When the Dallas Cowboys franchised tag their starting quarterback and no long term deal was negotiated, the last thing anyone expected was a Dak Prescott injury. After all, the man never missed a game in his entire career and he was on pace to break the single season record for passing yards. This past Sunday not only did we witness a Dak Prescott injury, but one of the most disturbing and catastrophic injuries imaginable. Now the Dallas Cowboys hope to rally behind their fallen comrade and salvage what remains of the 2020 NFL season. But many Cowboys fans can’t help but wonder; Is it even worth it?
The Dallas Cowboys still have a talented roster even though there are some spots such as defensive tackle and safety that have been neglected. If they could use this Dak Prescott injury as motivation it could propel them to a division title. It wouldn’t be the first time a team rallies around an injured teammate and perseveres in the face of adversity. Sometimes, it takes a traumatic event like a serious Dak Prescott injury to bring a team together. When the Dallas Cowboys signed Andy Dalton on a one year deal in the offseason, it was solely for insurance in the event of a Dak Prescott injury. Andy Dalton is a proven starter who is more than capable of leading a team to victory. Dalton is not Dak. Make no mistake about that. Still, Dalton could be a starter on several teams and he has a great deal of experience. It’s not out of the question to consider that he can lead this team to a first place in this lousy NFC East and into the playoffs. But then what? Is this defense good enough to take this team all the way? They showed signs of life last week but that was against a Giants team who hadn’t scored a touchdown in the two previous games. The same Giants whose offensive coordinator was the former head coach of this team and therefore a very familiar opponent. Yet the Cowboys still allowed those New York Football Giants to score 34 pts against them. No matter how well Andy Dalton and the offense can play in Dak’s absense, if the defense and special teams do not improve dramatically, this team doesn’t stand a chance.
That then begs the question, should the Dallas Cowboys tank this season? A high draft pick in the 2021 NFL draft to go along with all the extra compensatory picks due to the Cowboys next year sounds awfully nice. The trouble with that idea is that’s what losers do. NFL players have pride and will always try to win. It is the owners and general managers that try to tank and they do so by cleaning house and trading away assets. Trouble is, the Dallas Cowboys have a lot of dead money tied into their star players and then a lot of players who are near league minimum or still on their rookie deals. No, this team is not going to intentionally tank and you have to imagine that Andy Dalton can lead them to a respectable record.
So if the Dallas Cowboys are not going to tank, there is only way they could possibly finish with a poor enough record to earn a high draft pick next season. That is if they continue to play poorly enough that they allow the Eagles to win the division. So any fan who wants the Dallas Cowboys to have a high draft pick next year has to not only root for the Cowboys to lose, but for the Eagles to win. That’s just sacrilege in my opinion and completely unacceptable for anyone who calls themselves a Dallas Cowboys fan. The only acceptable thing to do for any self respecting Cowboys fan is to not give up and hope that the Dallas Cowboys can somehow pull it together. With a little luck and some confidence the Cowboys can get on a roll, improve defensively and on special teams, then potentially go on a deep playoff run. As for the draft picks…who cares? The draft is a crap shoot anyway and teams are wrong about players half of the time anyway. Picking in the top 10 doesn’t come with any guarantees and history has proven having quantity is better than quality when it comes to draft selections.
Heading into the 2020 NFL season, the worst thing that could happen for the Dallas Cowboys was a Dak Prescott injury. Now that this has become a reality, there is nothing more we have to fear. Let us Cowboy fans rally behind our team as the team is rallying behind it’s quarterback. Maybe, just maybe, we will all bear witness to something so improbable and so extraordinary that it could only happen in 2020.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso All-Pro Reels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode