Warren Moon says Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Presott must watch for fumbles when he returns

Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon commiserates with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who suffered a fractured thumb in Sunday’s season-opening 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Moon, who was among a host of NFL Legends to descend on Dallas-Fort Worth this week at the request of fellow Hall of Famer Charles Haley in support of his Tackle Tomorrow Foundation, fractured his thumb in the 1990 season when he was with the Houston Oilers.

“I slapped my hand on the helmet on a follow through,” Moon said. “The bone came out of the skin. It was an open dislocation. It was the second to the last game of the season in 1990. I was out for six weeks and missed the playoffs. I was devastated. I know how he feels. He had all this hope and anticipation for a great year and he goes out in the first game and have something like that happen.

“I feel bad for him.”

Moon recovery was six weeks which is what Prescott’s was supposed to be until he underwent surgery Monday.

Surgery revealed that Prescott suffered an extra-articular fracture to his right thumb. This is a fracture that occurs above the wrist joint and doesn’t extend into the joint itself.

Prescott is now expected to miss no more than four games and the Cowboys are hoping he misses as few as three.

Moon said the biggest difference between his injury and Prescott’s is that his was on the bone.

He said he worries about Prescott’s recovery and flexibility in the thumb after a surgery where a plate was inserted into the thumb to stabilize the joint.

Moon, showing off his right thumb, said his hand is still not right, “I can’t bend this thumb to this day.”

He said he had to change his grip in the off season because of the injury, unbeknownst to the coaches, doctors, trainers and front office.

”I never told them or told anybody,” Moon said. “At my age, if you start saying you got those type of problems, they are going to start looking for someone else. I just did it and made it happen. I was still effective.”

Moon played 10 more seasons in the NFL.

After his final season in Houston in 1993, he played three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, two seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

But his grip was never the same and he had problems holding on to the ball.

”Sometimes I couldn’t grip the ball like I wanted to,” Moon said. “I would get hit sometimes and the ball would fly out of my hand. I had a lot of fumbles because of that.”

Haley held “A Night with Legends” charity dinner at the Baylor, Scott & White Sports Academy on Monday in Frisco before a Celebrity Golf Tournament on Tuesday at the Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine.

The Who’s Who list of participants included Pro Football Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson, Anthony Munoz, Michael Irvin Marcus Allen, Ronnie Lott, Earl Campbell, Tony Dorsett, Mel Blount, Mean Joe Greene and Calvin Johnson among other Cowboys legends like Nate Newton, DeMarcus Ware, Daryl Johnson, Tony Hill, Tony Casillas, Darren Woodson, Tony Tolbert, Chad Hennings and Eric Williams.

Tackle Tomorrow is a non-profit organization founded in 2014 by Haley, a five-time NFL Super Bowl Champion, and Dallas civic leader Bob Bowie to improve early childhood literacy rates and provide family support services.