There were a lot of folks out there who thought that Joe Milton would threaten Dak Prescott's standing as the Dallas Cowboys' franchise quarterback. If anything, Milton's play over the first two preseason games has reinforced Prescott's value to the team.
Even though Milton needs the reps, he's been so underwhelming that the Cowboys might be better off starting Will Grier so the offense can actually get into a rhythm before the third quarter.
Unfortunately, the reps argument has won out as Brian Schottenheimer announced Monday that Milton will start Friday's preseason finale against the Falcons. That is a huge deal for Dallas' quarterback competition, but the bigger story is that Dak Prescott will not play in the game.
Cowboys playing with fire not giving Dak Prescott any preseason snaps
Prescott playing one or two preseason drives is not going to determine whether he takes home an MVP this season. However, it feels very significant that he hasn't taken a snap in a game setting since last November when he suffered a season-ending hamstring injury against the Falcons.
The Sept. 4 opener against the Eagles, fresh off a Super Bowl win if you needed a reminder, will mark 10 months since Prescott's last action.
Nobody's saying that Prescott needs to play a full half, or even a full quarter, to be ready to take on Philadelphia in two weeks. But one or two drives to shake off the rust, make sure the offensive line understands his cadence and get on the same page with his WRs is hardly asking a lot.
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Of the seven NFL teams that hired new head coaches this offseason - the Jets, Jaguars, Bears, Saints, Jaguars, Patriots, Raiders and Cowboys - Dallas is the only one that hasn't given their projected starting QB any burn in the preseason.
Prescott admittedly has far more experience than most of those quarterbacks, he has a new right guard in Tyler Booker and a temporary new starting left tackle in Nate Thomas, as well as a new WR2 in George Pickens.
It's possible that Prescott's injury history influenced the decision. The Cowboys would never live it down if Prescott suffered a multi-week or serious injury in an exhibition.
However, that hasn't stopped the Chiefs from playing Patrick Mahomes, the Bengals from playing Joe Burrow, the 49ers from playing Brock Purdy or the Texans from playing C.J. Stroud. Even Tom Brady, the consensus greatest quarterback ever, always played in the preseason.
The end-of-season schedule is too unforgiving for Dallas to start out slow. Prescott is that good that he may coming out firing on all cylinders, but it is just as likely that he shows some rust out of the gates.
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