The Dallas Cowboys are afraid of their season falling off the track if Brandon Weeden keeps starting for them at quarterback, so it’s going to be Matt Cassell taking over the position after the bye week.
Cassell hasn’t been on the Cowboys for long. He was acquired via trade from the Buffalo Bills following the Tony Romo injury in week 2, and has waited behind Weeden, who has been disappointing to say the least in his three opportunities as a starter, with the Cowboys losing all three games, including an embarrassing 30-6 home loss against the New England Patriots.
Weeden has an impressive completion ratio so far this season at 72.4%, but that’s because he’s not even trying to throw deep passes. The combination of him not being able to and the absence of Dez Bryant makes the Cowboys offense incredibly predictable, which is also affecting the running game, which is struggling to get off the ground due to the team being behind all the time and teams packing the box against them.
Weeden has thrown just two touchdown passes with two interceptions, posting a 59 QBR and 92.2 passer rating, but overall, the team’s offense has taken two or three steps backwards with him behind center. It’s going to be a while until Tony Romo returns, and the Cowboys fear that sticking to Weeden means putting themselves out of the playoff race before Romo returns, especially with the New York Giants (next opponent) picking up steam and the Philadelphia Eagles figuring out their problems.
With Weeden completing just 5-of-15 passes for 5 yards or more in the loss to the Patriots, and all of them coming after the game was basically over (20-3 at the time), it was made quite clear that a change had to be made. Maybe the Cowboys would have made the switch sooner had they felt confident that Cassel has picked up on the offense. Now, be it from desperation (at least four more weeks until Romo returns) or a planned move, Cassel is taking the reins.
The 33 year old has played for the Minnesota Vikings the last couple of seasons, but just three times last year, with Teddy Bridgewater taking over the QB #1 role. In 90 career games, playing for the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and Vikings, he has 96 touchdowns and 79 interceptions, completing 59% of his passes and posting a 80.1 passer rating.