The Dallas Cowboys had to make a move and it came at the expense of Brandon Weeden. With Tony Romo out with injury, the backup quarterback has simply failed to get anything positive going for the team who is trying not to slip out of the NFC East. With the team on a bye week, the Cowboys are making plenty of adjustments to their offense and Weeden is not happy about it.
According to Ed Werder of ESPN, the Cowboys plan to start Matt Cassel coming out of the bye week after trading for the quarterback from the Buffalo Bills. Weeden will be benched. The backup quarterback was clearly not thrilled about the move under center. When asked about the demotion, Weeden simpy said, "I'm pissed."
"How do you think I took it? Obviously I'm pissed," Weeden said, via the Star-Telegram. "But, you know, nature of this business. You guys can dictate however you want to perceive it. I'm not going to comment on it. I don't want to bring the attention to me. I don't want to say something I shouldn't say. I've got my feelings, I'm going to keep them to myself and go from there."
Cassel told the media that he feels ready to start. The Cowboys have the benefit of a bye week to figure things as they also make adjustments to their offensive line and running back position. According to NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, both La'el Collins and Christine Michael are getting first-team reps with the expectation that they will start Week 7. Collins is replacing Ronald Leary while Michael takes over for Joseph Randle.
The Cowboys are also bringing in free agents for help. The team is working out LaMichael James as a running back option along with Da'Quan Bowers. They are getting Dez Bryant back presumably in Week 7 which will be a big boost to the offense. James would be used more as a return man over a running back option. According to Rapoport, Randle could still very much be the starter coming out of the bye week, but Michael is expected to get a lot of playing time, likely over Darren McFadden.
Dallas is focused on getting a win. The team went 0-3 under Weeden and now Cassel steps in to try and change that. Romo is not expected to be back until potentially the Thanksgiving game, so the Cowboys have to hope Cassel can get it done.
"I feel great," Cassel said, via NFL Media's Desmond Purnell. "There's a lot of carryover from the different systems I've been in. I was with Norv Turner and he was a numbers system and there's a number system here. (The coach who) I had in Kansas City, he had all the same protection schemes, and then a lot of the formational stuff was the same stuff as having Greg Roman. Now it's just putting it all together."
