Roger Staubach knows exactly what Tony Romo is going through right now, but his view of the quarterback situation in Dallas may not be what Romo wants to hear.
Staubach, the Hall of Fame former Cowboys quarterback, says that the Cowboys ought to stick with Dak Prescott as long as they’re winning, even when Romo gets healthy enough to play. Staubach pointed out that he was in the same position as Romo once and understood why he was benched.
“Tony is a fantastic football player,” Staubach said, via the Dallas Morning News. “We won the Super Bowl in 1971 and I separated my shoulder in the exhibition season of ’72, and Craig Morton was the quarterback and took over and when I came back healthy probably eight or nine games later - that was a 14-game schedule - Craig was winning. We were winning as a team. I understood it. The momentum was there and you don’t want to mess around with the quarterback position and Craig was playing very well. I didn’t really play very much until the playoff game against the 49ers that year and I understood it.”
Staubach said keeping Prescott on the field wouldn’t be an indication that the team lacks faith in Romo.
“Tony is going to heal. He’s going to be ready to play if they need him if something happens to Dak. I think Tony wants to win and he’ll do what it takes to win and if they keep Dak in there to keep the momentum going I think he’ll understand that,” Staubach said. “They don’t want to change that if it’s really good and I’m sure it’s really good now because they’re 4-1. You just don’t mess around with that. You try to keep it really good and keep the momentum going.”
In that 1972 season Staubach referenced, he came off the bench to replace Morton with the Cowboys trailing 28-13 and led Dallas to three fourth-quarter scores and a come-from-behind victory. When the Cowboys needed Staubach, he was ready to go. Staubach thinks the Cowboys shouldn’t turn to Romo until they need him.