Just as we always suspected, there are holes in Dak Prescott’s game. They’re growing more glaring every day.
First of all, he can’t kick. Second, he’s not much better at tackling. And as much as he might like to try, he can’t block for himself, nor can he take drug tests for those who do.
If Prescott can’t show a little more versatility, his Dallas Cowboys might be doomed.
It’s already looking like they’re in danger of spiraling beyond Prescott’s power to save them, and two medical procedures Thursday provided a glimpse of how much he needs to overcome.
In one operating room, the Cowboys’ best defensive player, DeMarcus Lawrence, underwent surgery on a broken foot.
In another, there was a procedure to repair the right quadriceps of Leon Lett, who at practice this week had an unfortunate encounter with a blocking sled.
At the age of 52.
As the Cowboys’ assistant defensive line coach.
Lett, according to head coach Mike McCarthy, won’t make the trip to Los Angeles this weekend for Dallas’ game against the Chargers. The three-time Super Bowl champ, two-time Pro Bowler and blooper-reel legend won’t be the only Cowboy who’ll miss what’s shaping up as an increasingly difficult bounce-back opportunity.
There were encouraging signs in an opening-night loss at Tampa Bay. But this Sunday, the Cowboys will have to carry on without as many as five starters.
Lawrence, the defensive end who looked poised for a monster season, will be sidelined at least six weeks. Randy Gregory, another defensive end, is on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Safety Donovan Wilson has missed practice time with a groin injury, and wide receiver Michael Gallup was placed on injured reserve with a calf issue.
Then there’s La’el Collins, the right tackle who stood as one of the most important buffers between Prescott’s surgically repaired body and oncoming pass rushers. He was suspended five games for what the NFL announced as a violation of its substance abuse policy.
None of this bodes well for Prescott, who in last week’s return looked better than anyone could have imagined but now somehow faces a task more daunting than the one he stared down in the offseason.
Coming back from the gruesome compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle, and then from a strained shoulder, was at least a process Prescott could control.
Dealing with everything that plagues the Cowboys?
That might be too much to ask of anybody.
Prescott wasn’t hailed as one of the stars of the NFL’s first weekend, even though he passed for more yards than Patrick Mahomes and Matthew Stafford did, and posted a higher rating than Tom Brady did.
Mahomes’ kicker, unlike Dallas’ Greg Zeurlein, didn’t miss any of his field-goal or extra-point attempts. Stafford’s defense got a stop or three. Brady’s receivers, unlike the generally spectacular CeeDee Lamb of the Cowboys, didn’t short-arm an important pass over the middle.
Such are the details that earn some quarterbacks the reputation as “winners” while others get accused of posting empty stats. When people talk about the intangible qualities that separate great quarterbacks from elite ones who win Super Bowls, what they’re often referring to is the caliber of players who share their locker room.
There had been hope that Prescott was going to be better equipped in that regard this season, and he still might be. But an onslaught of early injury and COVID-19 news — Gregory this week, and starting offensive lineman Zack Martin last week — hasn’t helped.
Considering the severity of the injury from which Prescott is trying to come back, as well as the fact that he didn’t appear in a single game in the preseason, expecting him to carry the Cowboys at any point this year was borderline unrealistic. Needing him to do it right away is downright unfair.
In retrospect, it was wrong to think Prescott’s health status made him one of Dallas’ top few question marks heading into the season. The team around him was the bigger concern, and still is.
It helps, of course, that the Cowboys remain a member of the NFC East, the division in which only Philadelphia won in Week 1. And even in yielding 31 points to the defending Super Bowl champions in the opener, Dallas’ defense showed enough to make people believe the unit shouldn’t be a disaster anymore. If Prescott has to score only four or five touchdowns to win each week, he can work with that.
But if the kicker keeps missing kicks, and if a key blocker keeps having difficulty with the drug policy, and if the sled keeps wreaking havoc with the coaching staff?
The holes in Prescott’s game will be exposed.
Just like they would be in anyone else’s.
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