By Brandon George , Staff Writer Contact Brandon Georgeon Twitter
DMN_George
IRVING -- The Cowboys' team plane was rerouted from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Houston on Sunday night as they returned from their loss at Buffalo.
No, they weren't going to pick up cast-off quarterback Brandon Weeden, who started for Houston on Sunday and led the Texans to a 34-6 win at Tennessee.
Storms near D/FW Airport forced the Cowboys to divert to Houston. They were supposed to land at 8:40 p.m. but didn't get back until after midnight.
That's the kind of season it's been for the 4-11 Cowboys. Whatever can go wrong has.
But at the top of the list has been the Cowboys' inability to win without Tony Romo. Kellen Moore became the fourth Cowboys quarterback to start this season Sunday and met a similar fate as his predecessors Weeden and Matt Cassel.
Cowboys backup quarterbacks are a combined 1-10 this season. The common denominator among the three: They've played in the same offensive system that has been tailored for Romo to maximize his skill set.
Take a step back to February 2009. That's the first time Cowboys owner Jerry Jones uttered the words "Romo-friendly."
For more than five years, the Cowboys have tried to build an offense that is Romo-friendly. Is it too Romo-friendly, or simply too Romo-reliant?
Maybe it's both. For the fourth time this season, the Cowboys failed to score an offensive touchdown in losing to the Bills 16-6.
"I think our offense is flexible enough really to adapt to anybody," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Monday. "That's what we try to do. We believe in our system of football on offense."
Meanwhile, Weeden was completing 15 of 24 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns against the Titans. He even ran for a touchdown.
This wasn't check-down Weeden, the quarterback the Cowboys became used to earlier this season before they cut him Nov. 17. Weeden completed eight passes of 10 or more yards down the field, including two for touchdowns.
One of the reasons Weeden was replaced by Cassel was because he was handcuffed in the Cowboys' offense, told not to take chances down the field.
Suddenly, Weeden is flourishing in the Texans' offense, putting Houston in position for a playoff berth.
Cassel finally ended the Cowboys' 0-7 run with backup quarterbacks starting by winning at Washington earlier this month.
But he, too, struggled in Garrett's offense with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan calling the plays.
Cassel's run as the Cowboys' quarterback came to a stumbling conclusion 10 days ago against the Jets in a game in which he appeared more lost than ever.
And that was Cassel's seventh start for the Cowboys.
"Basically if you have a quarterback with a skill set, everybody knows you want to adjust your team to the skill set of that particular individual," Jones said recently. "Then ... you lose that guy to an injury, whether it be temporarily or it be for several games. The next guy has a different skill set, but ... all your blocking and all your receiving and all your timing had a lot to do with that [first quarterback's] skill set.
"It's a challenge. It's our game. To me, it's the life we've chosen."
For whatever reason, the Cowboys haven't figured out how to adjust their Romo-friendly offense to fit the skill set of their backup quarterbacks.
With Romo's body continuing to break down from back surgeries to fractured collarbones, the Cowboys need an offense that is more quarterback-friendly than Romo-friendly.
Linehan said he's never been a part of a season in which a team has struggled so much to score touchdowns.
"It's been an Achilles heel of ours, and there's going to be a time for that evaluation and talking about what we do and what the reasons are," Linehan said after Sunday's loss. "[You're] not going to win enough games if you don't put enough points on the board on offense, that's for sure."
DMN_GeorgeIRVING -- The Cowboys' team plane was rerouted from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Houston on Sunday night as they returned from their loss at Buffalo.
No, they weren't going to pick up cast-off quarterback Brandon Weeden, who started for Houston on Sunday and led the Texans to a 34-6 win at Tennessee.
Storms near D/FW Airport forced the Cowboys to divert to Houston. They were supposed to land at 8:40 p.m. but didn't get back until after midnight.
That's the kind of season it's been for the 4-11 Cowboys. Whatever can go wrong has.
But at the top of the list has been the Cowboys' inability to win without Tony Romo. Kellen Moore became the fourth Cowboys quarterback to start this season Sunday and met a similar fate as his predecessors Weeden and Matt Cassel.
Cowboys backup quarterbacks are a combined 1-10 this season. The common denominator among the three: They've played in the same offensive system that has been tailored for Romo to maximize his skill set.
Take a step back to February 2009. That's the first time Cowboys owner Jerry Jones uttered the words "Romo-friendly."
For more than five years, the Cowboys have tried to build an offense that is Romo-friendly. Is it too Romo-friendly, or simply too Romo-reliant?
Maybe it's both. For the fourth time this season, the Cowboys failed to score an offensive touchdown in losing to the Bills 16-6.
"I think our offense is flexible enough really to adapt to anybody," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Monday. "That's what we try to do. We believe in our system of football on offense."
Meanwhile, Weeden was completing 15 of 24 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns against the Titans. He even ran for a touchdown.
This wasn't check-down Weeden, the quarterback the Cowboys became used to earlier this season before they cut him Nov. 17. Weeden completed eight passes of 10 or more yards down the field, including two for touchdowns.
One of the reasons Weeden was replaced by Cassel was because he was handcuffed in the Cowboys' offense, told not to take chances down the field.
Suddenly, Weeden is flourishing in the Texans' offense, putting Houston in position for a playoff berth.
Cassel finally ended the Cowboys' 0-7 run with backup quarterbacks starting by winning at Washington earlier this month.
But he, too, struggled in Garrett's offense with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan calling the plays.
Cassel's run as the Cowboys' quarterback came to a stumbling conclusion 10 days ago against the Jets in a game in which he appeared more lost than ever.
And that was Cassel's seventh start for the Cowboys.
"Basically if you have a quarterback with a skill set, everybody knows you want to adjust your team to the skill set of that particular individual," Jones said recently. "Then ... you lose that guy to an injury, whether it be temporarily or it be for several games. The next guy has a different skill set, but ... all your blocking and all your receiving and all your timing had a lot to do with that [first quarterback's] skill set.
"It's a challenge. It's our game. To me, it's the life we've chosen."
For whatever reason, the Cowboys haven't figured out how to adjust their Romo-friendly offense to fit the skill set of their backup quarterbacks.
With Romo's body continuing to break down from back surgeries to fractured collarbones, the Cowboys need an offense that is more quarterback-friendly than Romo-friendly.
Linehan said he's never been a part of a season in which a team has struggled so much to score touchdowns.
"It's been an Achilles heel of ours, and there's going to be a time for that evaluation and talking about what we do and what the reasons are," Linehan said after Sunday's loss. "[You're] not going to win enough games if you don't put enough points on the board on offense, that's for sure."
