Cowboys to evaluate QB situation after Brandon Weeden's third loss
ARLINGTON, Texas – After losing a third straight game with quarterback Brandon Weeden, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he would evaluate the quarterback position during the team’s bye week.
Weeden, who lost his 11th consecutive NFL start, completed 26 of 39 passes for 188 yards in Sunday's 30-6 defeat by the New England Patriots. He threw one fourth-quarter interception and was spared another in the second quarter when New England’s Chandler Jones dropped the ball at the Dallas 35.
If Weeden is benched, the Cowboys would turn to veteran Matt Cassel, whom the Cowboys acquired in a late-September trade with the Buffalo Bills. The Cowboys will be without star quarterback Tony Romo at least until the Nov. 22 game at the Miami Dolphins as he recovers from a broken left collarbone that he suffered in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Asked about the coaching staff evaluating the position, Weeden said, “I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll (let) my play do the talking. ... Today was not my best. I have to put that behind me. That’s (the coaches’) decisions.”
After the bye week, the Cowboys (2-3) will play at the New York Giants in a key NFC East game.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Weeden played much like he had played the previous two games, losses to the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints.
Cassel amassed a 10-5 record with the Patriots while playing in place of the injured Tom Brady in 2008. In 2010, he helped lead the Kansas City Chiefs to the AFC West division title.
Asked if Cassel has had enough time to grasp the Cowboys offense, Jones said, “Yes.”
But Jones cautioned that the team is “a long way” from deciding to make the quarterback change.
The Cowboys had just 59 total net yards and three first downs in the first half Sunday. Tight end Jason Witten, one of the only reliable playmakers healthy at the moment, didn’t catch his first pass until midway through the third quarter and had a trio of defenders around him when he did.
“We’ve got to do better on first and second down to make him (Weeden) better on third down," wide receiver Terrance Williams said. "We all take part in it. It’s not just him. We are a team. The whole crew is going to ride with him. I really don’t see any (need for) a change.”
Follow Eric Prisbell on Twitter @EricPrisbell.
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