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How once-frantic search for Tony Romo's backup is tied to a considerable mistake made by the Cowboys
By Tim Cowlishaw
OXNARD, Calif. -- The search for a backup quarterback, originally announced with "24 hour" urgency by vice president Stephen Jones, has slowed to a crawl. Maybe not even that. The Cowboys are in no particular hurry to slot a quarterback between passing-record holder Tony Romo and untested rookie Dak Prescott.
And if that sounds like it's silly, it's really not. At least not today.
When it comes to relevance or sports news with real value, the Rangers' need for a No. 3 starting pitcher or the Stars' need to produce a No. 1 goalie rank significantly higher than the Cowboys' stalled hunt for No. 2 quarterback.
There are two reasons for this.
One is that the Rangers and Stars currently compete on a different plane from the one the Cowboys inhabit. They are pushing toward championships. The needs mentioned here are something more along the line of "final pieces of the puzzle."
The Cowboys are busy trying to pretend that 4-12 didn't happen and that they can return to the top of the NFC East with the addition of one key rookie and the health of two offensive cornerstone players. And one of those, of course, is Romo, 36, who is wrongly viewed in almost any discussion of the pressing need for a backup quarterback.
Things collapsed without him last year, and that's putting it mildly. Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore all failed to keep afloat an offense missing its best weapon -- wide receiver Dez Bryant.
So when the club did nothing beyond elevating Moore to the backup position during the offseason and Moore was lost for three months or more with a broken fibula last week, panic was not confined to Ventura County.
The Cowboys' quarterback search became a national story and, inevitably, the "oft-injured Romo" was central to any discussion. But here are the facts.
Before last season, Romo was rarely a player who missed long stretches of games because of injuries. In fact from 2011-14, he started 62 of 64 regular-season games. That's more than Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers or Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger or Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer or a whole lot of others.
So the question is: Do these collarbone injuries and Romo's advancing age now make him more of an injury risk than he was before 2015?
The Cowboys do not have that answer. Their mistake -- and it was a considerable mistake -- was to not address the backup position more thoroughly this offseason. Once they failed to bring in a veteran such as Miami's Matt Moore, who visited Valley Ranch, or draft Paxton Lynch with a first-round trade attempt, they basically punted and settled on Kellen Moore.
It was a reach to expect the 6-foot Moore, with two career starts since playing his last Boise State game in 2011, to be a serviceable backup. But once he went down, the team was left with Prescott and Jameill Showers to take snaps behind Romo.
Naturally, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was at his optimistic best following Sunday's brief Blue-White scrimmage that ended the first week of training camp.
"I'm really more encouraged about holding a pat hand than I was before this," Jones said.
That may signal that this team isn't willing to part with a mid-round draft pick for the highly paid Josh McCown in Cleveland, but other candidates should materialize after teams open exhibition play next weekend.
Regardless, the identity of Romo's backup is relevant only in the scenario in which the Cowboys' starter misses a limited number of games -- certainly no more than four. This team isn't going anywhere with the best backup in the NFL if Romo misses 12 games again this season.
The good news for the Cowboys is that, to this point, last year represents an aberration on Romo's résumé. He has started 83 percent of the team's regular and postseason games since taking the job during the 2006 season.
If you assume his advancing age will alter that equation, there's no question that it could. But keep in mind that during January's NFC and AFC championship games, three of the four starting quarterbacks were older than Romo. Only Carolina's Cam Newton was younger.
It may be foolish to buy into Jones' contention that Romo has five good years to go. But it's not unthinkable that the Cowboys survive their failure to secure an experienced backup for him this spring or summer.
On defense, they have far bigger issues at hand.
By Tim Cowlishaw
OXNARD, Calif. -- The search for a backup quarterback, originally announced with "24 hour" urgency by vice president Stephen Jones, has slowed to a crawl. Maybe not even that. The Cowboys are in no particular hurry to slot a quarterback between passing-record holder Tony Romo and untested rookie Dak Prescott.
And if that sounds like it's silly, it's really not. At least not today.
When it comes to relevance or sports news with real value, the Rangers' need for a No. 3 starting pitcher or the Stars' need to produce a No. 1 goalie rank significantly higher than the Cowboys' stalled hunt for No. 2 quarterback.
There are two reasons for this.
One is that the Rangers and Stars currently compete on a different plane from the one the Cowboys inhabit. They are pushing toward championships. The needs mentioned here are something more along the line of "final pieces of the puzzle."
The Cowboys are busy trying to pretend that 4-12 didn't happen and that they can return to the top of the NFC East with the addition of one key rookie and the health of two offensive cornerstone players. And one of those, of course, is Romo, 36, who is wrongly viewed in almost any discussion of the pressing need for a backup quarterback.
Things collapsed without him last year, and that's putting it mildly. Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore all failed to keep afloat an offense missing its best weapon -- wide receiver Dez Bryant.
So when the club did nothing beyond elevating Moore to the backup position during the offseason and Moore was lost for three months or more with a broken fibula last week, panic was not confined to Ventura County.
The Cowboys' quarterback search became a national story and, inevitably, the "oft-injured Romo" was central to any discussion. But here are the facts.
Before last season, Romo was rarely a player who missed long stretches of games because of injuries. In fact from 2011-14, he started 62 of 64 regular-season games. That's more than Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers or Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger or Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer or a whole lot of others.
So the question is: Do these collarbone injuries and Romo's advancing age now make him more of an injury risk than he was before 2015?
The Cowboys do not have that answer. Their mistake -- and it was a considerable mistake -- was to not address the backup position more thoroughly this offseason. Once they failed to bring in a veteran such as Miami's Matt Moore, who visited Valley Ranch, or draft Paxton Lynch with a first-round trade attempt, they basically punted and settled on Kellen Moore.
It was a reach to expect the 6-foot Moore, with two career starts since playing his last Boise State game in 2011, to be a serviceable backup. But once he went down, the team was left with Prescott and Jameill Showers to take snaps behind Romo.
Naturally, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was at his optimistic best following Sunday's brief Blue-White scrimmage that ended the first week of training camp.
"I'm really more encouraged about holding a pat hand than I was before this," Jones said.
That may signal that this team isn't willing to part with a mid-round draft pick for the highly paid Josh McCown in Cleveland, but other candidates should materialize after teams open exhibition play next weekend.
Regardless, the identity of Romo's backup is relevant only in the scenario in which the Cowboys' starter misses a limited number of games -- certainly no more than four. This team isn't going anywhere with the best backup in the NFL if Romo misses 12 games again this season.
The good news for the Cowboys is that, to this point, last year represents an aberration on Romo's résumé. He has started 83 percent of the team's regular and postseason games since taking the job during the 2006 season.
If you assume his advancing age will alter that equation, there's no question that it could. But keep in mind that during January's NFC and AFC championship games, three of the four starting quarterbacks were older than Romo. Only Carolina's Cam Newton was younger.
It may be foolish to buy into Jones' contention that Romo has five good years to go. But it's not unthinkable that the Cowboys survive their failure to secure an experienced backup for him this spring or summer.
On defense, they have far bigger issues at hand.
