The 10 biggest what-ifs in Dallas Cowboys history

4. What if Tony Romo started in the 2016 playoffs?

In 2015, Tony Romo only appeared in four games due to injuries. And after dealing with Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel, and Kellen Moore in his absence, Dallas decided to get a quarterback to groom behind him.

They initially wanted Paxton Lynch but were unable to trade for him. They later tried to trade up for Connor Cook but again, nothing came to fruition.

That's when they decided to go with Dak Prescott in the fourth round. Taken at No. 135 overall out of Mississippi State, Prescott was seen as a read-option quarterback that needed to learn how to read NFL defenses. The plan was for him to spend a couple of years behind Romo but that plan was thrown out the window when Romo and Moore each got hurt.

Prescott wound up starting in Week 1 and never surrendered the job. This was fine in the regular season as he led them to a 13-3 mark and won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. But then in the playoffs, Prescott got off to a sluggish start as he and the Cowboys fell behind 21-3 to the Green Bay Packers.

Prescott turned it up at the end of the second quarter and then led Dallas to 18 points in the fourth. They even tied it up with 35 seconds to go. Unfortunately, a freakish play by Aaron Rodgers led to a game-winning 51-yard field goal from Mason Crosby and Prescott was 0-1 in the postseason.

Leading up to the game, there were calls for Romo to start in the playoffs since he was healthy. While fans acknowledged Prescott was the future, the belief was Romo could lead them further since he had experience and never had a back like Ezekiel Elliott to work with.

The fact that Prescott led them back from a 21-3 deficit only gave more credence to the argument that Romo should have started. If so, they likely don't start out with an 18-point deficit and perhaps get one more shot in his final season.