The Dallas Cowboys have been an unstoppable force this season, but the New York Giants have been their one obstacle. The Giants earned their second win over Dallas, sweeping the NFC front-runners for the season in a boring 10-7 affair in which the defenses didn’t allow for much excitement on offense.
While a sweep at the hands of the Giants will be a source of frustration for the Cowboys, losing to them twice shouldn’t affect the standings, thanks to their commanding lead in the division over the Giants in the NFC East. However, the performance of rookie quarterback Dak Prescott should be a source of concern after his second poor performance against the Giants.
Prescott finished with just 165 yards in his worst game of the year, struggling in the Cowboys’ first big late-season test before the playoffs. The Giants’ defense completely locked down the Dallas aerial attack, forcing Prescott into making rookie mistakes — a rarity for him this year.
From a clean pocket, Dak Prescott was 7/21 for 91 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT tonight.
24.2 QB Rating. #DALvsNYG
— PFF (@PFF) December 12, 2016
According to Pro Football Focus, Prescott was 7-for-21 passing for just 91 yards from a clean pocket against the Giants defense that had a mammoth performance in coverage from Janoris Jenkins, Landon Collins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Prescott also threw two interceptions from a clean pocket according to PFF, which drives home his struggles to break down the Giants coverages after their defensive coaches poured over the film on the rookie from their Week 1 win over the Cowboys.
Based on Prescott’s struggles against the Giants combined with the Cowboys similar struggles in Week 13 against the Vikings where they scored just 17 points and needed an Adam Thielen fumbled punt to reach that total, the once quieted support for Tony Romo is set to make a comeback. At the worst possible time for the Cowboys, the likes of Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith, and column writers like myself are going to re-consider the debate of Prescott vs. Romo with the new facts at hand after the less experienced option failed a test of his ability to win games late in the season.
While Romo has had his struggles in big moments for the Cowboys, fans of the team along with a segment of the local and national media will feel the need to warm back to the idea of starting the veteran over Prescott. Romo has led the Cowboys into battle for over a decade and already had support even when the team was on an unstoppable run. Two less-than-stellar games from Prescott will certainly fuel a return to the debate that had reached its end in November with Romo’s supporters now given some small level of credibility after the struggles in two games against the Giants.
Dallas Morning-News already has a breakdown of Prescott’s record and stats against the Giants compared to Romo up on their site in their postgame recap with plenty of postgame quotes about the quarterback debate. That type of talk is a preview of the climate that is to come in the days leading up to what will be the Cowboys third prime-time game in three weeks.
Whether the debate that will play out on First Take and Undisputed this week even has merit should be up for discussion. It is entirely possible that head coach Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones are genuine in their comments that they will continue to stick with Prescott if he continues to struggle. Both were adamant that Romo still isn’t considered as an option at this present juncture after the game, the correct response from both parties. The Cowboys need to do whatever they can to quell attention to the topic while they focus on making the adjustments needed to get the offense back on track with Prescott. Jones and Garrett did exactly that last night by making it clear Romo won’t be considered in a situation where Prescott falters, and the Cowboys are still in a position to win.
Jason Garrett says the Cowboys never considered going to Tony Romo. Said they feel good with Dak as their QB right now.
— Damon R. Marx (@DamonMarxDMN) December 12, 2016
How the Cowboys handle the continued distraction that is Romo’s current status as the elephant in the room whenever Prescott has a rookie moment will define how their already successful first year with their new prospect ends in January. After two down games from Prescott where his tandem with fellow rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott failed to break 20 points on either occasion, the Cowboys desperately need a return to form for momentum purposes when they return home to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week.
The scenario of a potential third game of regression from Prescott would undo all the progress the Cowboys made when it comes to overcoming the distraction to the point where it was universally accepted that Romo would be the lesser option of the two players. That simply can’t happen if the Cowboys are to enter the playoffs distraction-free and focused on their task at hand of making a Super Bowl run to finish what they have started with their successful regular-season run.
Don’t expect the Cowboys to remotely consider Romo unless things get dire during the final three games. At the same time, any further slip-ups from Prescott the talk will continue to drift from whether he or Ezekiel Elliott deserve the MVP award to if Romo deserves his shot at running the offense to see if he is the better option. The mere presence of that distraction is a negative for the Cowboys when they need their young quarterback to have the utmost confidence in himself to push the franchise towards a championship. How the Cowboys respond to a down spell from Prescott and the offense over these final three games will determine the level of distraction Romo brings to the playoffs.
