With one hit on Tony Romo, rookie Dak Prescott went from an intriguing preseason story to the Dallas Cowboys’ starting quarterback.

Romo will miss a significant portion of the regular season with a broken bone in his back, so we have to examine Prescott differently. He’s no longer a rookie who can develop behind Romo. He has to play right away.

The good news is Prescott has shown some advanced quarterbacking skills, albeit in preseason games.

One thing that has stood out in Prescott’s preseason film is that he’s comfortable in the pocket, especially against the blitz. Some quarterbacks never master that, so it’s impressive to see it from a rookie.

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I want to look first at how Prescott reacted to the rush. The Los Angeles Rams came right at him, with two blitzes on his first series. Both times he saw the blitz and reacted with poise and composure. This throw was especially good, because he delivered a completion right where the blitz came from:

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

Here’s a touchdown pass against the blitz in Dallas’ second preseason game against the Miami Dolphins. It’s a back shoulder throw to Brice Butler, and Prescott was comfortable in the pocket even though the linebacker blitz came clean and was in his face:

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

View photos (NFL.com screen shot) More

Prescott continued to show good poise and composure in the pocket last week at the Seattle Seahawks. This is a high-level quarterbacking play: The Cowboys ran a three-level stretch concept with a high-low nested within the play. The Seahawks had a Cover 3 zone. Prescott was pressured by Frank Clark, but he was oblivious to it (in a good way) and understood the coverage and where to go with the ball. Then when he delivered to Butler, his throw was placed so it throttled Butler down into the void in the intermediate seam. Very impressive:

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