There’s no tanking in the NFL, but the Dallas Cowboys have reached a point where it’s pretty much impossible for them to make the playoffs. With that in mind, maybe it’s better to keep Tony Romo out for the entire season?
Jerry Jones says that’s not the plan: It’s in our long term best interest to go win a ballgame. For the seventh straight game without Romo (who was there for the first two wins), the Cowboys failed to do so, maybe in their worst performance yet, losing 10-6 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, once again giving up a score right before the end. Jameis Winston ran for a touchdown with 54 seconds left to complete the come from behind win. Matt Cassel threw an interception to end the miserable day.
The Cowboys had just 216 yards of total offense in the loss, failing to score a touchdown for the third time this season. There were some that thought changing Brandon Weeden to Cassel will result in better offense with more big plays, but nothing has changed. The Cowboys remain predictable, and completely struggle getting anything beyond short gains. Dez Bryant caught five passes for 45 yards, but no play was for more than 16 yards. The Cowboys are just easy to defend.
Romo might be back for the next game at Miami, but even assuming he’s 100%, the Cowboys don’t look like a team that can suddenly go 7-for-7 on their remaining schedule and hope for a Wild Card berth. The NFC East is bad enough to accommodate their needs, but his return might be too late to salvage anything this season. And with his durability a concern considering his past injuries and age, maybe the Cowboys should think about sitting him out and retool for the 2016 season with some very high draft picks they haven’t had the likes of in a very long time.
That’s the NFL in a nutshell. All the predictions, projections and expectations from the preseason implode when your starting quarterback gets injured. The Cowboys messed up some winnable games (lost five of the seven by 7 points or less) and this season had the chance to turn out differently; leaving Romo less ground to make up. But it is what it is right now, and it’s looking bad and hopeless, which means not worth risking him, as defeatist as that may be.
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