Could Cowboys use Dak Prescott and Tony Romo interchangeably?
Posted by Mike Florio on November 12, 2016, 2:42 PM EST
When Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is healthy enough to suit up, a question will emerge regarding the circumstances under which he’d enter a game.
Obviously, an injury to rookie Dak Prescott would open the door for Romo. But what would, in any given game, prompt the Cowboys to go to the bullpen for a guy who when 100 percent has been one of the better passers of the past decade?
On Friday’s PFT Live, I asked Cowboys executive V.P. and COO Stephen Jones whether there will be a specific plan as to the game circumstances that would prompt a switch or whether coach Jason Garrett would make that decision in the moment.
“I think probably the latter is how that’s gonna go,” Jones said. “We obviously feel good about what our team’s doing right now but at the same time when you got a great player like Tony, if you feel like he could infuse some energy and pull something out for you that maybe things aren’t going your way then certainly that’s a coaching decision that can be made by Jason and Scott [Linehan]. Right now, we’re focused on being positive and looking not past Pittsburgh at this point and we’ll just kinda take each day one day at a time.”
The possibility of Romo entering a game where “maybe things aren’t going [their] way” raises an alternative to Prescott or Romo being the clear-cut starter. In 2007, the Cardinals used both Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner, typically inserting Warner after the team fell behind and then going back to Leinart once Warner brought the Cardinals back. The back-and-forth continued, to the chagrin of Leinart, until he suffered a season-ending injury.
So could the Cowboys flip and flop their two quarterbacks, not in the 2015 Broncos way but within a given game? The approach could create a preparation nightmare for opponents, who would have to spend the days preceding the game getting ready for both guys.
Regardless of what the Cowboys do, they’re not going to be announcing their plans in advance. Which is the smartest way to handle it.
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Seen this nonsense suggested by fans.
Just tells me they don't understand the differences in this offense with Prescott versus Romo.