ARLINGTON, Texas — History, made. Dak Prescott is officially the most prolific passer the Dallas Cowboys have ever awarded one of their uniforms. On Sunday, in front of a national audience and against one of the team's most bitter rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles and their staunch defense, Prescott surpassed Tony Romo for most passing yards all-time.
The former needed only 160 passing yards in Week 12 to secure the record, and he went out and got them, scratching and clawing the entire way.
To say it's an impressive feat would be quite the gargantuan understatement, all things considered. For starters, Romo, eternally one of the best and most recognizable quarterbacks in Cowboys' history, battled to 127 career starts en route to tossing 34,183 passing yards.
Prescott was awarded the reins in 2016, after Romo suffered injury ahead of that regular season, and has just five more career starts (132) but more passing yards, with fewer interceptions (88) than does his predecessor (117), and a higher accuracy rate; though Romo still owns the franchise record for most passing touchdowns all-time.
That lead is narrowing as well, though. Prescott entered his Week 12 bout against the Eagles needing just 15 more passing touchdowns to surpass Romo in that category as well.
A passing record once held by legendary Hall of Famer Troy Aikman (32,942) seemed insurmountable at the time, that was until Romo proved himself a gunslinger.
The latter continues to hold the single-season record for most passing yards in a Cowboys' uniform (4,903) thrown for during the 2012 season, Prescott having narrowly missed overtaking him with an equally outstanding 2019 campaign (4,902), missing the throne by only two yards.
Of course, Prescott and Romo would both be the first to say how a Super Bowl victory, of which Aikman has three, is what matters most, and they'd be correct. But there's also something to be said for being one of the most valuable pieces, ever, of a franchise that's as longstanding and storied as the Dallas Cowboys.
And, in Year 10, at age 32, Prescott continues to be exactly that — with likely several more seasons ahead to both fight for ever-elusive Super Bowl glory, and to make his shiny new franchise passing record an unthinkable feat to conquer for whoever becomes the next great Cowboys' quarterback down the road.
Not bad for a former fourth-round compensatory pick who began his career as the fourth string quarterback behind Romo, Kellen Moore and Jameill Showers — not bad at all.
