The debate has now escalated from a local banter to a
national conversation.
Dak Prescott or Tony Romo?
Each side has its argument. For Prescott, can you really
take a guy who’s been so successful and looked so good out of the game? For
Romo, can the franchise turn their back on a guy who has kept them relevant for
the past decade?
History says Prescott keeping his job is something that
wouldn’t be uncommon. After all, Steve Young took over for Joe Montana. Tom
Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe. Colin Kaepernick took over for Alex Smith.
Heck, even Andrew Luck, who hadn’t even played an NFL snap, took over for
Peyton Manning. All of the original starters lost their job due to injury.
So what’s different with Prescott and Romo? One big thing
actually.
Emotion.
Montana was Bill Walsh’s guy. The guy in control when the
49ers decided to move on from Montana was George Seifert.
Bledsoe was already the starter years before head coach Bill
Belichick arrived in New England. Belichick drafted Brady his first year on the
job.
Smith was there when head coach Jim Harbaugh arrived in San
Francisco. Harbaugh drafted Kaepernick his first year on the job.
The difference with the Cowboys is that it was under the
watch of Jerry Jones that Romo came to be who he is right now. Jones has an
emotional investment in Romo that Seifert didn’t have in Montana, Belichick
didn’t have in Bledsoe and Harbaugh didn’t have in Smith.
As ruthless as Belichick is, try asking him right now to
move on from Brady for Jimmy Garoppolo, even if Brady suffered numerous
injuries. It would be very hard for him to pull the plug.
Owners and coaches can say they always want to do what’s
best for the football team but they are human after all. They too feel a
certain sense of loyalty to certain players and it’s hard to fault them for it.
So while it may be easy for pundits and many Cowboys fans to
turn their back on Romo, it’s much harder for Jerry Jones and there is nothing
wrong with that.
