Prescott Is Making History. The Defense Is Making It Irrelevant.

I already wrote this piece three days ago, essentially. Dak breaks the record, the defense gives it back, move on. But here we are again, because the situation has gotten worse and it keeps needing to be noted.

Overshown is still out. P.J. Locke is out. Cobie Durant is out. The linebacker room that entered 2026 already thin — only two players who logged meaningful snaps last season — is now operating on fumes. I wrote in September about practice squad linebackers getting called up. That was not a temporary fix. That is the roster now.

The record itself is real. Prescott passing Romo is a genuine franchise moment, the kind that belongs on the wall at The Star. But the Cowboys are asking their quarterback to outscore a defense that keeps losing bodies, and that math does not work for long. Last season it didn't work either — Dallas went 4-6 down the stretch once the offense stopped winning the close ones, and the defense had no floor to fall back on. The floor looks lower now.

Nothing in the next week changes the structural problem. The depth isn't coming. My read is that Dallas needs Prescott to be nearly perfect just to stay competitive, and that is a fragile way to build a season.