Cowboys' QB plans puzzling
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
OXNARD, Calif. - Something funny is going on with this quarterback situation at Camp Cowboy.
And I'm not talking funny "ha-ha."
Supposed starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, by all accounts, will not play in tonight's preseason opener against Seattle by order of Big Bill. He says not to read anything into his wanting to see Tony Romo.
Kind of like when he said not to draw any conclusions from Quincy Carter starting instead of Chad Hutchinson in preseason. Q, of course, replaced Hutch as his starter.
All of this reeks of strange and has led to some crazy theories floating in that Cali sun, including Romo being Big Bill's Week 1 starter.
I have been a Day 1 debunker of such silliness, and not simply because Romo, a fourth-year player, has never thrown a pass in a regular-season NFL game.
My disconnect is believing that the same coach who hung with Vinny Testaverde during a disastrous 6-10 season is likely to place possibly his final NFL season -- a season with Super expectations -- in the hands of a QB whose only NFL play is taking a knee.
I realize preseason matters about as much as Bradgelina's status. But Eagles QB Donovan McNabb played despite coming off of an injury. So why not play Bledsoe for a series?
"I'm trying to do something at the quarterback position that needs to be done," Big Bill explained. "I've calculated what I'm doing here, and I think this other thing is more important right now."
It is not too often in this NFL when coaches say testing the readiness of a backup QB is more pressing than getting their starter ready.
This is how rumors get going and why this "Romo for Starter" bandwagon is taking on passengers daily.
So I asked Parcells if seeing whatever they need to see in Romo superseded whatever needs to be done with Bledsoe.
"Of course not," he said. "But I need to find out what this guy can do. When would you suggest I do that?"
My vote was last season's meaningless finale against St. Louis. My suggestion went over like a lead balloon.
"Week 16? OK," he said.
He teased me after practice, accusing me of being a smart aleck. And I plead guilty -- usually. Except I really am trying to understand what happened between then and now to leapfrog Romo from project to potential starter.
Either he had an off-season to end all off-seasons, or Big Bill developed big doubts about Bledsoe.
Whispers around Oxnard are that Cowboys coaches think Bledsoe still does too many stupid things that cost his team. He holds the ball too long. He is sack-prone. He is good for a throw a game that coaches, fans and everybody else instantly want back.
He understands what is expected. And his weaknesses have been points of emphasis all camp.
"What I am working hardest on is, No. 1, protecting the ball," Bledsoe said. "As well as our defense should play for us this year, if we don't turn it over, we will have a chance to win a lot of games."
And seriously, if Bledsoe was such a huge concern, why didn't the Cowboys get Drew Brees or Daunte Culpepper this off-season.
I do not care how good Romo is. First-year-starting NFL quarterbacks have a steep learning curve.
Owner Jerry Jones obviously agrees. He tempered his giddy enthusiasm for Romo's potential as an NFL QB with a pretty big but...
"...I don't want my enthusiasm for the future to really, in any way, color the fact that with my expectations for this year, it's going to be hard to get there with a rookie quarterback," he said. "In my mind, having never taken a snap in the NFL, that's a rookie quarterback. And so when you look around at where we've tried to put this team, that's walking in with a little shorter stick than I wanted to go with."
It is scary when Owner Jones is the one making quarterback sense.
Don't bother coming with that weak argument that what Jerry says doesn't matter. Big Bill told us back in April, when talking about T.O., that big decisions were done by committee.
With not all precincts reporting, or not reporting clearly, I think we have a tight race.
Bledsoe has Jerry's vote. Romo apparently has Parcells'. Which leaves scouting guru Jeff Ireland to break this deadlock.
To be honest, I trust him more than anybody else.
He was not on the clock as a decision-maker for any year that began with Quincy on the depth chart. Automatic bonus.
What Ireland has to realize, Owner Jones and Big Bill, too, is that this Cowboys team needs Bledsoe if it is entertaining thoughts of playoffs and beyond.
And the signings of T.O. and Mike Vanderjagt -- and this defense -- say they are.
"For this year, Drew Bledsoe was the quarterback I certainly had in mind. That would give us the veteran quarterback, along with a top defense to be a contender," Jones said. "Stranger things have happened, though."
Like Big Bill not starting his supposed starting quarterback in tonight's preseason opener.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
OXNARD, Calif. - Something funny is going on with this quarterback situation at Camp Cowboy.
And I'm not talking funny "ha-ha."
Supposed starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, by all accounts, will not play in tonight's preseason opener against Seattle by order of Big Bill. He says not to read anything into his wanting to see Tony Romo.
Kind of like when he said not to draw any conclusions from Quincy Carter starting instead of Chad Hutchinson in preseason. Q, of course, replaced Hutch as his starter.
All of this reeks of strange and has led to some crazy theories floating in that Cali sun, including Romo being Big Bill's Week 1 starter.
I have been a Day 1 debunker of such silliness, and not simply because Romo, a fourth-year player, has never thrown a pass in a regular-season NFL game.
My disconnect is believing that the same coach who hung with Vinny Testaverde during a disastrous 6-10 season is likely to place possibly his final NFL season -- a season with Super expectations -- in the hands of a QB whose only NFL play is taking a knee.
I realize preseason matters about as much as Bradgelina's status. But Eagles QB Donovan McNabb played despite coming off of an injury. So why not play Bledsoe for a series?
"I'm trying to do something at the quarterback position that needs to be done," Big Bill explained. "I've calculated what I'm doing here, and I think this other thing is more important right now."
It is not too often in this NFL when coaches say testing the readiness of a backup QB is more pressing than getting their starter ready.
This is how rumors get going and why this "Romo for Starter" bandwagon is taking on passengers daily.
So I asked Parcells if seeing whatever they need to see in Romo superseded whatever needs to be done with Bledsoe.
"Of course not," he said. "But I need to find out what this guy can do. When would you suggest I do that?"
My vote was last season's meaningless finale against St. Louis. My suggestion went over like a lead balloon.
"Week 16? OK," he said.
He teased me after practice, accusing me of being a smart aleck. And I plead guilty -- usually. Except I really am trying to understand what happened between then and now to leapfrog Romo from project to potential starter.
Either he had an off-season to end all off-seasons, or Big Bill developed big doubts about Bledsoe.
Whispers around Oxnard are that Cowboys coaches think Bledsoe still does too many stupid things that cost his team. He holds the ball too long. He is sack-prone. He is good for a throw a game that coaches, fans and everybody else instantly want back.
He understands what is expected. And his weaknesses have been points of emphasis all camp.
"What I am working hardest on is, No. 1, protecting the ball," Bledsoe said. "As well as our defense should play for us this year, if we don't turn it over, we will have a chance to win a lot of games."
And seriously, if Bledsoe was such a huge concern, why didn't the Cowboys get Drew Brees or Daunte Culpepper this off-season.
I do not care how good Romo is. First-year-starting NFL quarterbacks have a steep learning curve.
Owner Jerry Jones obviously agrees. He tempered his giddy enthusiasm for Romo's potential as an NFL QB with a pretty big but...
"...I don't want my enthusiasm for the future to really, in any way, color the fact that with my expectations for this year, it's going to be hard to get there with a rookie quarterback," he said. "In my mind, having never taken a snap in the NFL, that's a rookie quarterback. And so when you look around at where we've tried to put this team, that's walking in with a little shorter stick than I wanted to go with."
It is scary when Owner Jones is the one making quarterback sense.
Don't bother coming with that weak argument that what Jerry says doesn't matter. Big Bill told us back in April, when talking about T.O., that big decisions were done by committee.
With not all precincts reporting, or not reporting clearly, I think we have a tight race.
Bledsoe has Jerry's vote. Romo apparently has Parcells'. Which leaves scouting guru Jeff Ireland to break this deadlock.
To be honest, I trust him more than anybody else.
He was not on the clock as a decision-maker for any year that began with Quincy on the depth chart. Automatic bonus.
What Ireland has to realize, Owner Jones and Big Bill, too, is that this Cowboys team needs Bledsoe if it is entertaining thoughts of playoffs and beyond.
And the signings of T.O. and Mike Vanderjagt -- and this defense -- say they are.
"For this year, Drew Bledsoe was the quarterback I certainly had in mind. That would give us the veteran quarterback, along with a top defense to be a contender," Jones said. "Stranger things have happened, though."
Like Big Bill not starting his supposed starting quarterback in tonight's preseason opener.
posted by The Gryphon at 8:13 AM
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