Cowboys: The Reality Is Setting In
It’s time to face facts, right now the Cowboys are lost, at least for two more weeks.
A few weeks ago, after watching quarterback Brandon Weeden unable to generate any offense and play the quarterback position really poorly, many Cowboy fans, myself included, wanted to switch to then backup quarterback Matt Cassel.
We got our wish, and nothing has changed.
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Instead of the normal three up and three down, it is time to discuss what is plaguing this team. The defense is humming along and doing just about everything it can to win games. Maybe a few more turnovers would help, but they are shutting teams down fairly well. The issue is the offense. It has been this way since the true starting quarterback Tony Romo went down. There was some hope that the Cowboys could split their games until Romo returned, but that hasn’t happened.
For the last few seasons, fans and experts alike have been screaming that the Cowboys needed a backup quarterback that could take over for Romo, if and when he either got injured or retired. What the Cowboys did was get Weeden from the Cleveland Browns, and then Cassel from the garbage heap after he was released from the Buffalo Bills. Sure, there is Kellen Moore and Jameil Showers, but the Cowboys don’t seem ready to hand them the ball anytime soon. Unless this season is lost, it is unlikely either sees the field, although Moore couldn’t be worse than what the Cowboys are throwing out there right now.
It is time for the Cowboys to invest in a backup quarterback of some quality. Whoever it is can’t be a retread or a cycle of undrafted quarterbacks that the Cowboys are hoping turn into the next Romo. The NFL draft of 2016 looks to be better in terms of quarterbacks than the last few seasons, so there should be someone there in the first or second round. The top names are Connor Cook, Christian Hackenberg, Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, Cardale Jones, and Trevone Boykin. Of that class Cook, Hackenberg, and Goff look to be the sure first-round talents. Jones, Prescott, and Boykin would be somewhere between the second and third rounds most likely. That leaves a lot of talent at quarterback. That is, of course, if running back Ezekiel Elliot were to fall to the Cowboys in the first round and they scoop him up.
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Any way you look at it, the Cowboys need to improve their backup quarterback. The future with Tony Romo is unknown due to his injury history. Instead of trying to get value at the bottom of the barrel for a backup quarterback, the Cowboys must look at this season and realize just how bad this team is without even a decent backup quarterback on the roster.
For the next two weeks the Cowboys will trot out Cassel in hopes that he can win a game, so when Romo returns there is a glimmer of hope for the playoffs. It will be painful to watch, but the defense does have the ability to take over and win a game. It is obvious the Cowboys can’t rely on their offense without Romo.
This should show all of the people who have bashed Romo over the years a thing ow two. This team, without him, is a mess. The way the offense has been performing makes Romo look like the MVP of the league, and he isn’t even playing. Romo has not only hidden a lot of flaws with the Cowboys, but this stretch might just put him in the discussion of top five quarterbacks in the league seeing how different life is without him.
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Now, Cowboys Nation will wait two more weeks and hope there is a chance to win the NFC East. Come back Tony, the team needs you, and that is apparent now more than ever.