Are we setting Dak Prescott up for a mighty fall?

[JJHLH1]

One of the things I like best about Dak is his excellent decision-making. That is a rare characteristic for even experienced QB's, never mind a rookie, and bodes well for the future.

Decision-making is one area that I think Romo doesn't excel in. For example I'll never understand his decision to vacation in Cabo with Jessica Simpson before the 2008 divisional playoff game against the Giants, which we ended up losing.

 

[Idgit]

Thanks for reply, even you said it... His bad play was due to coming off injury. He is older now, more fragile, slower, less agile... Coming off an arguably far worse injury, another injury. An somehow we are to believe he is going to miraculously come back better than an almost perfect offense? Im sorry I just don't buy this.

I hope they are good teammates and I do think Tony has a good mind for the game. I know Dak can learn a lot from him. However, let's say the Cowboys are 3-3 or 4-2... Or even better 5-1. Don't you feel going back to Romo is by far riskier than sticking with Dak? All things considered...

When players get past age 35 they start to fall hard and fast. You have a few lone exceptions out there, Tony clearly is not one of them. A mountain of evidence shows that to be the case.

At least at this point, he can say he had some good stats, but just couldn't finish the job... For a variety of reasons. After Dak has already PROVEN he can win without Dez, Tyron Smith, several suspended Def players... Tony coming back and doing awful is going to absolutely humiliate him.

You don't really have to buy it. These are bone fractures we're talking about. There's no medical reason to think his ability to play was compromised by a healed bone fracture. Same with the collarbone. It's nut not medically true that bones get more fragile after the age of 35. If we were talking about his arm going out or his legs going out, you'd have a point, because when it starts to go, it goes. We've seen zero signs of that happening with Tony, so until it does, it's just not something to worry about. All reports out of camp where that he was throwing great and looked better than he had in years. That's what I expect when he gets back in the lineup.

 

[erod]

Honest question in regards to the better play from Tony part. Last year in 4 games against lesser competition, Tony had 5 TDs 7 INTs... QB Rating 20 PTS lower than Dak. Now Tony is a year older, in worse shape and has another injury under his belt. You state it so matter of factly... Where exactly do you get the "better play from Tony" part?

I agree with a lot of your post. Just puzzled by that statement.

Against much better competition, and let's face it, Tony should have never been playing late in the year. That shoulder was NOT healed. He went out there because the team was desperate.

Cowboys with Romo in 2015: 3-1
Cowboys w/o Romo in 2015: 1-11

Tony is infinitely better than Dak right now because he understands what he's seeing infinitely better. He'll teach Dak though. They need to do this the right way.

 

[Bleu Star]

Are we setting Dak Prescott up for a mighty fall?

No

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

You can win in this league with a good QB, you don't necessarily need a great QB. I would be happy with Dak ending up being a good QB.

 

[drawandstrike]

Instead broaching conspiracy theories that coaches are setting Dak up to fail by not letting him throw over 20+ yards except for 1 time every other game, how about using Occam's Razor & surmising the coaches have seen enough from watching him in practice since they drafted him to know he's not ready to throw bombs down the field yet?

He's limited on his deep throws for a POSITIVE reason instead of some murky negative agenda lurking in the hearts of the coaching staff.

If he can't go deep with any real consistency or accuracy YET and needs to be coached up on it, and we're sitting at 3-1 because he's making AWESOME decisions in a limited offense, by all means, give the lad time to get coached up until he's Tony's equal at the deep ball.

Tony's got, at best, 2 yrs left. That includes this one. What a fantastic situation we have here, with Tony helping coach Dak up on his weaknesses, something Tony himself spent all of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 working on.

You remember what it was, right? Tony never had a problem with the DEEP BALL. No, Tony's problem was his SIDEARM THROWING MOTION and his LOW RELEASE POINT that resulted in a HUGE NUMBER of his passes being batted down at the line.

He got 4 entire training camps and preseasons to work on this glaring weakness. Every time somebody started praising Romo to Parcells, the coach would scoff "Well he better fix that throwing motion or he'll get half his passes knocked down.

Well it wasn't half, but I'm sure you remember how often once Tony took the reins in 2006, how often he had balls batted down. It got to be a regular occurrence. Anywhere from 3-5 incompletions every game was from passes knocked down at the line.

But he kept working on it. And he fixed it. By the time this team was in the playoffs in 2009, you were RARELY seen Tony getting a fooball batted back in his face. He knows about finding your own weaknesses, being honest about them, and most importantly, working your butt off to fix them.

Trust me on this: for the next 2 seasons Dak could NOT have a better mentor than Tony Romo.

 

[Gabe]

Instead broaching conspiracy theories that coaches are setting Dak up to fail by not letting him throw over 20+ yards except for 1 time every other game, how about using Occam's Razor & surmising the coaches have seen enough from watching him in practice since they drafted him to know he's not ready to throw bombs down the field yet?

He's limited on his deep throws for a POSITIVE reason instead of some murky negative agenda lurking in the hearts of the coaching staff.

If he can't go deep with any real consistency or accuracy YET and needs to be coached up on it, and we're sitting at 3-1 because he's making AWESOME decisions in a limited offense, by all means, give the lad time to get coached up until he's Tony's equal at the deep ball.

Tony's got, at best, 2 yrs left. That includes this one. What a fantastic situation we have here, with Tony helping coach Dak up on his weaknesses, something Tony himself spent all of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 working on.

You remember what it was, right? Tony never had a problem with the DEEP BALL. No, Tony's problem was his SIDEARM THROWING MOTION and his LOW RELEASE POINT that resulted in a HUGE NUMBER of his passes being batted down at the line.

He got 4 entire training camps and preseasons to work on this glaring weakness. Every time somebody started praising Romo to Parcells, the coach would scoff "Well he better fix that throwing motion or he'll get half his passes knocked down.

Well it wasn't half, but I'm sure you remember how often once Tony took the reins in 2006, how often he had balls batted down. It got to be a regular occurrence. Anywhere from 3-5 incompletions every game was from passes knocked down at the line.

But he kept working on it. And he fixed it. By the time this team was in the playoffs in 2009, you were RARELY seen Tony getting a fooball batted back in his face. He knows about finding your own weaknesses, being honest about them, and most importantly, working your butt off to fix them.

Trust me on this: for the next 2 seasons Dak could NOT have a better mentor than Tony Romo.

I'll agree with you guys that Dak couldn't have dreamed up a better situation to be in. A very intelligent QB to learn from, and 2 VERY good QB coaches to learn from as well. Great OL and RB that will help him tremendously.

If Tony comes back and starts again I will still pull for the Cowboys like crazy and hope they go all the way. I just don't see what you guys are seeing though. Preseason, for the first time I saw an old man, overweight, and slow. I couldn't imagine he would come back from injury anything other than more over the hill.

 

[tyke1doe]

Jake Plummer - He had 15 TDs and 15 INT his first year. In fact, his first four years he had more interceptions than TDs. I wouldn't say Dak is following in his footsteps. Dak is doing better than Plummer.
Josh Freeman - Had more INTS than TDs his first year and had an up and down career in the four years he was with Tampa Bay. Every other year, he threw more INTs than TDs.
Marc Bulger - He actually had a pretty good career. But he didn't start until his third season. And then he stepped into a high-powered offense and, if memory serves me correctly, he sustain some injuries.
Byron Leftwich - He had an okay career, but he played for the Jags, and he was always criticized for his horrible throwing mechanics. Dak has better mechanics than Leftwich.
Vince Young - Let's face it. Vince Young was a running quarterback who passed only when his feet couldn't take him where he wanted to go. And he was dumb as a stack of bricks, not to mention his attitude problems. Dak is WWWAAAYYY ahead of Young even as a rookie.
Nick Foles - Foles wasn't all that great in his first year, dynamic in his second year. He's probably a good comparison to Dak in that he experience success early. But ... it was in his second year.
RG3 - Had a terrific rookie year. But ... he was a runner FIRST. Because he was fast, he was able to use his feet to open up the passing game. But when teams decided to start hitting him and hitting him hard, his confidence was completely shaken. Couple that with the fact that he was reportedly not a student of the game and he couldn't slide, and he was more known for being on the injury chart than the starting lineup.
Ryan Tannehill - He too had more interceptions his first year than TDs. Tannehill, for the most part, has been average at best.
30 more just like them

I understand your point, but I don't see many of those quarterbacks mimicking the success Dak is having. Of course, I understand that the season isn't over and Dak may take a nose dive for all we know.
However, I do believe these factors work in Dak's favor, and, if they continue, he should be okay for his career.

1. He played four years in college. I think this a very underrated factor in the success of a quarterback, but having that fourth year gives a quarterback a little more knowledge and maturity, IMO. You have not only your junior year, but your senior year to process your offense, other team's defenses and to be a greater leader. A lot of the quarterbacks who come into the league leave college after their junior years after just one year of success. (See R.G. III.) And I really think this is to their detriment or at the very least, stunts their growth a bit. But quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning attended a full four years and, I believe, came out the better for it.

2. The organization he plays for. Not too many quarterbacks succeed in Cleveland, Jacksonville, etc., and that's because their organizations aren't very stable. And that's going to be reflected on the field and under center. Despite what we think of the GM, the Cowboys are a stable franchise and expectations are that we still should challenge for the playoffs. Beyond that, we have legends who have played for us ... Staubach, White, Aikman and Romo. I believe that makes a difference.

3. Better team. Having our offensive line and running backs will help any quarterback succeed. As long as we continue to emphasize offensive line play and emphasize a grind-it-out running game, it will give Dak more time to learn and will relieve him of believing he has to shoulder all the responsibility.

So I believe he will continue to get better. But even if I'm wrong, I still like the kid and believe he has the work ethic to be the best he can be - whether that's on an elite level, an above average level or just performing at his peak level.

 

[Redball Express]

QB last season had that OL as well and more experience than Dak. OL plays a part but so does talent.

All of the above.

The chemistry has just changed.

We will have to wait and see what happens.

4 games does not a career make.

(strumming my fingers impatiently)

 

[Trouty]

I didn't say Tony's play last season was specifically better, for the record. Only that Tony's a better player than Dak is. As far as those games go, though, NY, PHI, CAR, and MIA are not what I'd consider lesser competition to what Dak's faced this year. Of those four games, you had the miracle comeback in week 1 that was all on Tony, he got hurt in week 2 v. PHI, came back after many weeks off v. MIA and didn't play great, and then was rolled in CAR. Not Tony's best stretch of games, to be sure, but pretty obviously due to injury and time off.

That said, he's a better QB than Dak is over his most recent stretch of full games in the lineup, against better quality competition. He sees the field better, reads the defenses better, makes more big plays, and is just a smarter QB right now. And this team believes in Tony every bit as much as they believe in Dak Prescott.

Dak's got all the potential in the world, and he's on a trajectory to be a great QB in his own right. When Tony comes back after next week, you watch. You're going to hear him say exactly what I'm saying now. There's a lot he can still learn about NFL defenses, and Tony's a great guy to teach him. They're both going to respect each other, both going to be good teammates, and both are going to understand the reality of the situation is that we've got two capable QBs right now for the first time in a long time. The writing is on the wall for Tony, but Dak can afford to be patient, and he can use the time to get better. He can't get where he wants to get by staging a coup in the locker room. Not with this team and this coaching staff. So he'll take a year and change to prepare and be ready when the next opportunity presents itself. Next time up, I think the gig is his for the long haul.

Idgit, this was a wonderful post. Wow, man. So perfectly put. You bring it and bring it.

 

[Trouty]

People really need to stop citing Romo's "last four starts" (levied as a criticism against him) ...derp derp

His last four starts were in a quagmire situation, amid inconsistent starts and injuries. Just stop. Do yourself a favor. I've seen it so often -- "compare Dak's first four starts to Tony's last four, then tell me who's better"

Really?

 

[wrongway]

If you're thinking, "Holy crap let's trade Romo today we got our QB for the next 15 years in your face Eagles" then yes you are likely setting yourself up for massive disappointment.

If you're thinking, "You know, we really could have something here..." then you're fine.

Word

 

[Beast_from_East]

I have no doubt that sooner or later Dak is going to have a bad game as all QB do. I think the determining factor for any QB or player is how you bounce back from adversity.

Like Parcells used to always say, that the true measuring stick of a QB was how he bounced back from adversity. He wanted to see how his QB came to work on Monday morning just after throwing 4 ints and pretty much losing the game all by himself. How does he react to that? He does he react to the fans that are calling him every other name on talk radio? How does he handle the media asking him why he sucks so bad? How does he face his teammates when he practically threw the game away himself?

Parcells would say that how the QB reacts to all of this will tell you way more about the player than looking at the box score.

 

[gmoney112]

I'm not worried about Dak at all, and the best thing for him to do would just ignore the mostly ridiculous fan base. Whether it's the base criticizing him for "lack of a deep ball", where excluding his first game as a pro, he's almost leading the league in YPA, or the base that thinks Tony should take a backseat. Equally ridiculous.

Dak has one of the best rookie campaigns in recent history. What he's accomplishing is just unbelievable. Some people don't want to acknowledge it, maybe because they don't want to jinx us, but it's a fact.

Some of it is because he was brought into a great situation, most of it is because he's just that good. He still has a long way to go, mainly in pre snap reads, because that just takes time, but people who are expecting this "crash to earth" are in for a surprise.

It's likely to expect some kind of epic failure if you didn't really know how bad his college team was playing in the SEC. He got killed in college, Alabama sacked him 6 times, he had marginal talent to work with, and he still went out there and put up some incredible numbers comparatively given the talent. With his rushing and passing numbers, you know the guy is a lot more intelligent than people think, and also a lot tougher.

He also set or nearly set an SEC record for attempts without an interception. On that team.

The SF game epitomizes him. His first game at Candlestick, backup LT playing, no Dez, a quick 14-0 hole, and he comes out and helps lead the team to victory throwing for a 115 rating, 0 ints, and nearly 8 yards per attempt. I don't know if he's even capable of feeling stress.

The best thing we could do is simply let him play, let him mess up, and guide him through the process. For 90% of rookie QBs id say the best practice is to let them sit a year or two, groom them, but that's because they usually aren't very good when they enter the pro spectrum. It's a different game. But Dak has shown he can not only play, but he can play at a very high level. Any fan that's watched rookie QBs the last decade, high picks, forced to start, knows that Dak has "it". Poise, whatever you want to call it, it's not normal.

If you really want to hedge your emotions, then sure, expect this drastic fall. But don't be surprised when there isn't one.

 

[Beast_from_East]

It's a long road to NFL all pro QB. Lots of places to misstep. We're pretty lucky to have a rookie 4th rounder display this much aptitude.

Dak's in a great situation. He's got a great OL, great skill position players, and 4 coaches/players with significant QB experience to help him develop. There's nothing wrong with giving him a bunch of NFL snaps, putting a bunch of work on film, and then sitting back and developing him over a year or two while Tony is healthy. By the time he goes back in, he'll be an even better player, and we'll get better play from Tony in the interim than we can get from Dak right now.

It's pretty much the perfect situation for the Cowboys. We need to keep the WR corps stocked, and we need to add a ton of talent to the defense. Sign our own core players, and we're pretty much set for the next 2-3 years.

We need to address the defense more than anything. We are never going to take the next step with a defense as bad as ours.

We need to invest heavily in the defensive front 7, in both the draft and free agency.

 

[Trouty]

I'm not worried about Dak at all, and the best thing for him to do would just ignore the mostly ridiculous fan base. Whether it's the base criticizing him for "lack of a deep ball", where excluding his first game as a pro, he's almost leading the league in YPA, or the base that thinks Tony should take a backseat. Equally ridiculous.

Dak has one of the best rookie campaigns in recent history. What he's accomplishing is just unbelievable. Some people don't want to acknowledge it, maybe because they don't want to jinx us, but it's a fact.

Some of it is because he was brought into a great situation, most of it is because he's just that good. He still has a long way to go, mainly in pre snap reads, because that just takes time, but people who are expecting this "crash to earth" are in for a surprise.

It's likely to expect some kind of epic failure if you didn't really know how bad his college team was playing in the SEC. He got killed in college, Alabama sacked him 6 times, he had marginal talent to work with, and he still went out there and put up some incredible numbers comparatively given the talent. With his rushing and passing numbers, you know the guy is a lot more intelligent than people think, and also a lot tougher.

He also set or nearly set an SEC record for attempts without an interception. On that team.

The SF game epitomizes him. His first game at Candlestick, backup LT playing, no Dez, a quick 14-0 hole, and he comes out and helps lead the team to victory throwing for a 115 rating, 0 ints, and nearly 8 yards per attempt. I don't know if he's even capable of feeling stress.

The best thing we could do is simply let him play, let him mess up, and guide him through the process. For 90% of rookie QBs id say the best practice is to let them sit a year or two, groom them, but that's because they usually aren't very good when they enter the pro spectrum. It's a different game. But Dak has shown he can not only play, but he can play at a very high level.

If you really want to hedge your emotions, then sure, expect this drastic fall. But don't be surprised when there isn't one.

Gmoney, I remember before the 9er game, you said you wanted to see him show up. With all the adversity he was facing heading into that game, all the cards stacked against him.

And he did it. He won. And like you so eloquently put it, did so by 0-14 down. Was this what finally sold you? Was this his statement game for you?

 

[Novacek84]

To be fair Andrew Luck is regressing because the Colts have built an absolutely horrendous team around him. His OL is a joke (starting 4 rookies?) and they don't invest any draft talent in that defense. Without our OL we' d be treading into Colts territory too. Yeah, it'd be nice for Dak to sit and learn but I don't have a ton of faith that #9 can remain healthy once he returns. That's the issue of why his development may not be as slow as we'd all like.

 

[landroverking]

Not sure how many of those QBs graduated. But Dak stayed in school a 5th year to get his masters.
That says to me he has a pretty good head on his shoulders.
Will he have a down game or ten sure,
will it rattle him in the long run?
I think not.

 

[stilltheguru88]

I'm seeing a rookie QB that is surrounded by more talent than most rookie QB's get. Noone can predict the future by Dak is doing things that most rookie QB's just don't do. He has also shown the ability to make himself available.

What's this epic talent? His wr core is terrible. Oline has some great run blocking, pass blocking is inconsistent. Zeke is a rookie. People are overrating the (talent) around Rayne

 

[DCBoysfan]

What's this epic talent? His wr core is terrible. Oline has some great run blocking, pass blocking is inconsistent. Zeke is a rookie. People are overrating the (talent) around Rayne

The online is considered one of the best if not the best in the league, a pro bowl wr and a rookie RB that is 3rd in the NFL in rushing. If you can't see that your football intelligence is seriously lacking.