Sports

America’s Team’s QB Conundrum

November 19, 2016 | Sports,

By: Devin Glennon
This fall has been a cornucopia of unexpected happenings, Thanksgiving is a week away and it’s still 70 degrees out, Donald Trump is now president, and a rookie-led, Romo-less Dallas Cowboys team has the best record in the NFL.  Going into the season with veteran Cowboys QB, Tony Romo, sidelined indefinitely for a back injury, there was a mix of despair and wishful thinking throughout the Dallas fanbase.  
Without Romo, a mass of Cowboys fans thought this season was going to be worse than usual, essentially a lost cause.  On the other hand, there are always fans of any team that think positive no matter what the case is. Some hoped Dak Prescott could be a decent fill-in for getting the job done until Tony Romo comes back. Well, 11 weeks later, the world is flipped over.  I, for one, thought Dak Prescott would be the future of the Cowboys, and that him getting to start right off the bat was good for the Cowboys.  

 
I am not personally a fan of Romo and believed he is on his way out, and Dak was the one to replace him.  However, nobody expected the stellar productivity that was to come.  The position America’s Team is in right now fulfills these wishful hopes and then some.  The Cowboys have the best offense in the league with Dak Prescott taking snaps and Ezekial Elliot in the backfield.  Both rookies are candidates for the MVP and ,more importantly, are number 1 and 2 for top selling jerseys on NFLshop.com.  
It doesn’t hurt that they have a complimentary defense with a number of veterans to hold their own.  With both sides of the ball working at maximum efficiency, the Boys are 8-1 and NFC champ favorites.  
The offense, however, is the jawdropping phenomenon in this squad.  Dak Prescott started his NFL career breaking Tom Brady’s record of consecutive passing attempts without an interception to start off a career.  He finally threw one on his 177^th attempt, in his 6^th game of the season.  He threw 6 touchdowns before his first interception, and he has had an 8:1 ratio since then.  Basically, he has performed better than anyone expected and as well as a rookie could ever play in the first 9 games of his career.  

 
However, the return of Tony Romo was evident, bringing along the debate that has been following the Cowboys all season of who is to start at QB when he does indeed become activated to play.  When the season first started, analysts and fans were watching Prescott with a bit of leniency, and the wins he collected were great to see, but he just kept on excelling.  Analysts kept on saying, week after week, “you have to start considering Dak Prescott as the permanent starting QB for the Cowboys if they win this week”, and guess what… they just keep on winning.  Jerry Jones was very headstrong about keeping Tony Romo as the center of the franchise, and he still is set on that.  Here is the bottom line: Tony Romo, as much as high has his peaks have been in his regular season career, he is 2-4 in the postseason and has, in my eyes, shown that he would never be able to lead a team to the Super Bowl. Also, the Cowboys are a force to be reckoned with in the NFL, and they’re success rate is undeniable.  Now that Romo is back to his healthy state, he decided to bench himself, despite Jerry Jones’ desires.  He earned a ton of respect from me, which I know is what his motivation, because the Cowboys have something going on that can be soiled by such a major change, such as a quarterback.  
Romo knows not to mess with the mojo, and chose to put aside his pride and contribute to his team on the sideline and in the locker room, which is very respectable.  He still has an impact on the team, that is for sure.  There is a unique scenario where a young talent that can execute has a veteran behind him for encouragement and advice when needed.  If used right, and this situation is taken to its full advantage, it is possible for the Boys to have a promising future will be ahead of them.  Jerry Jones said that Tony is not going anywhere, so we will have to see how this interesting dynamic unfolds, but for now, Dak needs to be leading this team.  As much as I dislike Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, they have a good shot at actually making it to the NFC championship, something Romo has never seen in his lengthy career.  We will see how this season pans out.
 
(Featured Image: Keith Allison, Flickr)