Latest Dak Prescott injury update sounds like the Cowboys should end his season

All hope really might be lost for the Dallas Cowboys this season. Or, you know, if it wasn't already.

The Dak Prescott injury that took the Cowboys quarterback out prematurely in the club's Week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, moving Dallas to 3-5 on the season, was the absolute last thing the team needed. And it was pretty clear in the aftermath that the prognosis wasn't positive with rumblings that Prescott would be placed on Injured Reserve as a result of the injury. But it might be even worse than we though.

On Wednesday, NFL insider Jane Slater reported that Prescott suffered a "partial avulsion of his hamstring tendon which is partially torn off the bone". In layman's terms, his hamstring tendon was partially torn off his hip bone. More importantly, Slater noted that the recovery from this injury is normally more than four weeks and that the only reason the quarterback hasn't already been put on IR is because he's seeking more medical opinions.

Bluntly, nothing about this sounds remotely positive for the Cowboys in a season already getting scarily thin on positivity.

Dak Prescott injury update is cause for Cowboys to shut it down

Unless Prescott returns with a medical opinion that says he can play right away, this truly sounds like a case for him to go on IR and be shut down for the rest of the season. Conservatively, let's say that he were to return in six weeks from this injury — that would put him back in Week 16. What realistic chance is there that the Cowboys have absolutely anything to play for at that point in the season?

Even if he were healthy, there's a chance that the Cowboys wouldn't be playing for anything at that point in the year based on how things have gone up to this point. Again, the team is 3-5 and the vibes could not possibly be more in shambles. Prescott's injury only makes the decision to pack it in that much more obvious.

While it might be dismissive to some degree, the simple truth is that a Dallas team without Dak Prescott under center has even less of a chance of winning football games than they already did. All due respect to Cooper Rush, but it's a substantial dropoff to the backup. And if Prescott's injury is one that requires a lengthy recovery time, there's truly no need at all to rush him back given the state of the franchise.

In an ideal world where we're thinking long-term, Prescott could take his recovery steadily from this injury and then return for offseason workouts and training camp before the 2025 season with a new head coach, new offensive coordinator and new defensive coordinator at the helm of the ship.

We don't live in that ideal world, at least not yet, but this latest update on the Cowboys star's injury doesn't leave too much room for optimism about what the rest of his and his team's 2024 season is going to look like.