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Every NFL season is full of pressure for the Dallas Cowboys, and 2024 will be no different.
Dak Prescott became the first Cowboys quarterback to lead the NFL in touchdown passes (36) in 2023, earning him second-team All-Pro honors, albeit after a deflating 48-32 loss against seventh-seeded Green Bay. Packers, the pressure is on. Prescott is entering a contract year, as is head coach Mike McCarthy and his entire coaching staff. Expectations are heightened after three straight 12-win seasons, despite owner and general manager Jerry Jones declaring his team’s 2024 iteration in a “do it with less” situation.
Few people on planet Earth can truly understand the pressure that Prescott and McCarthy face every year, but retired Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, the team’s all-time leader in yards passing passing (34,183) and passing touchdowns (348), is one of them. CBS Sports’ lead NFL analyst described how he dealt with what Prescott, his successor, is going through.
“Playing professional sports is mentally difficult for anyone. It’s taxing because you come here, and if I say the wrong thing or something, somebody gets affected,” Romo said Thursday, via Sports Illustrated Fan Nation. “Now I’m pretty old, so for me it’s like ‘yawn’…you build up a turtle shell over the years and you’re just like, ‘Go play. Get better. Go play.’ and win. … “There’s a lot to do at quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys for Dak. He’s going to suffer the consequences like most quarterbacks do in any city. … When you play to the most nationally televised games, more people watch them.”
Romo described the increased spotlight Prescott and the Cowboys are facing as “a positive.” An understandable mindset to have when there’s really nothing the Dallas players can do to lessen the scrutiny they’re under. Except winning the Super Bowl, of course.
“The things that Jerry [Jones] helped build are incredible,” Romo said. “It’s a positive for the National Football League. Every player, every coach. All. …More eyeballs are a positive thing. I think it is very difficult to overcome this obstacle. You play great teams every year. It requires a very good combination of coach, player, team and sometimes random football, which you don’t want to depend on. Much of it is upstairs. You have to be able to manage it. Take it, digest it. Learn from it. Then customize it and go big. »
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