Trey Lance’s first live-game action as a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys left something to be desired.
While he failed to lead a touchdown drive despite seeing action for most of the game, he didn’t turn the ball over.
He ended up as the team’s leading rusher in the 13-12 loss to the Rams in the preseason opener on Sunday. His arm, though, was the cause for concern.
Lance ended the game 25-of-41 for 188 yards, adding 44 yards on six carries.
His stat line had many of Dak Prescott’s defenders crowing on social media.
We’ll set aside it was Lance’s first live-game action since 2022. We’ll also set aside that he didn’t have the starting line and skill players out there with him too.
No, he didn’t light it up on Sunday. No, he didn’t stake his claim to be the opening game starter either.
And no, he didn’t supplant Cooper Rush as the backup to Prescott for that matter.
He may not be the long-term answer if Prescott departs via free agency after this year. Neither could Rush.
For the voices calling for Prescott to be overpaid – blowing up the Cowboys salary cap for years at the same time – Lance’s efforts are their Exhibit A.
Exhibit B – per the posts I’ve seen – is that Prescott’s departure will usher in the return to the dismal years of 2001-2005. When the Cowboys wandered the void in search of a starting quarterback.
Wandering In The Sinai
For the five years after Troy Aikman retired following the 2000 season, the Cowboys started these quarterbacks:
- Quincy Carter
- Anthony Wright
- Ryan Leaf
- Clint Stoerner
- Chad Hutchinson
- Vinny Testaverde
- Drew Henson
- Drew Bledsoe
The combined record for these eight quarterbacks from 2001 through 2005 was 35-45. By the time Bledsoe’s run ended in the 2006 season, that record was 38-48.
Tony Romo’s emergence as the starter finally ended the nightmare.
Since then, Romo was the starter through 2015. Then Prescott took over in 2016 and has held the job since.
Both have missed games because of injuries, but both were always the QB1 for every season.
They have both had winning seasons and led the Cowboys to the playoffs in multiple years. But neither led Dallas past the Divisional round.
This year may be Prescott’s last chance to do so.
The Fatal Flaw
The logic of the defenders of Prescott is fatally flawed by an assumption: If Prescott leaves the Cowboys, they will immediately become the Carolina Panthers.
You only have to look at the Philadelphia Eagles from 2017 to 2023 to expose that flaw.
In 2016, the Eagles traded up to the second overall pick. They took quarterback Carson Wentz. The next year, Wentz – before getting hurt – led the Eagles to the top of the division.
The team went on to win the Super Bowl that year.
Wentz got the Eagles to the playoffs in 2018 and 2019 but – like Romo and Prescott — could not get past the divisional round. After the 2020 season, Wentz was replaced by Jalen Hurts.
Hurts has made the playoffs in all three of his seasons – losing in the Super Bowl in 2022 at that.
Clearly, the Eagles saw their current quarterback could not take them that next step.
So they went out and found one who could.
Franchise Quarterbacks Are Hard To Find
Finding a long-term answer at quarterback is not easy. But NFL teams don’t win Super Bowls without one.
Unless you’re the Baltimore Ravens and have a defense that no one can score on.
That was over two decades ago, so let’s focus on getting a quarterback, shall we?
If you can’t draft one, you better be able to develop one. And that’s where the Cowboys have fallen short ever since Danny White became the starter in Dallas back in 1980.
The Cowboys had White serve as a punter for years as he served as understudy for Roger Staubach.
When White started to decline after leading the Cowboys to three straight NFC championship games, Dallas never had his replacement at the ready.
The Cowboys got lucky when they landed Aikman in 1989. But again, they never worked on having his replacement ready.
So, when Aikman retired, no one was there to fill the void.
They got lucky again with Romo as well as Prescott.
That luck always runs out. And it’s looking like the Cowboys will have to rely on luck once again.
Rush is 5-1 as a starter though. If Prescott leaves, Rush might get them through a couple of seasons until they can draft and develop the new franchise quarterback.
Lance is off to a shaky start and is looking less like he was worth a fourth-round pick after Sunday. But he still has room — and time — to grow.
You know one NFL team that hasn’t had to rely on luck, because they get the replacement early and give him time to grow into the job?
The Green Bay Packers.
Since 1992, they have had three starting quarterbacks – Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and now Jordan Love.
Rodgers served as Favre understudy for three seasons before replacing him. Love spent two years backing up Rodgers.
Not The End Of The World
Rush has been with the Cowboys since 2017.
If Prescott leaves, Rush could step in. Certainly, for long enough to develop the next franchise quarterback.
And again, Rush is 5-1 as a starter.
That’s a far cry from the dismal records from 2001-2005.
Lance is starting his second year with the Cowboys – his fourth in the NFL. He has a chance to develop into one as well.
Does that mean that Rush or Lance are the next franchise quarterbacks in Dallas?
Who knows?
But it certainly means that Prescott’s departure isn’t automatically a return to the 5–11 seasons that this century began with either.