Expecting Dak Prescott to make up for Jerry Jones mishandling Cowboys' QB situation is too much to ask
By Kevin Sherrington
On one hand, Jerry Jones did his due diligence by drafting a quarterback and just in time, too, because he got another bad break with Tony Romo, so to speak.
On the other hand . . . you don't really believe any of the above, do you?
Dak Prescott had a great preseason, which is the same as saying your teenager survived driving school so you're sending the kid into the teeth of rush hour traffic for some takeout.
Let me go out on a limb here: Dak is smart, charismatic, a leader, a fourth-round steal who may indeed prove to be Romo's heir, but he's not ready to start a real-live NFL game next week. Neither is any of the quarterbacks who preceded him in the draft, by the way.
What Dak saw in the preseason won't even resemble what he'll see when the Giants line up across from him next week. It isn't just the pressure they'll bring, which is bad enough. It's what they'll pretend to do, then drop into something else to confuse him. And all at a speed he didn't see even in the SEC.
Jason Garrett and Scott Linehan will make the offense more friendly to Dak, which is something they didn't necessarily do for the poor saps who've had to replace Romo. They'll put in some read-option, because that's a true advantage Dak presents.
But how often will they take that risk with their starting quarterback?
Three times? Four, maybe?
Because it's not like they have a Plan C if another quarterback goes down.
The problem the Cowboys find themselves in going into the regular season didn't start when Romo broke something else. That makes five breaks, if you're scoring at home. Surely makes him the leader among current quarterbacks, and should make you strongly suspect it's a habit.
Romo's chronic condition never ceases to surprise Jerry, though. Every time his quarterback fails to get up, Jerry is as shocked as a rube at a Texas Hold 'em table.
One of the reasons he so rarely has drafted a quarterback was because he figured he already had one, and you can only play one at a time. The idea that the starter might get hurt, or that you should develop a quarterback, never really occurred to him, apparently. He'd get around to another one when he'd used up the current one.
Prescott does, indeed, appear to be a legitimate prospect. But it's simply too much to ask of any rookie quarterback not named Jameis Winston to carry a team. Especially one with playoff aspirations.
From 10 wins and maybe even 11, the Cowboys' potential record has slid to 7-9, at least in my humble opinion. If Romo is out eight weeks, what's your expectation of Dak? If he wins two or three, he's doing well.
If he breaks even, they should put up a statue of him at The Star.
My problem isn't with Dak; it's his timing. The Cowboys could have used him a couple of years ago. Or, more specifically, he could have used the time to marinate in the Cowboys' system.
Here's the way quarterback strata should look: The top layer is the starter, then a veteran back-up, then a quarterback to develop. The bottom layer should only work to the top in an emergency. Which this clearly is. But it never should have gotten to this point, either.
Besides the fact that Jerry rarely drafts quarterbacks with any potential, he just as infrequently gets the veteran back-up part right.
We can argue whether you thought Kellen Moore was legitimate before he got hurt. But what should have happened at that point was clear.
Namely, acquire a veteran quarterback. If he comes in and fails to beat out Dak, fine. The point is, he gets some time in the system instead of being thrown into the fire. Like poor Matt Cassel last season.
Sure, the Cowboys have brought in some veterans for a look. As a matter of fact, they talked to Austin Davis on Wednesday. As Stephen Jones put it, there's "still work to be done."
Translation: We never want to pay these guys what they want.
Jerry didn't mind paying Kyle Orton $10.5 million over three years starting in 2012. He wasn't awful, either. Not before he got a little weird and decided to leave, anyway.
Don't even bring up Brandon Weeden, who was A.) too inexperienced for a veteran back-up and B.) too old to qualify as a developmental quarterback.
Even if you thought Davis' 10 NFL starts were enough, a week's notice isn't enough to get him up to speed.
The lesson Jerry has never learned is that, with quarterbacks, especially, bad things tend to happen. Expecting Dak to make up for the general manager's mistakes is too much to ask of anyone, much less a rookie.