It seems like just yesterday Jerry Jones was snuffing out the idea of a quarterback controversy between Dak Prescott and Tony Romo.
Now, he's lighting the fuse.
The rookie Prescott has gone above and beyond what anyone expected, leading the Cowboys to a 4-1 record and becoming one of the league's most reliable quarterbacks in the process. In 155 passing attempts, he has yet to be picked off. Even Monday, after the team's fourth straight win and Prescott's fourth consecutive game with a completion percentage over 71 and quarterback rating over 100, it was reported that unnamed sources close to the situation asserted that Romo would regain the starting job once he returns from a back injury.
But it sure sounds like Jerry Jones is backing away from the notion. In an interview with 105.3 The Fan Tuesday, Jones was anything but direct.
"It's just a question of him working back in," Jones said. "We've got a great situation here. I just have to pinch myself to think about it. We've got Dak Prescott, who's playing at a level that is very capable of winning these games. We've got the future every time he walks out there. We've got the optimism of the future. It's inspiring. It's inspiring this team. And then we have, in my mind, one of the very top quarterbacks in the league as well.I think what Dak's success has done, though, is given us the luxury," Jones said. "No one is happier about this than Tony. It's given us the luxury to absolutely maximize any thought that we might have of [Romo's] rehab time and just have the ability to weigh that as we go and pick our spots."
Jones is right, though. It's a conundrum of the sort that most NFL coaches and owners would love to have. Romo is clearly the more proven quarterback of the two, but why try and fix what ain't broke? It's really no different than riding out the shooter in basketball with the hot hand or the pitcher in baseball that's got his good stuff working.
But if it was really that simple more of us would probably be coaches and owners.