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Dallas knows it'll have a chance to make a run when Romo and wide receiver Dez Bryant return to health, but in the meantime, the Cowboys have three difficult games coming up after their Week 6 bye, two of which come against division rivals.
And that might explain why it appears head coach Jason Garrett is making some major offensive roster changes ahead of a three-game stretch during which the Cowboys will face the New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles.
Added experience at quarterback
First, Dallas will start Matt Cassel in place of Brandon Weeden at quarterback. This is the highest-profile move, but should actually be the least controversial.
Weeden has by no means been a disaster, but he's lost all three of his starts in place of Romo and is 0-11 as a starter since late in the 2012 season. It's a team game, so that's not all on him, but the same can't be said for the abysmal interceptions he's thrown in two of his three starts.
Weeden's 92.2 passer rating is the best of his career, and his numbers outside of that look decent, but he made awful decisions on both picks and is a ticking time bomb with more career interceptions than touchdowns. It's time for a fresh arm.
Cassel isn't necessarily a savior. If he had something special left in him, he wouldn't have been a backup with the Minnesota Vikings and wouldn't have been cast aside by the Buffalo Bills. But he has a lot more experience and significantly better career numbers than Weeden.
I know it was a whole seven years ago, but something has to be said for the fact Cassel was able to salvage the New England Patriots' 2008 season in relief of an injured Tom Brady. Different team, different decade, but you can't blame the Cowboys for mixing it up and giving the 33-year-old a shot.
"Matt's a good football player, and he's been a good football player in this league for a number of years," Garrett said, per ESPN.com's Todd Archer. "He's been a backup before, so he's coming into this situation. He's also been a starter, and he's started games in this league and won games in this league. He has the skill set that allows him to do everything we ask him to do."
Changing of the (left) guard
Second, the Cowboys have officially replaced veteran Ronald Leary with rookie La'el Collins at left guard. I say officially because Collins has already started a game and played significant reps in another, while Leary has struggled immensely when healthy, posting ugly Pro Football Focus run-blocking grades ever since returning from a groin injury in Week 4.
He was penalized twice against the Patriots and was manhandled frequently in the trenches. He's been blocked into his own backs too many times. Enough was enough.
This was inevitable.
"We really just watched the tape," Garrett said, per ESPN.com's Jean-Jacques Taylor. "We evaluated his tape vs. Ron's tape over the last couple of weeks and we just feel like he's deserving of this opportunity right now.
For what it's worth 97 snaps into his NFL career, Collins has received a slightly positive PFF grade of 0.9, and the LSU product was projected by many to be a first-round pick in April before controversy regarding the shooting death of a pregnant woman caused teams to take him off of draft boards. Collins was cleared as a suspect, and as a result it appears Dallas has gotten great value for a guy they think is ready to play consistently.
On one hand, the fact that Collins joins a starting unit that sent three players—Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin—to the Pro Bowl last year means he'll be well-supported, possibly leaving more margin for error as he gets acclimated to starting.
On the other hand, this just became an extremely young line, with four of the five starters 24 years old or younger. And when your line lacks experience, you run the risk of being exposed by smart defensive coordinators and high-quality pass-rushes, which is something we saw when the Cowboys line was overwhelmed by a complex and multiple Washington Commanders attack last season.
Throw in that they're not working with Romo, Bryant and DeMarco Murray, and I can see a young line having some issues.
The running back carousel keeps spinning
Murray is, of course, gone, and Lance Dunbar is out for the season with a torn ACL. That leaves Joseph Randle and Darren McFadden as the only backs on the roster who have received more than two touches this season.
But both of those guys are averaging fewer than 4.0 yards per carry, and the best running game in football during the 2014 season ranks in the middle of the pack in terms of both yards per game and yards per rushing attempt this season.
Enter Christine Michael?
This one's less set in stone, because running back reps are more fluid and because Garrett insists Randle will continue to be the starter. But ESPN's Ed Werder reported this week that Michael—who has been on the roster just six weeks and has taken only two snaps as a Cowboy—could challenge Randle for starting reps.
Plus, Cowboys running backs coach Gary Brown is speaking as though Michael will be playing a major role soon, per David Helman of the team's official website:
That's intriguing, because Michael is bigger than Randle and McFadden, both of whom have had their issues. Randle has yet to prove he can be an every-down back, and the 28-year-old McFadden has had problems with both health and consistency.
The 24-year-old Michael, who was a second-round pick in 2013, is averaging a solid 4.8 yards per carry in his career. He was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time with the Seattle Seahawks, but could have a chance to excel with less competition and behind a superb line in Dallas.
Worth a shot
The key is that it couldn't hurt for a team on a three-game losing stream to mix it up. Weeden, Leary, Randle and McFadden haven't earned the luxury of being able to complain about losing playing time, and they certainly won't have any issue with being reinserted into the starting lineup if any of these moves don't pan out.
But right now, Dallas needs new energy, and Cassel, Collins and Michael—all of whom weren't on the roster at this point last year—possess the ability to help soften the Texas-sized blow this team has been dealt six weeks into the 2015 campaign.
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.
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