‘It’s about winning the playoffs’: Why Dak Prescott has become the Cowboys’ new Tony Romo.
Tony Romo and Dak Prescott have practically become the same Dallas Cowboys quarterback due to their striking similarities in their career arcs.
In the postseason, both players raised unanswered questions despite their exceptional regular-season performances.
They played together for just one season, in 2016, when Romo’s preseason back injury forced rookie Prescott to step in. It has been held by Prescott ever since.
With Prescott selected in the fourth round and Romo as an undrafted free agent, they each have a well-liked underdog story. They received many Pro Bowl selections. They achieved team records. They made use of the influence that came with being on “America’s Team” to become well-known figures.
But neither has done what Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman did by winning Super Bowls, which ties Prescott and Romo together even more.
Romo had a 2-4 playoff record. Prescott’s stands at 2-5 after Sunday’s 48-32 demolition by the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round.
Romo had three chances to advance to an NFC Championship Game (2007, 2009, 2014) and never got there. Prescott’s chance at a fourth try was wiped out by the Packers after missed chances in 2016, 2018 and 2022.
“It’s not fair to put it all on Dak or Tony,” one former teammate of both said. “Everyone needed to get it done.”
While true, the Cowboys’ quarterback bears the brunt of the responsibility.
SINCE 1980, KEN Anderson is the only quarterback to be his team’s starter for more consecutive seasons than Prescott will have in 2024 (nine) before going to a Super Bowl for the first time. He was in his 10th season as the Cincinnati Bengals’ starter in 1981.
Peyton Manning and Matt Ryan made their first Super Bowl appearances in their ninth seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons, respectively. Manning had won two NFL MVPs before getting to his first Super Bowl in 2006 and had to contend with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots’ dynasty.
“Some guys, like Troy, it does happen right away and you win championships,” said executive vice president Stephen Jones about Aikman’s first Super Bowl coming in his fourth season. “[Patrick] Mahomes, guys like that, it happens for them.
“But there’s other guys that sometimes it just takes time to keep learning the game, keep getting better. Certainly I think Dak fits in that category, and I think Tony was in that category before the injuries.”
Age favors Prescott’s opportunity for at least another run.
Romo was 34 for his final chance in 2014, his last full season, with a body that was faltering mainly because of back issues that required multiple surgeries.
While the lasting memory from that 26-21 divisional round loss to the Packers is the overturned catch from Dez Bryant late in the fourth quarter, there was one of Romo that day too. About an hour after that stinging defeat in numbing temperatures outside Lambeau Field, he shared a long hug with his family before getting on the team bus, as if he knew he would not get a better chance.
Prescott turns 31 in July and played every game this season for the first time since 2019, while leading the NFL in touchdown passes (36). Like Romo, he has suffered serious injuries, like a dislocated and fractured right ankle in 2020, and a broken right thumb that forced him to miss five games in 2022, but he believes his off-field habits have made him stronger and more durable.
“You’re always looking at greats and what they’re doing, and you see guys, like LeBron [James], Tom Brady, have these methods and spend millions of dollars on their body each year, and you wonder why,” Prescott said. “And it’s obvious when they’re playing as long as they played at such a high level that that’s what they need to do to feel comfortable.”
THE BIG QUESTION for the Cowboys regarding Prescott this offseason is not health, but contract.
He is about to enter the final year of his deal and will count $59.4 million against the 2024 salary cap. Dallas’ options this offseason include:
- Extending Prescott’s contract, which would make him among the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL but give them space to retain their own players or add free agents.
- Simply playing out Prescott’s final year, knowing they cannot use the franchise tag on him in 2025, which would make him an unrestricted free agent.
- Adding more voidable years to his contract to make his 2024 cap number more palatable, while also knowing they will add more dead money against the cap in future years.
The Cowboys and Romo encountered a comparable contract dispute in 2013. Due to clauses in the deal that prevented them from putting the franchise tag on him, he agreed to a six-year, $108 million extension through 2019 that included a $40 million guaranteed sum. With an average yearly salary of $18 million at the time of signing, Romo was the sixth-highest paid quarterback.
Though, unlike in 2013, the Cowboys have a young quarterback who intrigues them in 2021 No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance, whom they acquired from the San Francisco 49ers early in the season for a fourth-round draft pick. Prescott, like Romo then, now has leverage in the negotiations. Lance, 23, has attempted 102 passes in his career and has not taken a snap this season.
Three years ago, Prescott outlasted the Cowboys in contract talks, turning one year of playing on the franchise tag into a four-year, $160 million deal that included $126 million guaranteed despite coming off the serious ankle injury. His $40 million annual average currently has him tied for 10th among the highest-paid quarterbacks.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones, as well as Stephen Jones, have said they envision Prescott being the Cowboys’ starter well into the future.
But will that future include a Super Bowl appearance?
JERRY JONES SAID his biggest regret as owner and general manager is not winning a Super Bowl with Romo as quarterback. After beating the Philadelphia Eagles in December, Jones said he would be “equally” disappointed if Prescott doesn’t get to a Super Bowl.
“Dak is a player who is qualified in every way to have a Super Bowl in his career,” Jones said then.
Romo’s best chance for a Super Bowl run was in 2007 when the Cowboys finished 13-3 and had home-field advantage in Wade Phillips’ first season as coach. The Cowboys lost in the divisional round to the New York Giants, whom they had beaten twice in the regular season and went on to win the Super Bowl.
Romo was in his ninth season as the starting quarterback for the Cowboys (eighth full season) in 2014, when he had his best year. The Cowboys won the NFC East with a 12-4 record. In 15 starts, he completed 34 touchdown passes with just nine interceptions. In terms of yards per attempt (8.5), QBR (79.2), completion percentage (69.9%), and quarterback rating (113.2), he was the NFL leader.
After suffering two fractures to his left collarbone in 2015, Romo started four games. Because Prescott played so well in the regular season, he only managed to play one drive (a touchdown drive) before suffering a back injury in a preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks in 2016. Romo started working in the CBS broadcast booth in 2017.
“I know deep down he felt he was at his best mentally when it came to the game, that if he was healthy, he could play the game as well as he ever could,” Stephen Jones said. “But health got him.”
Just finished his ninth consecutive season as the starting quarterback for the Cowboys. Dallas won the NFC East with a 12-5 record. With 36 touchdown passes, he led the NFL in that category. He was intercepted nine times. He ranked No. 2 in QBR (72.9), quarterback rating (105.7), passing yards (4,516), and completion percentage (69.5%) among full-time starting quarterbacks in the NFL.
As the No. 2 seed, the Cowboys were primed to advance to the NFC Championship Game with two home games at AT&T Stadium, but they struggled on Sunday. Two interceptions of Prescott in the first half put Green Bay ahead 27-0 late in the second quarter, with one of those interceptions being returned for a touchdown.
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