One of my daily rituals that not only ferries me across another day without football, but also helps alleviate the stress of a daily 45 minute to an hour drive to and from work in bumper to bumper traffic is to scroll through my recommended page on YouTube to find various audio dedicated to our Dallas Cowboys. Scouting reports, news from First Take, news from Undisputed, the Cowboys Break…anything to relieve the monotony of sitting behind the wheel watching the break light symphony lost in its long and tedious refrain.
This morning’s recommended selection granted me audio of Dak’s recent interview on the Rich Eisen show. For the most part, this interview provided very little new information, as is frequently the case. However, at one point Rich asked an excellent question; summarizing: At what point did you realize you could play this game; that being the starter wasn’t going to be too big for you?
In the following I am going to provide a paraphrased version of what Dak said and interject my own commentary as I go through it. In response, Dak broke down the situation as it unfolded:
Dak: Unfortunately, Kellen Moore got hurt.
A lot of players say all the right things; for many, it often times comes across as disingenuous. There is absolutely nothing insincere about the “unfortunately” Dak plugged in there…you get the impression that he truly means it, despite the fact that without that happening, last year never happens and this interview likely fades like Michael J Fox’s hand in Back to the Future.
Dak: The next day, they gave Romo a veterans day off.
Think about the significance of that move by the Cowboys. It wasn’t just about giving Romo the day off. That was all about Dak and Showers and finding out if they were going to need to make a move to bring in a veteran as a backup. For those of you who followed that storyline as close as I did, you may recall that at that time many were lauding Shower’s as a potential backup to Tony Romo, having already written off Kellen due to his end of 2015 performance and blindly accepting the “project” label that had already been firmly affixed to Dak. There was even talk of bringing in Nick Foles, but the Cowboys took the wiser course and ultimately decided they were going to let training camp play itself out and see if a QB emerged within the ranks they had already amassed at the position.
Dak: The moment I stepped into the huddle and saw the likes of Jason Witten and all these stars looking at me for direction I knew it was my time; that I could do this.
As he was speaking, I put myself behind his eyeballs in that huddle. Let me see if I can’t recreate that for you:
Close your eyes. Umm, err, yeah, that’s not going to work. Imagine your eyes are closed. Now imagine you are in a circle of men that features more than one potential future Hall of Famer (Witten, Tyron, Frederick, Zack, Dez, a bit premature, but I’ll go ahead and lump Zeke in that conversation, and, hell, why not, Beasley). All of these men are looking at you to provide the play; direction. They aren’t looking at you with an expression that screams you don’t belong; these guys, for the exception of Zeke, are deeply indoctrinated with Garrett’s next-man-up mantra. They know that a big part of their function in making that next-man-up concept work is to set aside any preconceived notions they may have about the player and expect them to do their job and do it well. There is no doubt in their eyes. There is no half-concealed smile as if to say, “You don’t belong in this huddle with me.” They are all ears and focus. All Dak has to do is do what he has done for just about his entire life; lean on his preparation and lead.
And lead he did…to an extent that removed all doubt from not only his teammates, not only his coaches, but, more importantly, from the collective of men that makes up the front office. Otherwise, the Cowboys would have likely brought in a progress-stopper within a few days following Kellen’s injury. After all, with Romo’s continual issues with injuries, the backup QB position was not something they wanted to gamble on. Imagine what Dak had to do in those few short practices to stay their hand.
Later in the interview, Rich asked Dak what advice he had to offer the crop of 2017 rookie QB’s new to the NFL?
Dak responded: Control what you can control. You can’t control the doubters or circumstances, but you can control how fast you learn that playbook. You can control earning the respect of your teammates. If you are not a Ra Ra guy, don’t try to be a Ra Ra guy. Be yourself, learn the system and the respect will come.
Dak will be 24 July 29th this year. I remember Jday at that age all too well. Which is why, for me at least, his poise and composure, not only under fire standing in the pocket on gameday, but also staring into the barrel of microphones and cameras during his interviews and press conferences, is astounding; it is truly on another level from any QB I’ve seen wearing a blue star on the side of their helmet one year into their career.
Remember Romo’s missive following a 44 – 6 blowout at the hands of the Eagle in a 2008 win-and-your-in season finale: "If this is the worst thing that will ever happen to me, then I've lived a pretty good life."
Dak’s command of the huddle and poise in the pocket has been discussed ad nauseum, but I have yet to read or hear credit offered for his command of the media huddle and poise in the conference room pocket. Nothing rattles him, including outside-of-the-Cowboys-organization perception and opinion.
His football-IQ is a product of his work ethic; no question there. But his life-IQ is the product of something else entirely.
I’m not sure of the exact ingredients or the measurements required, but I’m very familiar with a few of the flavors: you start with about 20 heaping spoons of a loving but strict mom, sprinkle in a few older brothers that make you work harder to compete with them followed by several coaches along the way that throw in belief and nurtured desire, the occasional dash of tragedy, supplemented with an annual splash of proving doubters wrong, bake in an oven of abject poverty throughout and viola; you might have something similar to a Dak...but you will never in a million years be able to reproduce an exact replica…my advice would be to not even bother trying.
What is obvious to me one year in to Dak’s promising career is that he is (and forever will be) focused on the moment and what aspect of that moment he has dominion over. His mind is in no way clouded by issues and comments beyond his control; he stays true to himself, true to his commitments and true to his teammates. And it is abundantly clear, Dak knows no other way to be….which is why the Cowboys organization early in the 2016 season consigned Dak to the future.
Thoughts?
