The Dallas Cowboys have the best backup quarterback in the league. Heading into their most important game of the season against the Packers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, they are not afraid to use him.
"Dak (Prescott), you see a quarterback that plays to the strengths and to the best of our team," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told NFL Network's Michael Irvin in an interview that aired on NFL GameDay Morning First Sunday. "Should that not be there, then we have a backup quarterback that's got a good chance to do some good things out there too."
The Romo controversy will never completely die so long as he's on the roster, though Irvin's piece did a good job of boiling down Jones' state of mind on what has been a truly bizarre season. Jones talked at length about how he built the current team for Romo, and admitted that he could have never seen this coming. But he also talked about his desire for another Super Bowl title, which could throw any conventional thoughts about Prescott and Romo out the window should Dallas fall behind early on Sunday.
"In (2007), we let the Giants come in here and beat us with the same home-field advantage throughout that we have now," Jones said. "We have not only looked at that tape 15 or 20 times, I don't think I'll ever forget it. Being that close to touching it and letting it get by you. If it's going to hurt you that bad, then you better circumcise the mosquito in terms of your thinking to get ready to go again."
He added: "The third Super Bowl that I had a chance to be involved in, I made a deal with the man upstairs and said 'If you'll just do it for me, I'll never ask again. This will be it, if you let me win this third Super Bowl, I won't ask again.' I've been trying to re-trade that deal for the last 20 years. And I've put a lot on the line. I'm going to shove almost every bit of it out there this time if he'll make this deal with me and let me go one more time."
In short, there are bigger things at work here. Jones' legacy among NFL owners has been cemented, but this season provides him with a rare opportunity to win a fourth Super Bowl in a hyper-competitive era of football that seemed to pass him by. This monstrous offensive line, powerful running game and deep coaching staff were constructed in his image after years of tinkering and the payoff could be just a few more wins away. He sounds like a man who won't let anything get in the way of No. 4.