Prescott acknowledges the immense pressure of Dallas's historic Super Bowl drought, embracing the challenge as his legacy hangs in the balance.
FRISCO - Dak Prescott is fond of insisting that he not only accepts the pressure of being the quarterback of a high-profile Dallas Cowboys team now infamous for falling short of expectations …
He invites that pressure. He embraces that pressure. He enjoys that pressure.
You know, “Pressure is a privilege’’ and all of that cliched noise.
Up next? This summer, Prescott turns 33 and enters his second decade (!) as the leader of “America’s Team’’ as “The Drought’’ - no championship games, no Super Bowls - extends beyond 30 years.
In 2026, “it’’ - a massive load of pressure and expectations and skepticism - awaits him.
And he knows it.
“Monkey, gorilla,’’ Prescott said this week at the Super Bowl when asked a “monkey on his back’’ question via Clarence Hill of DLLS. “You know, it gets bigger each year that we don’t make it.
“That’s real.”
Also real: The likelihood that Prescott’s legacy will be rooted in what Dallas doesn’t accomplish. Team turnarounds happen; the New England Patriots are a Super Bowl team despite having won a total of eight games in 2023 and 2024 combined. But is there any solid reason to project Dallas as the NFC’s best team in 2026? Or 2027?
Nevertheless, Dak remains optimistic about what might be.
“The mindset I have is we go through everything for a purpose,’’ he said. “And you can’t tell me that all these 10 years and every experience I’ve had wasn’t for us to be better and get there next year.”
Prescott is now the highest-paid player in NFL history at $60 million per year. If he never wins big, that will also be part of a negative legacy.
Adding to the pain of it all is the thought that Dak’s shocking rookie year in 2016 - when both Tony Romo and Kellen Moore were injured, forcing the Cowboys to shove a fourth-round “nobody’’ into the lineup - suggested the start of a monumental career arc.
He helped Dallas to 13 wins and a division title. But that’s still this franchise’s highest high in decades.
“When you have a year like I did as a rookie, you think you're going to have multiple opportunities,” said Dak, now a four-time Pro Bowler after a record-shattering season in which he was good for 4,552 yards, 30 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 99.5 passer rating while the Cowboys finished just 7-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. “And now in Year 10, having opportunities and not doing what you wanted as a team and individually, it hurts.”
The “wait until next year’’ pledge isn’t a Cowboys exclusive; every team in every sport is familiar with that drill. But with Dak and Dallas? The fame and fortune and the talent and the expectations and “The Drought’’ create a difference …At least to Prescott.
So he’s got the goal in his mind. And on his back? He’s got that monkey - er, that gorilla.