Injury to Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott the worst of sports, and ends their season
Every time 2020 allows you to believe things are going to improve, it pulls you back in.
On the same day Washington’s Alex Smith returned from one of the NFL’s most gruesome injuries, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott suffered one of his own.
Watching Prescott cry uncontrollably as he was carted off the field with a little more than six minutes remaining in the third quarter of the Cowboys game against the New York Giants on Sunday will mark the entire season, and potentially his career.
With 6:46 remaining in the third quarter, Dak’s right ankle turned awkwardly after a run, and was pointed in the wrong direction.
These are the sports injuries that make you sick, and want to watch Netflix for the rest of your life.
With Dak looking at a right foot that was not where it’s supposed to be, players took to a knee; Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and New York Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett came out to the field and put their arms around the other.
Garrett was Dak’s coach for his first four years in the league, and these are the instances when there are no separate sidelines, or different teams.
In that moment, there was no such thing as a Dak hater. If you are, move.
Dak was taken to a local hospital for further observation, but we know what’s coming. Dak was scheduled for surgery on Sunday night.
Right ankle compound fracture.
The last time we saw something this gruesome was when then Cowboys receiver Allen Hurns suffered a fractured ankle during the Cowboys’ playoff win against the Seattle Seahawks in the wildcard game at AT&T Stadium in January of 2019.
While watching Dak being placed on the trainer’s cart, members of the Jones family consoled each other with hugs, through tears.
They know.
They’ve seen this before.
In October of 2010, starting quarterback Tony Romo suffered a season-ending broken clavicle. It was such an emotional moment, team owner Jerry Jones’ wife, Gene Jones, did something she never does: Went to the small “perch” where Jerry and his sons watch the games, to console each other.
On Sunday, Romo was calling the game as a member of the CBS broadcast team.
He knows.
We all do.
Losing a franchise quarterback to a season-ending injury is a catastrophe that changes a team, and a league. Whatever positive the Cowboys do from this point forward is a gift.
Dak was enjoying a career season after he rejected several long-term contract offers to accept a one-year franchise tag.
Even though Dak’s performance is a source of constant debate, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys have made it no secret that they are committed to Dak Prescott for the long term. They aren’t lying.
There is no way the Cowboys will give Dak a monster, multi-year extension before he can prove he is all the way back from this injury.
Former TCU quarterback and Cincy Bengal Andy Dalton is now the starting quarterback of the local team. I love Andy Dalton, and he’s not Dak Prescott.
Even with Dak putting up video game stats, the Cowboys’ season was still off to a bad start. Dalton is not going to change that.
The 2020 season is now about the 2021 season, and the health of Dak Prescott.
He can come back, and he will.
But watching him cry his eyes out as he was carted off the field reminds us that 2020 isn’t over.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 7:22 PM.
