Tony Romo’s injury was obviously unfortunate for everyone involved.
The Cowboys, who had once again lost their quarterback to injury. Romo himself because, well, he broke his back. And it was also unfortunate for his rookie backup, Dak Prescott, who will now be pressed into service immediately instead of getting an opportunity to be a sideline understudy behind a talented veteran, a la Aaron Rodgers.
But according to an NFL Network report from Ian Rapaport (a rapid Rapaport report, you might say, though why would you) the Cowboys are already preparing for the possibility that Prescott is their guy, regardless of a healthy Romo return:
“From my understanding, talking toCowboys people over the last several weeks, the door is open, though slightly, for Dak Prescott to come in and impress enough and potentially take Tony Romo’s job, which is something that would have sounded crazy just a couple months ago,” Rapoport said.
“In fact, when I talked to Stephen Jones a couple weeks ago, he actually brought up, himself, the Brady-Bledsoe comparison from 2001. This year is much different from last year. They are not sitting around waiting for Tony Romo to return. The confidence in Dak Prescott is palpable. They are going forward with him and whenever Romo returns, they will address that when it comes.”
It’s nice that they seem so confident in Dak, and based strictly on a preseason in which he played 3 games and went a total of 39/50 for 454 yards and 5 TDs, with no picks, they should be. Of course, that’s the preseason. Starting up the Dak hype train like this before he’s taken a regular season snap against defenses that are actually game-planning seems like such a pointless move.
Who benefits? Not Romo, certainly, who might now feel pressured to rush his rehab. Not Prescott, who might now feel even more pressure himself to perform. And not the Cowboys, who add more drama to their season before it even begins.
Actually, what am I saying? From the top down, the Cowboys care more about cultivating drama than they do winning games. They’ve certainly been better at the former than the latter for a long time now. Over the last 19 seasons, as they’ve managed a sterling 152-152 record.
[NFL.com]
