We Can’t Let Dak Prescott Slide Anymore; Jerry Jones Screwed Himself and the Cowboys Franchise
Nobody has been a more flagrant underachiever than Prescott — and after the Oct. 27 debacle, it’s time for a real conversation. The Cowboys lost to the San Francisco 49ers 30-24, a game that was much more lopsided than the final score shows. The Niners were up 17 points heading into the fourth quarter. In less than five minutes of game time, their lead dwindled from 27-10 to 30-24, where the score would stay.
But for Cowboys fans, the Oct. 27 scene was all too familiar. The team gets stomped by their opponent all game; come garbage time, Prescott and the Cowboys somehow make it close before failing to complete the comeback. And that’s if they even can come back; in most games, the team quits by halftime, like they did Sunday, Oct. 13, against Detroit. After the 49ers game, Prescott vowed that the team “has not given up,” but I’ll be the first to say it: The team has given up, the fans have given up — and Jones might not say it, but he has given up as well. And it’s all because of Prescott.
Jones should never have made Prescott the highest-paid player in NFL history. He shouldn’t have done that to start this season — and honestly, he shouldn’t have paid Prescott the first time back in 2020. Every year, the story with the Cowboys has been the same: a good — maybe great — regular season, only to falter completely come playoff time. Since arriving in Dallas, Prescott has a playoff record of 2-5 and some humiliating losses to boot. None more so than last year’s in the divisional round.
The Dallas Cowboys were the No. 2 seed in the NFC. They had a home playoff game against a first-year starter at quarterback and the youngest team in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers. The young Packers came into Dallas and embarrassed the Cowboys 48-32. That should have been the moment Jones put his foot down and moved on from Prescott. His contract had one year left, and he could have essentially washed his hands of Prescott because the fans were in an uproar over the playoff loss. But no, Jones fell to the public pressure and even took it a step further by giving him the largest NFL deal in history.
Jones doubled down on his bad decision, and he will rue the day for the rest of his life. Prescott is a bad quarterback, and it would be best for Jones and all of Cowboy Nation if they would stop pretending like he’s not. The Cowboys will never win a Super Bowl as long as Prescott is the QB, and he is tied to them until at least 2028. Unfortunately, Jones isn’t getting any younger at 82, which should heighten his sense of urgency.
The Cowboys’ season was over before it began. Yes, Jones could have done more and brought in better players in the offseason — but that’s not why they look terrible. Yes, their best defensive player, Micah Parsons, is injured, but that’s not why they look awful. The problem isn’t their lack of a running game or any of the above-stated. The real problem is they have a quarterback who is only good at the podium. They have a QB who is turnover-prone and always seems to throw interceptions at the worst moments or in the biggest games. The Cowboys’ biggest issue is — and was always — the play of Prescott.
The sooner they stop pretending like it isn’t, the better Jerry Jones and Cowboy Nation will be.
