Preseason games are where we first realized how good Dak Prescott was, and now that is gone

Eight measly percent - that’s not a lot. That is what one month out of the year equates to. Now, 20% - that’s a little higher, which is one out of the five months of football we are promised every year. If your team is lucky enough to reach the postseason, then you get bonus football, but for everyone else those five months are a big deal.

But this season, we will be without 20% of the action as the league has decided to get rid of all preseason games. For some fans, they’re not batting an eye as preseason consists of games that don’t count and you rarely get to see the starters play. And if they do play, you’re just crossing your fingers they don’t get injured. For many, the absence of preseason football is not a big loss.

However, for others - not having preseason games is a huge bummer. For starters, it serves as the first time we get to see our team play some football against competition from other teams since last season. We are completely dehydrated and thirsting for action, and preseason games quench our thirst. As Cowboys writer Nick Eatman says, “Preseason football is better than competitive cornhole.”

Even though we don’t get to see much from the starters, there’s a whole bundle of draft picks/new free agents/pet cats spread out all along the depth chart who provide plenty of reasons to get excited. For example, remember back in 2016 when there was this fourth-round rookie quarterback that we got our first glimpse of?

At the time, Tony Romo was the guy who was going to demand all the snaps behind center once the regular season started, so this was our only shot to see young Dak Prescott in action barring some, heaven forbid, injury to Romo.

Dak was fantastic in preseason, and it did wonders to calm the nervousness that accompanied Cowboys fans ever since it became clear that any given play could sideline the starting quarterback. It was fun to watch preseason games so we could see Dak in action. Little did we know that we’d see quite a bit of him in the regular season as a fluke injury to Romo marked the end of days for him in a Cowboys uniform. Prescott, on the other hand, would grab hold of the reins and never let go as he’s started all 64 games of his NFL career. Man, how things have changed.

Prescott is now the future of the Cowboys, or at least - we hope.

No preseason means we’re going to miss out on seeing a lot of guys we might not get much of a look at once the regular season starts. Remember Donovan Wilson last year? Fans were excited to see him in action, but once the real games started, he only played in 16 defensive snaps all season. This season, guys like quarterback Ben DiNucci, cornerback Reggie Robinson, or possibly even edge rusher Bradlee Anae are players who would normally get plenty of preseason reps. But now, all that’s gone. With no preseason games to watch these guys play, it’s going to be more of a mystery of how well they’re performing, and it’s very possible we don’t get a good dose of them until next season. That’s depressing.

Even though it’s a let down to be without it, let’s hope all we’ve lost is preseason from the 2020 season.