Jerry Jones says Romo is still No. 1 QB in Dallas … but why?
By Greg Patuto
Despite the flawless play of rookie QB Dak Prescott, Jerry Jones made it clear Tony Romo is still the starting signal caller for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys have been miserably bad when Tony Romo is not under center. That may be because they’ve been replacing him with the likes of Matt Cassel, Brandon Weeden and Kellen Moore. Now they have rookie sensation Dak Prescott, and they sit at 4-1 atop the NFC East. But owner Jerry Jones has made it clear this is still Romo’s team.
“Tony is our No. 1 quarterback. We’re going to have the luxury of being able to, I think, see them both,” Jones said according to NFL.com. “I don’t want to presume that Dak is going to be necessarily healthy, I don’t want to presume anything like that. But I welcome the opportunity of having Dak playing at this level and Tony back in excellent health. It’s going to be really special for the Cowboys.”
But Jerry, how could you possibly make a quarterback change after what Dak has done? After an opening week loss to the Giants, Prescott has rallied this team and won four straight games, becoming the first Cowboys rookie QB to win four games in a season. He has shown poise, awareness and a high football IQ in these five games.
Not to mention, he hasn’t turned the football over once. Prescott is on the verge of breaking the record for pass attempts without an interception to start a career. He currently sits at 155 pass attempts. Dez Bryant has not played the last couple of weeks and this offense is still rolling. This is largely because of Prescott but we cannot forget about the best offensive line in football and another rookie sensation in Ezekiel Elliot.
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The question is this: how could you hand the ball back to an injury-prone, 36-year-old Tony Romo who has proved that he cannot win in this league? I get it that he has been there for a while and you have to show him some respect, but at the end of the day, Dallas has to start winning. With Prescott and Elliot, they have a chance to be good for a long time and it’s clear Romo is on his way out.
There are teams like the Jets who have talent but just don’t have a franchise QB, so the Cowboys would be smart to look for possible trade partners. The Cowboys square off against the Packers at Lambeau next week in a game that will show us how ready Prescott is to be a starter in this league.