By: Chris Chase | December 27, 2015 10:25 pm Follow @chrischaseftw
This is a harebrained, nonsensical theory that’s only remotely feasible because the main actor is one of two meddlesome, reckless NFL owners, both of whom own teams in the NFC East, for whom such absurdity is commonplace. And since Dan Snyder is awkwardly high-fiving members of the Redskins after the team’s NFC East title, that least one Jerral Wayne Jones, better known as that guy who apparently still rues the day he didn’t draft Johnny Manziel.
Here’s the idea: After a Week 2 injury to Tony Romo, backup Brandon Weeden took over the Dallas Cowboys starting role and went 0-3 before being benched in the bye week for Matt Cassel, who then went 1-6. Then Weeden was cut upon Romo’s return and picked up by the Texans on the waiver wire. Romo got hurt again, Cassel returned, won a game and lost some others and was eventually replaced by Kellen Moore, the team’s fourth quarterback of the season and someone who had never thrown an NFL pass. He and Cassel combined for a Week 15 loss and then Moore, in his first ever start, went 13/31 with a 48.6 QB rating in a Sunday loss to the Bills.
Meanwhile, Weeden, the Cowboys castoff, started in Houston on Sunday, becoming that team’s fourth starter of the year too. He had a slightly better result, winning 34-6, going 15/24 for 200 yards, two touchdowns and a 116.7 rating.
And now the theory is that Jerry Jones, seeing that Weeden was so good in Houston, will hold Jason Garrett responsible and fire him because — I don’t know — he was unable to harness that talent? That and other things such as one playoff win in five years and a record that’s one game over .500. Silly? Absolutely. Cockamamied? You bet. Something that seems out of the realm of possibility? Not a chance. But aside from the obvious reasons of inanity, here are a few more logical ones that Jones will probably ignore until being talked out of it by his son or something like that.
1. Weeden wasn’t that bad with the Cowboys.
This could be reasons No. 1 through No. 100. Weeden came into the game in Week 2 and helped clinch a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles by throwing a 42-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams. In his next three starts, he put up solid numbers: A 72.4% completion rate, 2 TD, 2 INT and a 92.2 rating that was nearly 20 points higher than Tony Romo had with a similar number of throws this season. Dallas lost those games, sure. Weeden bears a large brunt of that as stats obviously don’t tell the whole story. Dallas led Atlanta 21-7 before a bad Weeden interception gave the Falcons the ball just outside the Dallas red zone. A touchdown later and a 21-7 cruiser turned into a 21-14 dogfight.
But is it Weeden’s fault he had a fine game against New Orleans (16/26, 246 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 105.6 QBR), got the game to overtime and then saw his defense blow it on an 80-yard Saints touchdown pass on the first possession? And then the third loss was to New England, something that’s also on the 2015 resumes of Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, and — wow, the Patriots haven’t played many great teams this year. Anyway, when you look at it game-by-game, the 0-3 mark is a whole lot different than, say, losing double-digit games to the Jags, Titans and Bears. Oh yeah, and Dez Bryant didn’t play in any of the games Weeden started.
2. Weeden just beat the Tennessee Titans.
At this point, the Philadelphia 76ers as currently constituted could roll in and beat the Titans by at least two touchdowns. While it’s great Weeden got his first win in his last 10 starts, let’s not act like he rolled over the ’91 Redskins.
3. Garrett has four years and $24 million remaining on his Dallas contract.
Ahh, the financial prudence of sports. After Garrett, in the final year of his contract, broke his three-season run of 8-8 records in 2014 by coaching the Cowboys to a 12-4 mark and within a play or two of making the NFC championship, Jones rewarded the coach, who he’s loved for years, with a five-year, $30 million extension. Look, it’s not my money. It’s not yours. Lord knows Jerry Jones has plenty of cash to do whatever he wants. But man if this wouldn’t be stupid, rash and wasteful. In other words, it’s perfect for Dallas.
4. This is what Jerry Jones wanted all along.
Whoever made the call on benching Weeden for Cassel (and Dallas doesn’t seem to be the place where bold moves are made without at least running it by the big guy), Jerry Jones was completely in favor of it. Here’s what he said after the benching and before Cassel made his first start:
All of that may be true. Though the stats and the tape don’t fully support Jones’ theory, no one would confuse Weeden with a guy who’s going to try and thread a needle on 3rd and 13. But forget about conservative vs. gunslinger or whatever it is Jones thought Cassel brought to the table, except for the memory of a really good season eight years ago and a 25-39 record since. The Cowboys were better with Weeden than they were with Cassel.
And, above all, that’s why the idea that Weeden’s victory in Houston somehow reflects upon Garrett is baffling. The 32-year-old quarterback was simply doing what he did in Dallas, only this time he was playing a bad team in a new uniform. To believe Dallas ever had a chance to win the NFC East with backups Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel, even with a division champion that’s currently 8-7, was ridiculous. And if that ridiculousness were to continue with the firing of Jason Garrett, all because Jerry Jones had unrealistic expectations and/or eyes for a big familiar name that might soon be on the market (Sean Payton), then the Dallas Cowboys deserve more seasons of mediocrity as Tony Romo plays out the final years of his career.
This is a harebrained, nonsensical theory that’s only remotely feasible because the main actor is one of two meddlesome, reckless NFL owners, both of whom own teams in the NFC East, for whom such absurdity is commonplace. And since Dan Snyder is awkwardly high-fiving members of the Redskins after the team’s NFC East title, that least one Jerral Wayne Jones, better known as that guy who apparently still rues the day he didn’t draft Johnny Manziel.
Here’s the idea: After a Week 2 injury to Tony Romo, backup Brandon Weeden took over the Dallas Cowboys starting role and went 0-3 before being benched in the bye week for Matt Cassel, who then went 1-6. Then Weeden was cut upon Romo’s return and picked up by the Texans on the waiver wire. Romo got hurt again, Cassel returned, won a game and lost some others and was eventually replaced by Kellen Moore, the team’s fourth quarterback of the season and someone who had never thrown an NFL pass. He and Cassel combined for a Week 15 loss and then Moore, in his first ever start, went 13/31 with a 48.6 QB rating in a Sunday loss to the Bills.
Meanwhile, Weeden, the Cowboys castoff, started in Houston on Sunday, becoming that team’s fourth starter of the year too. He had a slightly better result, winning 34-6, going 15/24 for 200 yards, two touchdowns and a 116.7 rating.
And now the theory is that Jerry Jones, seeing that Weeden was so good in Houston, will hold Jason Garrett responsible and fire him because — I don’t know — he was unable to harness that talent? That and other things such as one playoff win in five years and a record that’s one game over .500. Silly? Absolutely. Cockamamied? You bet. Something that seems out of the realm of possibility? Not a chance. But aside from the obvious reasons of inanity, here are a few more logical ones that Jones will probably ignore until being talked out of it by his son or something like that.
1. Weeden wasn’t that bad with the Cowboys.
This could be reasons No. 1 through No. 100. Weeden came into the game in Week 2 and helped clinch a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles by throwing a 42-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Williams. In his next three starts, he put up solid numbers: A 72.4% completion rate, 2 TD, 2 INT and a 92.2 rating that was nearly 20 points higher than Tony Romo had with a similar number of throws this season. Dallas lost those games, sure. Weeden bears a large brunt of that as stats obviously don’t tell the whole story. Dallas led Atlanta 21-7 before a bad Weeden interception gave the Falcons the ball just outside the Dallas red zone. A touchdown later and a 21-7 cruiser turned into a 21-14 dogfight.
But is it Weeden’s fault he had a fine game against New Orleans (16/26, 246 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 105.6 QBR), got the game to overtime and then saw his defense blow it on an 80-yard Saints touchdown pass on the first possession? And then the third loss was to New England, something that’s also on the 2015 resumes of Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, and — wow, the Patriots haven’t played many great teams this year. Anyway, when you look at it game-by-game, the 0-3 mark is a whole lot different than, say, losing double-digit games to the Jags, Titans and Bears. Oh yeah, and Dez Bryant didn’t play in any of the games Weeden started.
2. Weeden just beat the Tennessee Titans.
At this point, the Philadelphia 76ers as currently constituted could roll in and beat the Titans by at least two touchdowns. While it’s great Weeden got his first win in his last 10 starts, let’s not act like he rolled over the ’91 Redskins.
3. Garrett has four years and $24 million remaining on his Dallas contract.
Ahh, the financial prudence of sports. After Garrett, in the final year of his contract, broke his three-season run of 8-8 records in 2014 by coaching the Cowboys to a 12-4 mark and within a play or two of making the NFC championship, Jones rewarded the coach, who he’s loved for years, with a five-year, $30 million extension. Look, it’s not my money. It’s not yours. Lord knows Jerry Jones has plenty of cash to do whatever he wants. But man if this wouldn’t be stupid, rash and wasteful. In other words, it’s perfect for Dallas.
4. This is what Jerry Jones wanted all along.
Whoever made the call on benching Weeden for Cassel (and Dallas doesn’t seem to be the place where bold moves are made without at least running it by the big guy), Jerry Jones was completely in favor of it. Here’s what he said after the benching and before Cassel made his first start:
“I think [Cassel has] also got experience in basically just stepping up in the pocket and making some plays. Now, he will, with that experience though, do something that Weeden was not doing. Weeden was so conservative, he was coached to be conservative to a degree, but he was not taking chances with that ball. Now, we know you can’t make plays if you don’t take some chances. So, we’ll see more of that. We could see the risk of that hit us a little bit, but hopefully we’ll be getting our share of them over on the defense with this group we’ve got.”
All of that may be true. Though the stats and the tape don’t fully support Jones’ theory, no one would confuse Weeden with a guy who’s going to try and thread a needle on 3rd and 13. But forget about conservative vs. gunslinger or whatever it is Jones thought Cassel brought to the table, except for the memory of a really good season eight years ago and a 25-39 record since. The Cowboys were better with Weeden than they were with Cassel.
And, above all, that’s why the idea that Weeden’s victory in Houston somehow reflects upon Garrett is baffling. The 32-year-old quarterback was simply doing what he did in Dallas, only this time he was playing a bad team in a new uniform. To believe Dallas ever had a chance to win the NFC East with backups Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel, even with a division champion that’s currently 8-7, was ridiculous. And if that ridiculousness were to continue with the firing of Jason Garrett, all because Jerry Jones had unrealistic expectations and/or eyes for a big familiar name that might soon be on the market (Sean Payton), then the Dallas Cowboys deserve more seasons of mediocrity as Tony Romo plays out the final years of his career.
