Dallas Cowboys’ reality: Dak Prescott isn’t going anywhere. He needs serious help

Dak Prescott will celebrate his 30th birthday on July 29, and the Cowboys are married to him for at least two more years.

If that sentence makes you uncomfortable, stop reading now.

Given the nature of his contract, don’t be surprised when they extend his deal sometime in the next 18 months for salary cap relief.

If that sentence makes you ill, stop reading now.

Short of injury, there is nothing to suggest this team will move on from Dak Prescott for at least another three to four more years.

If that sentence makes you want to quit eating food, stop reading now.

Because here is your Dallas Cowboys reality: They love Dak Prescott. Spend a little time around him, and you’ll find he’s a hard guy not to like. Any creature with a heart would want to see a person like Dak Prescott succeed.

He is 61-36 in his career as an NFL starting quarterback. He’s proven to be good enough to make the playoffs. In his six seasons as the full-time starter, the team has made the playoffs three times (he missed 11 games in 2020 with an ankle injury).

He has not proven to be good enough to win in those playoffs. The Cowboys are 2-4 in the playoffs under Dak.

After watching the Cowboys’ latest playoffs finish two wins short of the Super Bowl, the team’s mission is clear: Find the quarterback they love some real weapons, or accept the finale we all just watched will happen again and again.

How the Cowboys got here, again

When the Cowboys re-tooled their team in the spring of 2022, few of us experts believed they made the necessary upgrades to be an upper tier contender. The Cowboys were confident they had.

Both sides can say they were right.

The Cowboys finished 12-5 for a second consecutive season; seven teams this season won 12 or more games.

Also, the 2022 Dallas Cowboys finished right where they should, effectively as the third-best team in the NFC. That’s what they were; ahead of the 13-win Minnesota Vikings, whom they crushed head-to-head, and behind the Eagles, 49ers as well as the AFC’s Chiefs, Bengals and Bills.

Unless the Cowboys find some shinier toys for their starting quarterback, they will be fortunate to finish here again in 2023.

Both the Cowboys fan, and the Cowboys themselves, have to get out of the business of bemoaning what Dak isn’t and go with what he is.

Dak is not Patrick Mahomes. He’s not Josh Allen. He’s not Joe Burrow.

Dak Prescott is a good NFL quarterback who needs top people around him.

He’s not going to take a stiff and make him a Pro Bowl player.

Find Dak real help

Dak has shown flashes of that rare ability to take an average receiver and make him look like a Pro Bowl player, the way Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and a few others could.

What Dak has consistently shown is that he’s a good player who needs proven Pro Bowl players around him for this team to succeed.

The Cowboys’ “brain trust” can only blame themselves for part of what happened on Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif.

Once the team decided they didn’t like receiver Amari Cooper, and traded him to Cleveland in the previous offseason in exchange for the NFL equivalent of extra trash bags, they hurt the QB they love.

Michael Gallup is “not him.” Oh-Noah Brown ain’t got it. Zeke Elliott’s time with the team should be over.

The Cowboys had two reliable toys for Prescott: CeeDee Lamb, and Tony Pollard.

Tight end Dalton Schultz is a nice NFL tight end, and we’re not talking about Travis Kelce.

The team participated in the preposterous reality TV show that was the Odell Beckham courtship. They signed veteran free agent T.Y. Hilton near the end of the season in the hopes that he could give the Cowboys something they desperately needed.

Gallup, who suffered a torn ACL in the second to last regular season game of 2021, came back this season and showed a flash or two of being a quality No. 2 receiver. Nothing consistent.

In the playoff loss at San Francisco, Dak’s first interception came on a pass intended for Gallup. Dak’s pass was terrible, and Gallup’s route was just about as bad.

After that play, and then coupled with the injury to Tony Pollard, Dak had one weapon he could trust.

CeeDee Lamb was the only player left he wanted to throw to, and the 49ers knew it.

Lamb’s progress in 2022 says he’s an upper tier receiver, and he can’t possibly be expected to carry this offense by himself.

The task now falls on Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, Will McClay, head coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator to figure out a way to find real players.

That means finding a rookie running back who can contribute immediately.

That means trades. That’s how they obtained Cooper the first time.

That means something Stephen loathes, going after free agents.

Both Dak Prescott and the Cowboys can say they are a good team, but unless they find the QB they adore quality help winning an NFC divisional round game is just another Jerry dream.

If that sentence makes you uncomfortable ... never mind, you read the whole thing and you are just used to the Dallas Cowboys.