Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, aside from being the origin of thousands of clever fantasy football names (my personal favorite being "Dak Dat Azz Up", because Juvenile will live on forever in our hearts), is having himself a dang impressive rookie season. Tony Romo's gnarly-sounding back injury opened the door for Dak, a fourth-round rookie from Mississippi State, to show his stuff on one of the biggest stages in the league - and the kid's been solid so far, racking up over 1,200 passing yards, throwing four touchdowns, and using his wheels for 61 yards and three more TD's, not to mention a career 101.5 quarterback rating.
That's not why we're here today, though - we're here because the former Bulldog looks like he'll break one of Tom Brady's oldest records on Sunday.
ESPN's Ian O'Connor, one of the only remaining writers at the World Wide Leader in Patriots Cheating Coverage that doesn't write like a corporate drone, ran an outstanding profile on Prescott on Friday, and in it, says that the rookie is just eight consecutive completions away from breaking Tom Brady's record for most consecutive passes without an interception to start a career.
Way back in the 2000 and 2001 NFL seasons, the man who would come to be known as TB12 threw 162 consecutive passes without a single pick, a record that's stood until this day. Prescott, though, is at 155 consecutive passes without an interception, so there's a solid chance that if he's going to break Brady's streak, it's going to happen early on against the Packers on Sunday.
And, heck, if/when he does, who knows how much longer he could go without an interception? Prescott may squeak by Brady and then chuck a pick, or he could Hulk-smash Brady's record and go a few more games before throwing a pass that gets picked off.
One thing Dak's got going for him is a stacked offense - he's behind the best offensive line in the business, is frequently flanked in the backfield by rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott, and has some outstanding receiving options in Jason Witten, Terrance Williams, and Cole Beasley to stretch the field and give him short-range outlets and checkdowns. Oh, and he's doing all this with Dez Bryant being sidelined for a decent part of the year so far.
When someone asked Dak about replacing Brady in the NFL record books, here's his two cents on the subject, via Dallas News:
"It's a record," Prescott said after Sunday's 28-14 win. "It is meant to be broken. If I don't break it, I'm sure someone else will. It's not anything I think about going into the game. I'll allow y'all [reporters] to have fun with those things."
Fair enough, Dak, fair enough.
The Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers square off at 3:25pm EST on Sunday, which, conveniently, should be right after the Patriots-Bengals game is over.
(Editor's note: the original version of this post stated that the record Prescott may break was "most consecutive passes without an interception". It has been updated to specify that the record is "most consecutive passes without an interception to start a career".)