Dak Prescott never gave Tony Romo his job back when he took over as the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys nine years ago. Now Prescott is on the verge of breaking Romo’s franchise record for passing yards. The touchdown mark should follow, either late this season or early next. Prescott started out as a two-month fill-in after Romo injured his back in a 2016 preseason game. He has since made 10 opening-day starts, one more than Romo. Prescott needs 160 yards passing Sunday against Philadelphia to break Romo’s mark of 34,183.
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott never gave Tony Romo his job back when he took over as the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys nine years ago.
Now Prescott is on the verge of breaking Romo's franchise record for passing yards, and the touchdown mark should follow, either late this season or early next.
What started as a two-month fill-in after Romo injured his back in a preseason game has led to 10 opening-day starts for Prescott, one more than Romo. With 160 yards passing Sunday against Philadelphia, Prescott will break Romo's mark of 34,183.
“I was on the (national TV) production call and they asked me the same thing, would I have thought this 10 years ago?” Prescott said. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I was very arrogant as a rookie.’ When you’ve played in this game long enough and you can stay healthy, with my expectations of what my play is, that’s supposed to happen. So just thankful, humbled, super grateful to be playing a game I love at this high of a level.”
Prescott is set for his 15th start against the Eagles (8-2) when the Super Bowl champions renew their NFC East rivalry with the Cowboys (4-5-1). His second game against Philadelphia was the last of Romo's NFL career, which was all with the Cowboys.
Dallas ran off a single-season franchise record of 11 consecutive victories after losing Prescott's debut in 2016, and the top seed in the NFC was all but secured when the Cowboys visited the Eagles to finish the regular season.
Prescott had already risen from unheralded fourth-round draft pick — and arguably the fourth-string QB at the start training camp — to the eventual AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. So Romo was relegated to a ceremonial sendoff in Philadelphia and led a touchdown drive on the third Dallas possession, his only one of the game.
All these years later, Prescott and Romo share plenty of similarities, the most notable being an inability to get the Cowboys deep in the playoffs. Romo had a 2-4 playoff record. Prescott's is 2-5.
They're both crowding the top of the club's career passing lists, which include Pro Football Hall of Famers and multiple Super Bowl winners Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.
Prescott broke Aikman's record for completions earlier this season and has 3,033. He needs 14 TD passes to break Romo's mark of 247. Another 200 pass attempts will push Prescott past Aikman.
As for the most important number, Prescott said it was probably completion percentage, and he is well on his way to having that club record, sitting at 67.1% with Romo second at 65.3%.
In the moment, though, Prescott forgot about wins (he's currently third with 80, 14 back of Aikman and five behind Staubach). The 32-year-old will be hard-pressed to reach Staubach's two Super Bowl titles, much less Aikman's three.
“As the head coach, I think you definitely have to focus on the wins,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “I honestly did not even know that he was in position to break a record. He’s obviously not walking around talking to me about it. I know what he really wants. It’s not his name individually in the record books. It’s his name collectively with this group of young men, his teammates, his brothers, doing something much, much better than just having individual accolades.”
Romo, now the lead analyst for CBS, signed the franchise's first $100 million contract in 2013. Prescott has since signed two, the most recent being the first in NFL history with an average annual value of $60 million.
With Prescott signed through 2028, there's a solid chance he will top Aikman's club record of 12 opening-day starts. That should give him at least a couple more chances to end Dallas' 30-year spell without even a trip to the NFC championship game since the storied franchise's fifth Super Bowl title to cap the 1995 season.
Even if he doesn't, Prescott is putting himself in a place reserved for not many Cowboys.
“Dak deserves it,” receiver CeeDee Lamb said when asked about the passing yardage record. “He’s done a lot of things for this franchise, this organization. He’s the epitome of a leader and a dynasty, essentially. As for Dak, he’s going to get that. I have no doubt about it. He’s going to get it probably in the first quarter.”
Maybe not that quickly, but Prescott looks much more like the MVP candidate of two years ago after missing the final nine games last season with a torn hamstring.
His hottest stretch was a four-game run with at least three TD passes and no interceptions, and he's tied for second with 21 scoring tosses. He's essentially tied for third in that favorite category of his with a 69.9% completion rate.
The offseason acquisition of George Pickens has given Prescott a second receiving threat on par with Lamb. Behind free agent pickup Javonte Williams, the running game has been productive since the start of the season, rather than after the club had faded from playoff contention, as was the case last season.
“So much fun,” Prescott said. “We’ve got playmakers out there that make my job easier, just get them the ball, watch these guys run, but it’s all 11 of us. Whoever’s out there, the guys that come in, it’s the people that are making it fun too. Just a lot of unselfishness out there.”
The way Schottenheimer sees it, the rest of the 11 are taking those cues from Prescott.
“I think he’s invaluable in so many ways … from leadership, from accountability,” the coach said. “You love that about your leader, one of your best players, the confidence he exudes, the way he’s teaching and reading some of these young guys.”
The record book says Prescott isn't one of those young guys anymore.
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