The franchise quarterback of a popular NFL team went down with a serious injury early in the year, but his young backup has come out of nowhere to put the club back on track.
Wait, where have we heard that before?
Rookie Dak Prescott has been excellent for the Dallas Cowboys, leading the team to a 4-1 record after they lost starting QB Tony Romo to a back injury in the preseason. In fact, the 135th overall pick in this year’s draft has been so good that he’s already drawing comparisons to one of the greatest QBs ever. In an ESPN.com feature on Prescott, former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis admitted Prescott is on a similar early career path as Tom Brady.
“The analogy is pretty striking if you think about it,” Weis told ESPN.com.
Brady famously took over for the injured Drew Bledsoe in Week 2 of the 2001 season, then went on to lead the Patriots to a Super Bowl. But instead of lighting up defenses, the young Brady found early success by playing conservative — he didn’t throw a single touchdown pass during his first three games, but also didn’t throw an interception until Week 7.
That’s where Weis sees the comparison between TB12 and Prescott, who has seven total touchdowns (four passing, three rushing) to zero interceptions through five games.
“If you want to draw a parallel, it’s very similar to Tommy in 2001,” Weis said. “We didn’t start too fast with Tommy — similar to what they’ve done with Dak — didn’t give him too much early, and then it grew from there.”
Romo could be healthy as early as Week 8, so the Cowboys will face a similar conundrum as the 2001 Patriots did with Brady and Bledsoe. And while no one is saying Prescott is the next Brady, Dallas might want to think twice before handing the reins back to Romo.
Thumbnail photo via Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports Images
