Just exactly who will be earning a spot on the roster of the 2016 Dallas Cowboys?
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Prescott says he and quarterback Tony Romo exchanged text messages over the weekend after it was revealed that Romo suffered a broken bone in his back and is expected to miss 6 – 10 weeks.
This means the six-to-10 week time frame that surfaced in initial reports is more of an eight-to-10 week window.
That complicates the Cowboys’ current challenge – whether to place Romo on injured reserve with a designation to return.
Romo’s brittle recent history, paired with Dak Prescott’s sensational preseason, have led some, including yours truly, to suggest Romo might not get his starting job back if Prescott is, in fact, the real deal.
“We’re certainly getting our hands around it”, said Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones Wednesday at the team’s kickoff luncheon benefiting Happy Hill Farm.
The initial reported timeframe for Romo to be sidelined was 6-10 weeks, but if placed on injured reserve he would not be eligible to return until Dallas’ game against Cleveland on November 6, placing his current recovery time closer to 8-10 weeks.
“Whatever we do with him he needs to be on our 53 when we cut”.
Prescott’s been sparkling through three preseason games, completing 39-of-50 passes for 454 yards with five touchdowns and zero turnovers, plus 53 rushing yards and two more scores on the ground. The team went 1-11 behind Weeden and Cassell, stumbling to its worst record since the Cowboys went 1-15 in 1989.
“Obviously, he’s done some good things in this league and competed against us in a very competitive way”, Jones said. So why does Garrett keep jerking us around with all this tell “day-by-day” injury stuff?
If he goes on injured reserve/designated for return, the earliest he could play would be against the Cleveland Browns Nov. 6.
Romo tried to get back into Thursday’s game and said afterward that he was OK.
The 23-year-old Prescott was the No. 3 quarterback for the Cowboys going into training camp before backup Kellen Moore broke his right ankle in practice.
Putting Romo on designated IR would mean he can’t return any sooner than November 6 against the Browns, the Cowboys eighth game of the season.
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“I think on the face of this, it really does hurt”, Witten said. But I’m pretty sure when he got here, he was like, I’m going to be the future of this franchise.
