It's time for Jerry Jones to rethink his outdated 'Tony Romo is my starting quarterback' stance
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stuck to his guns Sunday night. He once against stated it flatly: When Tony Romo is healthy, he’s going to be the starter for the Cowboys.
That kind of absolute just isn’t a sound plan anymore.
Here’s why: It’s hard to win NFL games. It’s hard to be 4-1, leading a surprisingly resurgent NFC East. It’s hard to find consistent rhythm and confidence. And maybe most of all, it’s hard to actually get better with each passing week. But that’s precisely what the Cowboys are doing, sitting on a four-game winning streak that’s one Terrance Williams mistake away from possibly being 5-0.
They’ve done that in very large part because of rookie quarterback Dak Prescott – not in spite of him. Yet Jerry Jones said it again on Sunday: He’s pulling the plug on this show. For no apparent reason other than if Romo is healthy, and well, that’s just the way it is.
“This is a wonderful position if you’re in my shoes to be in – to have Dak playing at the level he is, and know that Tony is repaired,” Jones said after the Cowboys’ 28-14 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. “If [Romo] had done his MRI on Friday, it would show him healed. He’s going to get [another MRI this week] and be able to come back and really get into top shape and help us as we go into the season.”
There was some nuance in that statement. Maybe a little wiggle room. The phrase “get into top shape” could definitely be massaged. But the message was clear: Romo is still our guy. And that seems to be getting out of date pretty quickly.
Six weeks ago, that sentiment made sense. But now? Sitting at 4-1 and arguably looking as good as any team in the NFC? After dominating the Bengals with a superbly balanced 402 yards of offense? If anything, Sunday’s performance should be viewed for what it is – another big stride forward for this franchise and a player who can’t continue to be brushed off as a part of the future. The reality is Dak Prescott is winning now. He’s playing superbly now. Why should that automatically be trumped by Romo, whose injury issues and salary have been significant weights on the franchise?
There’s a reason that goes beyond football, of course. Everyone knows how loyal Jones is to Romo. And everyone knows the quarterback shares a bond with head coach Jason Garrett. And nobody should kid themselves. That plays a large part in the suddenly outdated absolute that Romo has to get his job back no matter what.
But before dipping into Romo’s ironclad job security, it’s worth approaching the evaluation a little differently. Instead of looking at it from the perspective of Romo and his massive salary and gaudy stats (when healthy), think of the decision more simply: The point of the NFL is to contend with opponents and win games. That’s what teams are built to do. Make money for the owner. Win games for everybody. The Dak Prescott-led Cowboys are already doing that. And not through luck, either. Dallas has an average margin of victory of nearly 10 points in four wins. These aren’t ticky-tack victories where some rookie is building his résumé on the shoulders of everyone but himself.
With that in mind, what exactly has Dak Prescott done to suggest he doesn’t deserve to keep the starting job as long as he can?
• He has seven touchdowns – four of them in his last two games – and only one turnover this season.
• He hasn’t thrown an interception.
• His versatility has added a read-option wrinkle to the offense, giving the Bengals fits on Sunday and making both running back Ezekiel Elliott and a dominant offensive line even better.
• He’s winning games almost entirely from the pocket, with a 69-percent completion rate and an average of nearly 250 passing yards per game.
• He’s won two games without All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith, two without All-Pro wide receiver Dez Bryant and two without budding starting guard La’el Collins. He has also won four games with key defensive players being suspended or injured.
• The offense? Through five games, the Cowboys are second in the NFL in yardage produced, leading the league in first downs per game, first in third-down efficiency and sixth in total scoring. When Week 5 concludes, they will also likely be in the top three in time of possession.
No matter how you slice it up, those markers say this is a unit that is running extremely well despite not being at full strength. And yet, Jones and the Cowboys are speaking about removing Prescott no matter what.
The team is winning. The offense is humming. But an upright Romo trumps all of that, maybe as soon as two weeks from now.
To put it more succinctly, a 36-year-old quarterback with a lengthy history of health problems – one who is coming off a significant back injury and owns a 2-4 playoff record with zero Super Bowls – will be gifted the starting job. No matter what.
That doesn’t make sense anymore. Not at 4-1. And definitely not if Prescott and the Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers on the road next week.
All of that brings us to the meat of the issue: Romo and Garrett have a bond. They’re close. Everyone inside the franchise knows it. Not that Garrett has ever denied it, but it’s a reality that can’t be ignored. And Jones has made it no secret that he has a significant amount of loyalty to Romo. That’s understandable. Jerry went through some nuclear winters with bad quarterbacks, including last season’s Siberia, which was largely of his own making. When he sees Romo, he still sees some extension of Troy Aikman – a winner who can dominate games and who has historically been a beacon of veteran leadership. To Jones, Romo has always teased a return to the biggest postseason stage, if only everything else around him (or inside him) wasn’t opening a trap door under the franchise.
But here’s where all this judgment looks cloudy. The point of Romo existing on this roster and accounting for more than $40 million in remaining guaranteed money is to take the Cowboys to where they are at this exact moment. Why then – given the fragile state of Romo’s body and the Cowboys’ winning streak – would you refuse to give Prescott credit for what has taken place with him at the helm?
That’s a great question for Jones. He’s complimentary of Prescott, but always careful not to wade too deeply into the “why not leave him in the starting spot” question.
As Jones said on Sunday, “We’re pretty good at quarterback, as far as normal times go for the Cowboys.”
That’s right. The Dallas Cowboys are pretty good at quarterback right now. And it has very little to do with Romo on gameday. Jones seems adamant about changing that. And that just doesn’t make sense anymore.
