Jerry Jones Explains Reason Behind Quarterback Change

Say what you will about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, but the man knows what he wants in his football team, and he isn’t afraid to tamper with the status quo if it means making his unit better.

His latest course of action? Benching backup quarterback Brandon Weeden for new recruit Matt Cassel, who the Cowboys traded for shortly after Tony Romo’s injury. Many expected Cassel – who has more upside but is arguably more vulnerable to bad games than Weeden – to eventually take over as caretaker once he felt comfortable enough with his new offensive playbook.

Volatile as Cassel may be, Jones feels it is exactly that type of play that could lift the ‘Boys out of a three-game losing streak and back into the thick of the NFC East.

“[Cassel has]…got experience in basically just stepping up in the pocket and making some plays,” Jones said of his new signal caller. “Now, he will, with that experience though, do something that Weeden was not doing. Weeden was so conservative. He was coached to be conservative to a degree, but he was not taking chances with the ball.”

“Now, we know you can’t make plays if you don’t take some chances,” Jones continued. “So, we’ll see more of that. We could see the risk of that hit us a little bit, but hopefully we’ll be getting our share of them over on the defense with this group we’ve got.”

Jones’ optimism is admirable, and it’s true that Cassel does give Dallas a better – albeit marginally so – chance to win, but Brett Favre the Second he is not. Throughout his humdrum NFL career, Cassel has been known as anything but a rick-taking gunslinger, so it will be interesting to see just how much freedom he is allowed over this offense.

Jones admitted that he approved of Weeden’s ball-security, safety-first style, “until we didn’t win.” For a reeling defense missing its stars and an offense struggling to keep drives alive, we’re not sure if a proven game manager is a recipe for reincarnating the 2015 season, but damned if Jerry isn’t trying anyway.