After an extremely underwhelming offseason for the Dallas Cowboys in which they traded Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns for a 5th round pick, lost Randy Gregory to the Denver Broncos at the last second in free agency, and had a questionable draft, it looks like the Cowboys' season may be over before it really begins.
Last Sunday night, the Cowboys opened their season against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it could not have been more underwhelming. The Dallas defense was up to the task as they only allowed one touchdown all game long. However, it was a different story for the Dallas offense as they could only come up with an opening drive field goal in a 19-3 loss. To make matters worse, Dak Prescott injured his right thumb and is expected to be out for at least 6-8 weeks.
Although Dak Prescott got injured, he was struggling all game long against the Tampa Bay defense. Prescott finished the game with just 134 passing yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Prescott finished the game with a 48.3% completion percentage and the Cowboys were the only team that did not score a touchdown in week one.
Underperforming against the league's best teams has been a trend in Prescott's career as he never seems to consistently play up to his standards against the league's best. Before last season, Prescott signed a four year contract extension for 160 million dollars which at the time, made him the highest paid quarterback in the league. Although Dallas had a great regular season and went 12-5, they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card Round of last year's playoffs.
Dallas' roster was simply too good last year to not win at least one playoff game and although it is one of the most unfair things about football, the quarterback deserves a large portion of the blame. With a 1st place schedule this year, it is likely that Dallas will struggle without Prescott and he will have an immense amount of pressure on his shoulders to carry Dallas throughout the rest of the regular season.
Dak Prescott has been considered to be in a tier of quarterbacks bordering elite status because of the amount of games he has won as a starter and the numbers he has been able to put up. However, his inability to consistently perform well and win against playoff caliber teams has held the Cowboys back over his seven seasons with the team.
With the Eagles looking very formidable and teams like the Bengals, Rams, Packers, Vikings, and Titans on the schedule, Dallas will be tested this year and will look to depend on its 160 million dollar quarterback to come through. The question is, will he?