Above average quarterback Tony Romo, who has not seen the field this year after suffering a back injury in the preseason, is expected to take snaps during the Cowboys’ meaningless game against the Eagles in Week 17, sources told ESPN. Good and consistent rookie quarterback Dak Prescott has led the Cowboys to a 13-2 record and is expected to start.
Dallas has home-field advantage secured, so now is the time to get Romo his first real game action since last year’s Thanksgiving game. After all, if he doesn’t get sharp now, how will he be in top form and be able to throw that back-breaking interception when the Cowboys need it most?
“It’s never bad to get reps in games, but again, that question is for someone other than me,” [Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott] Linehan said. “You could argue both reasons why you would or wouldn’t, but we’ve got to go play the game. If you spend a bunch of time concerned about things that could happen negatively, you get consumed by that, but I think we do a good job and Coach (Jason) Garrett does a great job of just focusing on getting ready to play and focusing on the right things, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Shaking the rust off Romo seems just as important as making sure Prescott avoids injury and more important than him trying to win a rookie record 14th regular season game. If Prescott gets hurt, having Romo as sharp as possible is the best play for the Cowboys in Week 17. It’s also great for fans, because if Romo has to enter a playoff game, we want to make sure he’s in the perfect mindset to throw the game away late.
This isn’t what owner and GM Jerry Jones said earlier this week, that playing Romo would be a “risk.”
The ideal thing to happen: Prescott struggles early. He is removed from the game. Romo throw for 325 and three TDs over the final two-plus quarters. Then we get two weeks of hot takes about starting Romo in the divisional round. It’s not even the least bit far-fetched, as talk of starting Romo surfaced after Prescott lost his second game of the season to fall to 11-2.
Some men want to watch the world burn.
(ESPN)
