Archer: Why Cowboys QB Dak Prescott shouldn't play in fourth preseason game

Why Cowboys QB Dak Prescott shouldn't play in fourth preseason game

Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas -- Jason Garrett is treating who plays or does not play Thursday against the Houston Texans as state secrets. Or maybe he doesn’t want to anger those in the NFL offices for letting everybody know how much of a sham it is for fans to pay full prices for tickets.

But the Dallas Cowboys coach has something of a dilemma for Thursday.

While Garrett has yet to say it publicly, Tony Romo will not play in the Sept. 11 season opener against the New York Giants because of a compression fracture in his back. Dak Prescott will start.

Does Garrett get Prescott playing time against the Texans because the young quarterback needs the experience?

Prescott has played 109 snaps in the preseason, including 43 against the Seattle Seahawks. He has completed 39 of 50 passes for 454 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. He has run for two scores. If he is not throwing passes to Dez Bryant or Jason Witten, what is the benefit of throwing passes to Rodney Smith and Rico Gathers? If he is not getting protection from Tyron Smith and Zack Martin, what is the benefit of him getting protected by Bryan Witzmann and Boston Stiverson?

So if Prescott plays, that should mean the rest of the Week 1 starters should play. That amplifies the risk of injury for not only Prescott but everybody else.

On Monday, Garrett said the playing time conversations have not taken place. He said the roster decisions, with the first cuts coming today, had not taken place either. It makes you wonder what they meet about every night after practice.

But why would Garrett play Prescott at all.

“Again, we'll get into who is playing and how much they are playing here in the next couple of days,” Garrett said. “We'll let you guys know as soon as we make those determinations.”

Sure they will.

Let us help: It’s just not worth it at this point to play Prescott or anybody else the Cowboys will be counting on in the regular season.

The rest of the preseason is about getting ready for the New York Giants on Sept. 11. Fifteen snaps against the Texans will mean nothing.

I think I want Prescott and the starters resting up and preparing for the Giants. Lord knows that is what the Giants are doing. If we play starters aren't we putting our team at a disadvantage. Plus an extra half of playing time in preseason won't drastically make Prescott better. He will get all the real life playing time he needs once the season starts.

Cowboysrock55 said:

I think I want Prescott and the starters resting up and preparing for the Giants. Lord knows that is what the Giants are doing. If we play starters aren't we putting our team at a disadvantage. Plus an extra half of playing time in preseason won't drastically make Prescott better. He will get all the real life playing time he needs once the season starts.

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This.

I want my rookie QB to get as much experience heading into the season as possible. I'm a little surprised everyone else seems to be so against it

dallen said:

I want my rookie QB to get as much experience heading into the season as possible. I'm a little surprised everyone else seems to be so against it

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Yeah, I give him at least a couple of series.

But, yet, he won't play, according to Garrett.

dallen said:

I want my rookie QB to get as much experience heading into the season as possible. I'm a little surprised everyone else seems to be so against it

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I'm against it because he's literally all we have at QB. I see no need to risk injury in a meaningless game.

If they do decide to play him they'd better put the starting OL in there along with a vet RB who can pass protect.

dallen said:

I want my rookie QB to get as much experience heading into the season as possible. I'm a little surprised everyone else seems to be so against it

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It's not so much him playing but who he is playing with and against.

If he not throwing to the same guys he will in the regular season any benefit is pretty much shot.

dallen said:

I want my rookie QB to get as much experience heading into the season as possible. I'm a little surprised everyone else seems to be so against it

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I'm with you on this. Regular season is not the time to try to hone players. Apparently one of the purposes o f having preseason games has been forgotten. These are the games where you test your new personnel as well as fine tuning players that need game time experience. The final preseason game offers an opportunity to introduce Prescott to things he will use in the regular season.

Jiggyfly said:

If he not throwing to the same guys he will in the regular season any benefit is pretty much shot.

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That is right and I don't want Dez having a sore ankle going into week one because he played football only a week ago. I want my starters bodies to be at full rest. It's not even about injuries as much as it is just about the beating players take while playing in a game. They never fully recover over the course of the week. Giving them this extra week rest sort of makes sure that week one your guys are as close to 100% as possible.

It's not cut and dry and I do understand the flip side of the argument but like I said, I think playing the starters hurts us against the Giants. By week 2 it doesn't really matter one way or the other.

Jiggyfly said:

It's not so much him playing but who he is playing with and against.

If he not throwing to the same guys he will in the regular season any benefit is pretty much shot.

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If he were a veteran sure. But we are talking about a guy who has played in parts of 3 preseason NFL games his entire career. And we aren't talking about a running back or a DT. This is the guy that needs to know the offense inside and out. Yeah, if he were handing off to Zeke or tossing to Dez that would be ideal, but the staff should be able to get a lot out of doing the same with Morris and Butler. For goodness sake, the man has barely even had to respond to adversity. It is great he has had success, but at some point he is going to struggle.

I understand there is a balance between getting your rookie experience and risking an injury to the only decent healthy QB on the roster, but holding him out of the game completely is going too far in one direction imo.

dallen said:

I want my rookie QB to get as much experience heading into the season as possible. I'm a little surprised everyone else seems to be so against it

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I would only want him out there with our starting Oline. I wouldn't want to risk his health playing behind those scrubs. And such, since I don't want our starting Oline to play, I don't want Prescott to play, either. A couple extra series isn't going to help nearly as much as it could hurt.

I know Dak needs experience, but just playing a series or two with mostly backups probably wouldn't make much difference. I think he can get the necessary reps the next week and a half in practice.

NoDak said:

I would only want him out there with our starting Oline. I wouldn't want to risk his health playing behind those scrubs. And such, since I don't want our starting Oline to play, I don't want Prescott to play, either. A couple extra series isn't going to help nearly as much as it could hurt.

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This. Unless we let him have the starting ol I don't want him on the field

dallen said:

I want my rookie QB to get as much experience heading into the season as possible. I'm a little surprised everyone else seems to be so against it

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Whoever the #2 will be needs a lot of time considering Dak has had so many snaps already.

I don't like the injury risk either.

Starters one series, then call it a night.

VA Cowboy said:

I know Dak needs experience, but just playing a series or two with mostly backups probably wouldn't make much difference. I think he can get the necessary reps the next week and a half in practice.

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This is what I've been trying to say. The guy is going to get a shit ton of series as a starting QB over the next 8 games.

Do we really think 2 series with the backups in a meaningless preseason game is going to make any sort of a real significant difference in his ability to be prepared for the season? You'd probably accomplish more in practice.

Cowboysrock55 said:

This is what I've been trying to say. The guy is going to get a shit ton of series as a starting QB over the next 8 games.

Do we really think 2 series with the backups in a meaningless preseason game is going to make any sort of a real significant difference in his ability to be prepared for the season? You'd probably accomplish more in practice.

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That's been my point all along.

The our starting defense and scout team can give him plenty of real looks.

Belichick on Brady: You can’t take insurance out, you get better by playing

Patriots coach Bill Belichick made the unusual decision to play quarterback Tom Brady for the entire first half on Thursday night, leading to the rare sight of a Hall of Famer sharing the field with a lot of guys who will be out of the league next week.

Belichick defended that decision after the game, saying Brady needed the work before he begins his four-game Deflategate suspension next week.

“You can’t take insurance out on players,” Belichick said. “You play football, you play football. I don’t know how you get better at playing football without playing football. You stand around and talk about it all day, I don’t think that really makes you a better player. At some point you’ve got to get out there and play.”

Brady was glad Belichick gave him his longest playing time of the preseason.

“I was happy to play as much as I did. Coach and I talked about it,” Brady said.

Now Brady will go home for a month, and play again Week Five.

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And yet Garoppolo who is in a very similar situation as Prescott and played extensively in the preseason like Prescott didn't play at all in the 4th preseason game.

dallen said:

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It's why I would have played Lawrence a buch last night. He has 4 games of rest coming. Same thing for Brady.