The Great Debate: Dak or Romo?
I cannot believe that we are already six weeks through the NFL season! There has already been a lot of drama so far this NFL season and has been so entertaining. Now, we might have on our hands the biggest drama yet, who will be the Dallas Cowboys QB for the rest of the season?
At the beginning of this season, this would've been a dumb question. Tony Romo, a face of the NFL, and certainly of the Dallas Cowboys was coming into this year after a disappointing and injury-plagued season. This season is Romo's 13th in the NFL all thirteen coming with the Cowboys.
A big point of emphasis for the Cowboys this offseason was finding a future QB. Romo is 36 years old and as previously mentioned, very fragile at this stage of his career. The Cowboys were rumored to be going after free agents like Sam Bradford, Brock Osweiler or Kirk Cousins. After they wisely decided to pass on all of those QB's, more rumors at the draft started swirling. Remember, Dallas was 4-12 last season and had the #4 overall pick in the draft. They were rumored to be interested in Jared Goff and Carson Wentz but after those two went at the top of the draft, they switched their focus to perhaps the best rookie running back ever in Ezekiel Elliott. They were then rumored to be heavily interested in Memphis QB Paxton Lynch but the Denver Broncos just barely had a better offer to trade up. That left the Cowboys stunned. You'd think that the rumors would stop then but as the draft continued, they seemed to be going after Michigan State QB Connor Cook. The Oakland Raiders swooped in and nabbed Cook the pick before the Cowboys.
After all of the rumors, Dallas waited until the 135th pick of the draft. They got what looks to be a Tom Brady-esque pick and selected the QB out of Mississippi State, Dak Prescott. Prescott was a national name as just a season ago, he had lead Mississippi State to a #1 ranking in the country. The knock on Prescott was that he was from a spread offense under Dan Mullen and wasn't NFL-ready. Dan Mullen has produced QB's like Alex Smith and Tim Tebow and people were saying that was Prescott's future. A mobile QB who was very risk-averse.
Prescott entered training camp as the team's #3 QB. He was behind Romo and Kellen Moore. Moore broke his right ankle early in training camp thrusting Prescott into the backup role. Prescott wowed in his first two preseason games tearing up defenses and putting up insane numbers. Week 3 of the preseason rolled around and down Tony Romo went. Romo hurt his back and would be out until around Week 8 of the regular season. So, what did the man from Mississippi State do? He kept doing what he was doing and dominated defenses to firmly entrench him as the man calling plays in Dallas.
People expected a big regression from Dallas because they were sending out an unproven rookie and replacing a quality veteran. However, the reverse has happened so far. Through six weeks, Prescott has thrown for 1486 yards, 7 TD's and one interception! That interception was this past week against Green Bay after he had already broken Tom Brady's consecutive streak of most passes to start a career without throwing a pick.
Give credit where credit is due as Prescott has done a magnificent job with the Cowboys. He and fellow previously mentioned dominant rookie, Ezekiel "Zeke the Freak" Elliott have the Cowboys rolling to a 5-1 record entering their Week 7 bye. Now, here is the dilemma, Tony Romo will be ready to go for the Cowboys Week 8 clash on Sunday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles. Dak has the Cowboys rolling but has insisted that he is only "doing his job and that this is Tony's team." The thing is, Jerry Jones has a team that looks like legitimate Super Bowl contenders. The Cowboys have chemistry, leadership, swag, and the two-headed monster of Dak and Zeke rolling for them.
If I was Jerry Jones, I would keep the young gun in and let it run from there. If Dak gets hurt or struggles mightily, you can replace him with Romo. The worst thing you can do is send in Romo right now. Even if he is ready, he has played about two quarters of football with Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys newest star. The Cowboys have great chemistry and a good mojo going for them right now.
The player that will benefit the most from Romo coming back would be Dez Bryant. Bryant is a truly elite receiver. He has all the tools you want as he has size, speed and can get any ball. He has yet to find true rhythm with Dak as he has been dealing with a knee injury. Dez will also return in Week 8 from his injury so either way, he will either go right back to being the Dez Bryant we all know with Romo, or he will build a better connection with Dak Prescott.
If I was in Jerry Jones' shoes, I would follow the expression "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Dak Prescott has looked amazing and the Cowboys are 5-1 and look like one of the NFL's best teams. If you put Romo in, you could mess up the flow and it could lead to disaster. Dak has played like dare I say an MVP candidate so you do not need to replace an MVP candidate just for the return of Old Bones Romo! Dak is the man and it should stay that way. Jerry Jones, if you are reading this, do the right thing and keep Dak Prescott as your starting QB and you will set your team up better for the future and for this season.
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