was throwing for more than 350 yards per game. He was on pace for a historic campaign on a team that probably would have won very little either way. They had a lot of flaws and issues, and things that just were not fixable without an offseason.
Romo was never able to get Dallas to a Super Bowl. He only won two playoff games. Dak is going to wind up with a more impressive legacy, and few would disagree. When the time comes and this team is in the hunt, do not bet against them.
Dak is that guy.
