Guess where Jerry Jones now stands in the Dak Prescott vs. Tony Romo debate
GREEN BAY, Wis. – What was once a to-the-point declaration – that Tony Romo was the unquestioned Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback as soon as he was ready – has become more of a filibuster in ambiguity. Team owner Jerry Jones has realized that as long as the Cowboys are winning, his best stance is to duck and dodge the Dak Prescott vs. Tony Romo question – one that will smolder in Dallas over the next two weeks – until there’s a reason to change the current formula.
Jones admitted as much at one point, stating, “I wouldn’t say unequivocally anything – other than we just beat the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay.”
He could say at least one other thing unequivocally: That a healthy Dallas will have the NFC’s best team coming out of the bye. Largely featuring a dominant running game and offensive line that would put the two strongest competing defensive teams – the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks – to shame. But also a defense that has taken strides seemingly every game this season, and a quarterback in Prescott who made mistakes but never looked flustered in front of a sold-out Lambeau Field.
That was on display Sunday afternoon – the most complete and balanced team that Dallas has offered since 2014. One that harassed Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers into a multitude of mistakes, stiffened defensively when it mattered most and never looked out of control. If crushing the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t enough for Prescott doubters, beating the Packers 30-16 on their home field should have them at least seriously considering the brake pedal when it comes to Romo’s return.
While Jones can’t publicly admit he is already there, his elusive responses say more than enough. Despite being peppered with questions about the quarterback situation for nearly 15 minutes, he never said definitively what needed to happen for Romo to regain the starting job. Instead, he reiterated the nebulous evaluation of Romo needing to be “really healthy.” He added that Romo himself would have to play a part in that – namely telling the Dallas brain trust that he was ready to go. But even those markers and the timetable tied to them seemed vague at best.
Asked to name the specific thresholds for determining when Romo was “really healthy,” Jones deflected.
“I’m not Dr. Kildare here,” Jones said, referencing a television series that went off the air more than 50 years ago. “We’re not going to get into medical terms.”
Asked what he would do if Romo came to him and declared himself ready to play, Jones replied:
“What are you going to do if Hillary wins or Obama wins? We don’t have to go into that, do we?”
Hours later it still was unclear what that retort meant. Maybe President Obama will be getting some first-team snaps during the bye week.
What Jones did allow was that he believes he is seeing something special in the 5-1 start, even likening Sunday’s win to the Dallas road victory over the Seattle Seahawks in 2014. After that game, Jones was beaming about the Cowboys being Super Bowl contenders. While he didn’t go that far after the win in Green Bay, he said he is seeing a team that is showcasing a similar energy to the one that had championship aspirations two seasons ago. And he spread the praise around – from the offensive and defensive lines to Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott to head coach Jason Garrett.
“He won’t bite that cheese, as Bill Parcells says, of looking down the road [to future games],” Jones said of Garrett.
” … I’m seeing [the players] being inspired by each other. There’s no question that Dak, Zeke – there’s no question they’re inspiring the rest of the team. This game was a lot about that. I’ll assure you one thing, as much I believe in motivation and passion, I’m not for doing anything to throw any cold water on that [inspiration].”
That likely means Dallas will be keeping the status quo until there’s a need for change. And that kind of change would likely come in only one of two ways: Either Romo declares himself healthy publicly and puts pressure on the organization to make a change; or Prescott struggles enough to send him back to the bench, a la Brock Osweiler one season ago, when he surrendered the Denver Broncos’ starting job back to Peyton Manning.
Prescott’s performance in Green Bay might be more telling than anything before it. He was far from perfect, throwing a handful of errant balls under pressure and turning it over twice – including the first interception of his career. But with the help of Elliott, Prescott bounced back from mistakes and helped engineer two impressive fourth-quarter scoring drives that closed the door on the Packers and Rodgers.
Prescott may not have a meltdown on the horizon, leaving Jones to decide the future of the quarterback spot. As long as the wins keep coming, the Cowboys owner will likely backpedal further from sweeping statements about what has to happen with the starting job.
As Jones said Sunday, “We just want to keep this thing going forward, knowing in the NFL that the wheels could come off at any minute.”
Sunday was a prime opportunity for that to finally happen and it didn’t. Jones knows that more than anyone. That’s why he is saying less than ever about the future of his quarterbacks.
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