Dallas Cowboys asking Dak Prescott to win with less, but he can do it

As the Dallas Cowboys prepare for their season-opening, Sunday night showdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they head into familiar territory as underdogs not because it’s the Bucs they’re facing, but because the Cowboys have never beaten Tom Brady.

Never beating a Brady-led team is not the only reason the Cowboys are underdogs, because there are question marks galore surrounding the entire offensive line (not Zack Martin), starting with rookie left tackle Tyler Smith (his ability to protect the quarterback) and ending with the new group of wide receivers and their ability to step up and help WR1, CeeDee Lamb.

With all of those unknowns and because he is the head coach, Mike McCarthy is responsible for fixing those issues and taking the Dallas Cowboys to their second consecutive NFC East crown and fifth since 2014. On paper, Coach Big Mac will be on the hot seat, but the true pressure will be on Dak Prescott to deliver and take this team to the promised land.

With so many changes on offense, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott must carry the weight and overcome

Since Dallas’ 12-5 record last season, they lost three of their top wideouts (but Michal Gallup will back), lost future Hall of Famer Tyron Smith to an injury, La’el Collins was traded, and now Lamb must prove he’s the true WR1 we all believe he’s to be.

Not one franchise quarterback in the league, and I mean not one, lost more on offense than Dak this offseason, but he is expected to overcome these mammoth issues and prove he’s still a top-10 signal caller even without the talent around him.

Come on now, Dallas is rolling out a raw rookie to do battle with some of the most ferocious edge rushers in the name of protecting Dak. But of course, Dak is expected to have eyes in the back of his head to avoid those devastating sacks.

I do not envision Dak playing patty-cake with plays not working, mainly running plays. Dak has no choice but to takeover this offense because he’s all they got!

That’s a lot for any promising rookie to overcome, regardless of their high ceiling. Thankfully, they signed another future Hall of Famer, Jason Peters, to protect Dak’s blindside and eventually teach the younger Smith.

Everyone knows the pressure is on Dak to succeed with less and somehow make wide receivers like Noah Brown, Jalen Tolbert, Simi Fehoko into instant Pro Bowlers.

Also, they want to see if Dak can do like it Brady and other quarterbacks, making others around them better. Except those signal callers have boatloads of talent around them, and their front office makes it a priority to surround them with talent at all times. Translation: those quarterbacks will always succeed

But guess what, Dak is the one quarterback built for a career-changing season where he proves his critics wrong and supersede the negative talk. Or in Dak’s case, overcome the missteps of his own front office.

This is the time Dak takes the proverbial “next step” and makes those around him so much better. When it happens, the doubters have to give him his just due. Dak has been doing it his entire football career, including college.

Think about it, Dak played so good during his rookie preseason that he became the primary backup to Tony Romo, and then Dak proved he was the real deal when he took over for Romo that same season and won a franchise record 11 straight games.

Not only did Dak replace a more proven quarterback that year, but Dak went on the road and beat two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks (Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers), set a new record for the most pass attempts to start a pro career without throwing an interception (176 passes, passing Brady’s record), won rookie of the year, and nearly came back and beat the Green Bay Packers in a critical playoff loss.

Now that’s defeating pressure as rookie!

Nobody expected the raw rookie and fourth-round pick out of Mississippi State to accomplish all of the aforementioned goals, let alone being perceived as nothing more than a project quarterback at best. Even then backup quarterback Kellen Moore was projected to start over Dak.

Every time an obstacle has come Dak’s way or faced pressure; he’s cleared that hurdle it with ease. After not having a particular sophomore season in the NFL, Dak proved them wrong when Dallas acquired Amari Cooper and the two helped each other get paid to lucrative contracts. In other words, Dak took lemons and made some sweet ole lemonade that season and won his first playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks.

Remember they said Dak couldn’t throw downfield, but Dak and Coop were perfect together.

Dak has continued to get better each and every season, even when Dallas has missed the playoffs. In 2019 and 2020 Dak proved he was worthy of receiving a huge contract because of the numbers he put up. If not for the season-ending ankle injury in 2020, Dak was on pace to break every NFL passing record.

Dak beat the odds last year when he passed for 4,449 yards, 37 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, set a franchise record for most touchdowns, won the NFC East for the third time in his career, and played on an injured calf in the second half of last season. Statistically, Dak finished the season as a top-10 quarterback and being one of the most prolific downfield passers. My Gawd.

Site expert Reid Hanson writes an interesting article on Dallas’ offense regressing because of some of the things I’ve mentioned above. However, I believe this is the year where Dak takes complete control of the offense in that he will scrap so many plays with an audible to give this offense the best chance to win.

I do not envision Dak playing patty-cake with plays not working, mainly running plays. Dak has no choice but to takeover this offense because he’s all they got!

Coach Big Mac and Moore will do their best to secure their jobs and win games, but we all know it’s in the hands of Dak to lead the charge. By Dak overcoming so many obstacles and proving the naysayers wrong in his NFL career, I expect him to continue to do same.

And when Dak elevates this underdog offense to overachieve, just maybe he’ll get credit for winning with less…because that’s the most unrealistic pressure ever to be under!