Dak Prescott’s season could be in doubt after the Dallas Cowboys quarterback suffered a horrifying ankle injury in Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.
Prescott went down in the third quarter, needing to be carted off the field as he was in obvious pain. He wiped away tears as the medical cart took him to the locker room. He was able to give a salute to fans. The team said that he was being taken from the locker room to a local hospital.
Prescott was scrambling on the play and trying to avoid a tackle when he was taken down hard and his ankle appeared to be broken. He remained on the turf as the team’s medical staff rushed to attend to him.
On the day Alex Smith returns from 23 months of missing football, and nearly losing his leg, Dak Prescott goes down with a broken ankle and is carted off in tears.
The highs and lows of football.
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 11, 2020
While there was no immediate word from the team on the status, there was some widespread speculation that his season could be in jeopardy.
The potential season-ending break could have implications beyond what it would mean for Dallas and the odds of making the NFL’s newly expanded playoff field. There was also concern about his own professional future, as he was playing this year on a one-year franchise tag with the hope of locking down a long-term contract after the season.
As The Inquisitr reported, Prescott turned down an offer from the Cowboys that would have paid him $175 million over five years, which would have made him the league’s highest-paid signal caller. Many noted that his chances of signing a similar contract appeared diminished, especially if he were to miss significant time this year or beyond.
“The business side of the NFL: The injury risk that Dak Prescott accepted when rejecting multi-year offers to play on the one-year franchise tag becomes an untimely reality. He was having a record-setting season,” tweeted ESPN’s Ed Werder.
With Prescott’s apparent broken ankle, veteran backup Andy Dalton was pressed into action. The Cowboys signed the longtime Cincinnati Bengals starter in the offseason as something of an insurance policy in case Prescott were injured.
As Cincy Jungle noted, it gives something of a second chance to the signal caller who was passed over as the Bengals drafted Joe Burrow as a hopeful franchise quarterback.
“After being cut, Dalton didn’t get as much attention from other teams as he’d hoped, leading to him taking a one-year deal worth up to $3 million to be Prescott’s backup,” the report noted.
“Now, Dalton takes over one of the NFL’s most loaded offenses as he looks to revive his career as a starting quarterback in this league. While his time in Cincinnati didn’t end well, he’s a great human being who’s absolutely one of the 32 best quarterbacks in this league.”
He performed well in relief of Prescott on Sunday, leading the Cowboys to a late game-tying drive and later drove the team to hit a game-winning field goal.
Even with what appears to be a season-ending break for their starting quarterback, Dallas is still in the running in a wide-open NFC East in which no team has been able to separate, and all teams have losing records. The Cowboys entered Sunday just a half-game out of the divisional lead, despite the 1-3 record, and the win put them into first place.