Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott opened training camp in July with the Super Bowl on his mind and nothing has changed as Sunday’s season opener against the New York Giants has approached.
It’s simply all that’s left for him to achieve after a rags to riches start to what has now become a star-crossed career that has him historically accomplished and seemingly left wanting.
When Prescott takes the field against the Giants it will be the 140th start as Cowboys quarterback that unceremoniously began with him being a fourth-round pick out of Mississippi State and falling into the starting job as a rookie due to injuries to quarterbacks Tony Romo and backup Kellen Moore.
Never in his wildest dreams did he believe what would transpire over the next year, let alone the next 10 years.
Prescott took the league by storm fashioning the finest season of any quarterback in NFL history at the time, winning rookie of the year honors and leading the Cowboys to 13-3 record and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs before succumbing to a miracle comeback Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC wildcard game.
That season opened with a start against the Giants and 11 years later he is again opening the season against the Giants, this time as the team’s longest tenured player.
“Blessed. Yeah, super blessed,” Prescott said when asked about making his 140th start against the team the had made his first start against. “A lot of hard work. I can’t say it’s by any surprise just from the amount of work and detail that I put into my job and just trying to get better each and every day and thankful. Thankful for all the different opportunities to play this game, thankful for all the different teammates I’ve had throughout the years. And lastly, hungry and excited to go make this the best one.”
Along the way Prescott has positioned himself as the face of the franchise, owner of the richest contract in NFL history (he is now second) and soon the record-book standard by which all Cowboys quarterbacks in the future will be judged.
He is already the team leader in passing yards, completion percentage, completions, attempts and passer ratings. He is second in passing touchdowns and third in totals wins.
Prescott will likely be first in both categories by the end of the season.
None of it matters.
Records are meant to be broken.
This season is about and the rest of Prescott’s career is about how he will be remembered.
Conventional wisdom says, Prescott’s rags to riches story from a lowly fourth-round pick to a franchise quarterback should be enough to be remembered and celebrated.
But his 2-5 record in the playoffs has coincided with the once-proud Cowboys now historic lack of postseason success.
Rather than the five Super Bowl titles, which remains third all-time in NFL history, the Cowboys are now known for a 30-year drought since their last Super Bowl title in 1996. More acute is that every other team in the NFC has gone to at least the NFC title game, save for the Cowboys, during that span.
And Prescott is now being painted, by some, as the poster boy for those failures.
The hope, dream, plan and focus is to break through before he retires with 2026 being the current focal point.
Prescott knows they have what it takes to win on offense as he leads one of the league’s most explosive attacks, along with receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
An improved and overhauled defense has given them reason to believe that this might be the year.
And so Prescott arrived in training camp with a t-shirt featuring the team’s last Super Bowl title on it.
He was sending a message to his teammates and everyone across the league.
It has certainly resounded loud and clear in the Cowboys locker room.
“We got to find a way to gel together and go win this ring,” Lamb said. “We don’t talk about it every day, that’s just the end goal every day.”
There is nothing to talk about for Prescott.
That goal is omnipresent for him.
After all the records and accolades, it’s all that’s left for him to accomplish.
Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman, the two standard bearers at the position in the organization, are not remembered for their team records. They are remembered for the titles they won. Staubach led his teams to two Super Bowl titles and Aikman three.
This season is and for the rest of his career is about Prescott’s legacy and how he will be remembered.
“I want to be present,” Prescott said. “I think if I handle that and take care of my job, people remember whatever they want to remember in this world, in this life. I can just do the best I can do with whatever opportunity I’m given. Records have never done it for me or excited me or been what I’m seeking out. Records are meant to be broken and I truly believe that. And so it’s just my time to break these records. A”
“And yeah I want to win the big game and that’s my focus. That’s what I care about. That’s what I’ll hang my head on when that happens.”
