The overwhelming burden of being Dak Prescott

No matter what Dak Prescott does, critics will view him as America’s true villain.

The quarterback narrative in Big D never changes. The face of the Dallas Cowboys changes over the years, but the storyline is still recycled over and over. The career linage of Dak Prescott proves that the more things change, the more things remain the same.

Entering his fifth season as the captain of America’s Team, the 27-year-old embarks on a journey to prove he is different from the slate of Cowboys quarterbacks before him. Since Troy Aikman in the 1995 season, no Cowboy has come close to touching a Lombardi Trophy.

Even his predecessor, Tony Romo, is included in this list. Despite throwing nearly 35,000 passing yards and owning a 97.1 quarterback rating, which is fourth on the all-time list, the closest Romo got to a trophy was from the broadcast booth.

You see, with all the favorable talents Romo owned, he was still stuck in a driver’s seat designed to eject him. It’s the defining, essential criteria of becoming the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.

The job is flat out unfair. It’s no wonder the organization cycled through a roller coaster of applicants before hitting the lottery with Tony Romo in 2003.

But even then, the organization didn’t know what they had until Romo excelled and lifted his resumé to front-page news. To his credit, Romo owned the spotlight in Dallas, essentially becoming the front man of the band, the drummer, bassist, and lead guitarist gig after gig, night after night.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how this configuration could go wrong. Plagued by terrible draft picks and low-quality coaching, the true ceiling of Tony Romo was never discovered. His years were wasted. And to thank him for his services, the world (especially Dallas Cowboys fans) labeled him the villain and thanked him by appreciating his faults.

He tries to do too much with the football. He thinks too much before the huddle. The critics said it all. And you know what, they were probably right.

But what on earth do you expect of someone when the organization forces the quarterback play offense and defense mentally? Romo patched up so many security holes during his campaign years, one has to wonder how his body didn’t give up sooner.

And from that storyline, Romo essentially took one final snap to hand the ball off to Dak Prescott. Congratulations Dak, the job is yours now.

Overcoming all odds, Dak Prescott must become a champion to triumph

Fair or not, Dak Prescott’s flight path is much more favorable. He gained a new head coach in Mike McCarthy, an offensive-minded guy who has coached some of the best quarterbacks this league has ever witnessed. Prescott has Ezekiel Elliott behind him, and not to mention, a standout offensive line that has awards left to right.

Oh, and somehow the football gods found a glitch in the Matrix by awarding Dak Prescott with a trio of wide receivers that are pretty much designed to detonate this league. At the very least, Michael Gallup, CeeDee Lamb, and Amari Cooper are components to set off some very nice fireworks.

Comically, the Cowboys won the lottery with Dak Prescott. And to top that off, Prescott won the lottery by gaining the best wide receiver core in the entire NFL. Go figure.

Overall, the Dallas Cowboys blueprint has improved since the Tony Romo days, thanks to numerous successive draft choices over the years. So, in other words, it’s Prescott’s burden to win and win a whole lot. Frankly, when you think about it, the burden is greater for this era of a quarterback because Prescott has little wiggle room for excuses.

Right now, the optics around Dak Prescott tend to go in only two directions. You either love him, or you hate him. You either believe in him, or you don’t. The movie narrative never changes in Big D. The quarterbacks either bring home a championship, or they don’t.

Nothing new to see here, folks. Just the life of a starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.