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Cowboys' Dak Needs His 'Rory Moment' In 2025

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Adam Schultz | Last updated Apr 15, 2025 10:36 AM ET

For most, the biggest thing missing from Dak Prescott's Dallas Cowboys resume is a Super Bowl win.

No, he doesn't have the MVPs and other awards like other quarterbacks, but Dak has been a winner in the regular season, ranking fifth in wins (76) since 2016 (his draft year), and that's with two seasons ruined by injury (76-46 all-time regular season record).

Dak has been a three-time Pro Bowler, led the league in passing touchdowns (36 in 2023), and never had a losing season in which he played the full year.

But for all of that, it's Dak's poor playoff performances that take the shine off his resume. A 2-5 record isn't great, and like golfer Rory McIlroy, who finally completed the career grand slam at the Masters, 11 years after his last major win, for CBS Sports' Bryan DeArdo, Prescott is in desperate need of a similar breakthrough for his footballing legacy.

"At this point, Prescott's career is similar to predecessor, Tony Romo, who led the Cowboys to a pair of playoff wins but was unable to end Dallas' NFC title game drought, let alone its Super Bowl drought," DeArdo wrote.

"Romo's legacy isn't bad at all, especially when you add in the fact that he was a former undrafted rookie. But if Prescott wants to be placed in the same category as Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach (the quarterbacks who led the Cowboys to their five Super Bowl wins), he needs to join them as a world champion."

In the next two seasons, there is a very real chance that Dak will become the franchise leader in wins (needs 18 to pass Troy Aikman), passing yards (needs 2,746 to overtake Tony Romo), and passing touchdowns (needs 35 to pass Romo).

So to lead the franchise in three key stats, but not have that Lombardi trophy will be a glaring omission from Dak's resume.

He is everything you want in a franchise quarterback off the field, and has the right intangibles on it, but the lack of ultimate success is what all his haters cling to.

He has bounced around from being a top 10 quarterback who finished second in MVP voting in 2023 to being called "trash" and everything in between.

Get that Super Bowl, and the entire narrative around him changes.

It took Rory 11 years to finally complete his grand slam; maybe Dak's is just around the corner, too.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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