Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has been on another level this season. Second in passing yards, third in touchdowns, sixth in completion percentage, all while shuffling offensive lineman in and out and missing CeeDee Lamb for the majority of the year. 

As Cowboys fans know though, this is nothing new. He’s been a high level player for a long time. So much so that he’s on pace to pass two franchise legends in a key statistic.

Prescott is only 150 yards from passing Troy Aikman for second place on the franchise’s all- time passing yards leaderboard. Additionally, he only needs 1,391 yards to pass Tony Romo and become the all-time leader. 

What’s notable is that Dak is on pace to do so in far fewer games. There’s a strong chance that he passes Aikman in the first half of this Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers. 

If he does so, he’ll have done so in his 128th career game, 37 less than the 165 games that Aikman required. Of course, Aikman did so in a much less pass happy era while winning multiple championships, but it’d still be a noteworthy achievement for Prescott. 

Passing Romo would of course be an incredible milestone as well. With Dak currently throwing for 271 yards per game, he’s on pace to surpass number nine in six games. 

Six games would be Dak’s 133rd, 23 less than Romo’s 156, meaning that not only would he be the team’s all-time passing yards leader, he’d have done it in less games played than both Romo and Aikman. 

I’d argue that passing Romo is more impressive than passing Aikman not just for the obvious reason of being the all-time leader, but because Romo played in a much more passing friendly era. In that sense, the achievement is doubly impressive. 

It also once again raises the question of where Dak belongs in the pantheon of all time great Dallas quarterbacks. There’s an argument to be made for a handful of guys. 

Romo, in my mind, is at best third. Aikman has more championships, Dak will pass him in passing yards and, depending on how you value things, Roger Staubach also has more championships and could bump Romo to fourth. 

Staubach himself, while being over 11,000 yards behind Romo, has an argument to be second due to the two rings he won. Personally, I’d put Dak ahead of him due to the sheer volume of statistical distance there is between the two. 

And of course there’s Aikman, the best combination of stats and rings. The most publicly accessible face of that golden era, Dak will have to win at least one championship before he surpasses him. 

In the end though, it’s impossible to truly determine these things. Unless a player comes along that eventually leads the franchise both statistically and in rings, these debates will rage on. But, when it’s all said and done, isn’t that one of the best parts of being a fan?