The Cowboys found out the hard way last season that insurance at the quarterback position can be the difference between a division title or a top 5 pick. Romo broke his collarbone twice last season missing 12 games. The Cowboys struggled with a combination of Brandon Weeden, Kellen Moore, and Matt Cassel. To make matters worse this is the third straight season that Romo has missed at least 1 start, and has just 4 seasons with 16 starts in his career. He has two seasons in which he missed 10 or more games.
After suffering through 3 different quarterbacks throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, the Cowboys then curiously passed over drafting a guy like Paxton Lynch, Christian Hackenberg, and Connor Cook. Ultimately they drafted the 8th quarterback selected in the 2016 draft, in the 4th round. Dak Prescott was regarded as a project when he was drafted, siting his footwork, pocket poise, and quickness through his progressions as weaknesses. Many believes he is essentially a more proready version of Tim Tebow. Despite comparisons to a former first round pick he was projected between the third and fourth rounds and was a solid value when he was selected.
Despite drafting Prescott, and bringing back Kellen Moore, and Jamill Showers, owner/GM Jerry Jones lamented passing on drafting Paxton Lynch, and had an affinity for Johnny Manziel. Dak Prescott brushed off his owner's comments as if they were nothing but motivation. Then things looked even more bleak when the veteran of the three, Moore, suffered a significant injury. All of a sudden more talk of signing another quarterback sprung up. Nick Foles was on their radar until he signed in KC, rumors had it that they inquired about Josh McCown, and considered an offer for Glennon. Then the preseason hit.
Two games later you would think Dak Prescott was the savior of the Dallas Cowboys. In his preseason debut he completed 10 of 12 passes for 139 yards and 2 TDs, along with a 154.5 passer rating, then his second game he led the team on 6 scoring drives including 2 rushing TDs, and 2 passing TDs. He completed 12 of 15 passes for 199 yards adding 28 yards on the ground. Bringing his totals after two games to 22 of 27 for 238 yards, 4 TDs, 0 ints, 5 carries for 41 yards and 2 TDs. Now the rumors are that the Boys are happy with their qb situation and that Prescott will enter the season as the top backup behind the oft injured Romo.
In his third preseason game he entered on Dallas's fourth offensive play after Tony Romo left with what appeared to be a back injury, something that has plagued him in the past. Dak responded with another solid performance 17 of 23 for 116 yards 1 td, 1 int, adding 2 carries for 12 yards. He led the team to what should have been three scoring drives if not for a 52 yard field goal miss by Dan Bailey. You can already feel the difference in situations from last season to this year. Fans didn't seem to panic when Romo went down, likely trusting in Dak to lead the way, and keep a playoff caliber roster afloat until Romo comes back.
Update: reports have come out that Romo will miss 6-10 weeks with a broken bone in his back. Dak Prescott was named the starter already. No word yet if Cowboys are exploring veteran options for a backup. Kellen Moore likely will be placed on IR to make way for a new qb.
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