The Dallas Cowboys thought they were in big trouble when quarterback Tony Romo broke a bone in his back during the preseason. As it turns out, this injury to their franchise quarterback ended up accelerating the future.

Rookie Dak Prescott stepped right into the starting role, showing poise beyond his years with amazing efficiency in guiding the Cowboys to the best record in the NFC at 13-3. He finished third in quarterback rating (104.9) behind only Matt Ryan and Tom Brady and was one of only five signal-callers to finish with a rating of at least 100.

Prescott threw 23 touchdown passes and just 4 interceptions, with Brady (2) and Colin Kaepernick (4) being the only regular starters with fewer picks, and both of them missed at least four games.

Prescott also ran for six touchdowns, tying him for most among quarterbacks with Buffalo's Tyrod Taylor. That gave him 271 fantasy points in leagues that awarded four points for touchdown passes, ranking him sixth at his position.

The fantasy community weren't the only ones surprised by this performance. Seven other NFL teams drafted quarterbacks last spring before the Cowboys took him with the 135th overall pick in the fourth round.

Prescott was still available in 64 percent of Yahoo leagues heading into Week 3. He scored at least 17 fantasy points in 10 straight games, and if Week 17 is thrown out since he only played two series, he failed to reach double-digit fantasy points just once all year.