ESPN: Does Dallas really have a chance with Dak Prescott?

[PA Cowboy Fan]

This team is a contender in a week division. I doubt it's a SB team. I hope Dak proves me wrong.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Cowboys fans with even the shortest memories probably expected Tony Romo to get injured at some point during this 2016 season. They just weren't expecting him to get hurt before September. For the second time in three years, Romo has broken bones in his back, and while he was able to play through the transverse fractures in his back in 2014, he won't be able to play through the compressed vertebrae he suffered against the Seahawks. Early reports suggest Romo will be out for a minimum of six games, leaving the Cowboys in a vulnerable state heading into the regular season.

One saving grace in light of what has been an injury-filled August is fourth-round pick Dak Prescott, who has been one of the breakout players of the 2016 preseason. Among quarterbacks with 25 attempts or more this preseason, Prescott leads the league in passer rating (137.8). He's third in completion percentage (78.0 percent), fifth in yards per attempt (9.1 yards per throw) and has thrown for five touchdowns without an interception. Toss in two rushing touchdowns and Prescott has arguably been the offensive MVP of the preseason.

Still, the questions for the Cowboys are everywhere.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/pag...t-dak-prescott-playing-much-tony-romo-injured

As good as Dak is, he's a rookie and will bumble his way through.
Blokes, there will be breathtaking moments and Romoesque flubs.
He will go 4-4 if we are to believe Romo will be back in 8 weeks or so.
Don't expect miracles. But expect a baptism by fire, which is the only way to learn. Chaps, when I took up cricket, it took me years to earn a googlie. Being good takes time.

 

[Sarek]

Chance for what, playoffs/SB? I didn't/dont think they have a chance for a deep run with Romo or with Dak. Will see, hopefully i'm wrong.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Tell you what. He has generated plenty of excitement and nobody could have asked for more from a rookie QB.

Teams like Detroit generate plenty of excitement for their fans during the preseason to. Then the games start. I hope this kid is the QB we have seen so far, but I understand what preseason is.

 

[Super_Kazuya]

Dak has to do just about the minimum required of anybody else ever unvolved in circumstances like this except for maybe one guy in NFL history.

Does anybody know who Joe Ferguson was?

Well, Joe was the starting quarterback of the Buffalo Bills....the same year O.J. Simpson ran for over 2000 yards, first time ever.

O.J. Was nicknamed the "Juice". His offensive line was nicknamed, "the Electric Company".

In a 14 game season Joe threw 164 passes or 11.7 a game. They went 9--5.

Joe Ferguson was a rookie that season....a 3rd round pick.

Dak has a stable of thousand yard rushers , a pair of All Pro pass catchers and arguably the youngest, most athletic talented, group of O-linemen that weve seen in a very long time. I doubt he throws more than 20 to 25 passes a game.

I know the history of starting rookies.but this guy has been handed the keys to a convertble corvette....and he doesnt look alarmed.

That's probably a pretty good way to look at it. However, I doubt Garrett and Linehan have learned much from last year's shenanigans. They will likely limit Dak to 10 attempts a game, and hack the helmet radio to continue working after the snap so they can tell Dak exactly when to release the ball...

 

[haleyrules]

I think Prescott is the best QB on the roster. I'm on my own island with that one! Have strong feeling Cows hit jackpot with Dak!

Tell you what. That just might turn out to be true. Especially in the long run.

 

[haleyrules]

Teams like Detroit generate plenty of excitement for their fans during the preseason to. Then the games start. I hope this kid is the QB we have seen so far, but I understand what preseason is.

Absolutely. Me too that was the nature of my first post. Prescott is not a season saviour..but he has added a new demension and some interesting potential. Its better to have him on the team than to not have drafted him.

 

[Runwildboys]

My favorite part ..

I guess no one told him Kellen broke his leg.

Maybe that's why he said, "under center".

 

[fortdick]

Sobering article. Unfortunately, it is about spot on. Optimists will point to factual errors, but the basic premise is accurate. Dak has a job to do, but it is doubtful he can pull it off.

 

[Plumfool]

What makes Dak I the best situation is this. Teams will have to account for the run game. People have talked about vanilla schemes and basic defenses that Dak has played against, however the Cowboys run offense will make defense have to be more basic. The result will be Dak won't see as many exotic looks.

Seattle did some things that made it difficult for Dak. But he continued to impress nonetheless. He seems to have an ability that a lot of people overlook and that's his brains.

 

[TheHerd]

Dak is VERY unlikely to take this team deep in the playoffs, same for Romo. Same for Aaron Rogers, or Tom Brady if we had them.

Too many on here refuse to believe how bad this defense is on big third downs against a good QB. That's where playoff games are won and lost, and this D will always let us down. And don't point me to the GB game. Even if the idiots didn't take the Dez catch away, did you see anything on the ensuing drive that led you to believe the D would have stopped Rogers?

 

[Gameover]

Teams like Detroit generate plenty of excitement for their fans during the preseason to. Then the games start. I hope this kid is the QB we have seen so far, but I understand what preseason is.

When?

 

[waving monkey]

This was the problem last season:

Romo goes out injured and the team's focus was: "just win a game or two, maybe three, and then when he gets back we'll march on into the playoffs." Garrett should have told the public, the coaches, and the team, "We will assume Tony is not coming back this year. The name of the game is winning. We have a quarterback. He is not a stand-in. He is the quarterback until further notice. I expect him to lead, and I expect the team to follow. We are not in the "win a few mode," and we will not hold our breath waiting for an injured teammate to save us. We will run our offense and defense and leave nothing on the field. We will win or lose with who we have and not worry about who we don't have."

And, it starts again this year: "We should get Tony back in 6-10 weeks."

It sounds like more fretting and hand wringing than leading going on here. They should forget Tony coming back. If he does, then you decide where you are and where to go from there. But if you just try to hang on until he does come back, it will be too late to change the focus and effort of the team.

Since I'm voicing my opinion here, I also think they should not scale back the offense. In fact, I think they need to expand it to maximize Dak's athleticism. Going into a "safe" mode on offense is a sure way to lose. (see last season). Make Dak study, work hard, and overcome his mistakes. But, accept the fact that there will be mistakes and bad days. If he is the future, it will make him better and stronger. If he folds, he isn't the future.

Make Dak study, work hard ?

 

[rags747]

Dak has to do just about the minimum required of anybody else ever unvolved in circumstances like this except for maybe one guy in NFL history.

Does anybody know who Joe Ferguson was?

Well, Joe was the starting quarterback of the Buffalo Bills....the same year O.J. Simpson ran for over 2000 yards, first time ever.

O.J. Was nicknamed the "Juice". His offensive line was nicknamed, "the Electric Company".

In a 14 game season Joe threw 164 passes or 11.7 a game. They went 9--5.

Joe Ferguson was a rookie that season....a 3rd round pick.

Dak has a stable of thousand yard rushers , a pair of All Pro pass catchers and arguably the youngest, most athletic talented, group of O-linemen that weve seen in a very long time. I doubt he throws more than 20 to 25 passes a game.

I know the history of starting rookies.but this guy has been handed the keys to a convertble corvette....and he doesnt look alarmed.

I do remember Ferguson and he was just enough to keep it going with their run game. Back then most qb's if I remember correctly only threw maybe 18 or so passes per game. Back then u ran the ball to pass, today it seems that the pass is what most teams do 1st and that is the main reason why teams say u don't take a rb high. I'm glad that we are bucking that trend, hopefully.

 

[DFWJC]

I dont think a Super Bowl is possible with Dak if that what they're asking.
In a perfect world, maybe contending for a wild card is.

I'd <1% for SB win and 25% for playoffs.

With Romo pre-Seattle...
10% and 85%.

With Dak and Romo now?
3% and 60%

Assumes Dak does a good job of keeping us in it the first 6-7 games.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

When?

The Texans and Ravens are 3-0 Preseason champs

 

[superonyx]

The article unfairly draws the conclusion that Dak will be awful because other QB's drafted in the 4th round were awful their rookie year starting the season. It's very rare that a team that needs a QB would wait for the 4th round and then immediately start him. So I prefer to look at rookie QB's in general and remove this articles 4th round or later grouping the writer used to support his conclusion.

This said Dak will have his ups and downs. Our defense will make winning a challenge regardless.
The annoying part of this and any analysis is that none of the previous QB's success or failures has ANY true relevance to Daks future success or failure. Every person and situation is unique. The writer doesn't know how Dak sees the field or if how he will react to the disguised blitzes. They can't know if he will stay in the pocket and throw the ball into coverage or take off and get some yards. They don't know if Zeke will run over NFL defenses and Dak will use play action and his legs to keep defenses on their heels.

If I were an opposing NFL defensive coordinator I would be a bit worried about the possibility of playing our offense. Not just because of Dak but because of the entire unit, offensive line, RB's, WR/TE, and Daks natural ability to slice through your defense like he did in that Miami game a few weeks ago.

I may get ugly...but man it sure is exciting.

 

[AshyLarry06]

What a long and winded article which can easily be summed as " we don't know yet."

Dude come onnnnnnn man!!! Are/Were you SURRIOUSLY unaware that ESPN (which is an acronym for Extremely Shamefully Pointless Nitwit-Network) is well known for these kind of articles?? They've been critically acclaimed by Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian among others like Justin Bieber and Chad OchoJohnCincoson,

 

[DandyDon52]

This was the problem last season:

Romo goes out injured and the team's focus was: "just win a game or two, maybe three, and then when he gets back we'll march on into the playoffs." Garrett should have told the public, the coaches, and the team, "We will assume Tony is not coming back this year. The name of the game is winning. We have a quarterback. He is not a stand-in. He is the quarterback until further notice. I expect him to lead, and I expect the team to follow. We are not in the "win a few mode," and we will not hold our breath waiting for an injured teammate to save us. We will run our offense and defense and leave nothing on the field. We will win or lose with who we have and not worry about who we don't have."

And, it starts again this year: "We should get Tony back in 6-10 weeks."

It sounds like more fretting and hand wringing than leading going on here. They should forget Tony coming back. If he does, then you decide where you are and where to go from there. But if you just try to hang on until he does come back, it will be too late to change the focus and effort of the team.

Since I'm voicing my opinion here, I also think they should not scale back the offense. In fact, I think they need to expand it to maximize Dak's athleticism. Going into a "safe" mode on offense is a sure way to lose. (see last season). Make Dak study, work hard, and overcome his mistakes. But, accept the fact that there will be mistakes and bad days. If he is the future, it will make him better and stronger. If he folds, he isn't the future.

Good post, your right they need to have a different perspective, but this comes down to JG and also jones boys.
JG can do this, I dont know if he will or has even thought of it, but he is controlled by jones boys on what he can say publicly.

They need to get behind dak 100% and worry about tony coming back later.

 

[jrumann59]

A

Absolutely. If this boy wins 8 games l would consider it a blazing success. Nobody should expect the impossible from a rookie QB he will have plenty of ups and downs. I can not wait to see how this season plays out.

Question is if with rookie QB the team goes 8-8 will garrett be called good ole 8-8 still or will it be a legitmate mulligan.