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Head coach Jason Garrett confirmed Ed Werder of ESPN's report on Wednesday, saying Weeden "took it like a pro," via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News.
Garrett added that the quarterback position "has an impact on the entire offensive unit and how the team is performing—sometimes it's fair, sometimes not," via Joe Trahan of WFAA.
"We wanted to give Matt an opportunity to be in this role and see if we can get our offense going, get our team going," Garrett said, via David Helman of the Cowboys' official site.
"I told [Garrett] how I feel," Weeden said, via Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "He knows I'm pissed."
Weeden, 32, has thrown for 739 yards and two touchdowns against as many interceptions in four games this season. He took over after Tony Romo suffered a broken collarbone that put him on short-term injured reserve.
While Weeden was able to hold down the fort in a Week 2 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys have lost each of his games as a starter.
Dallas is also making other positional changes during the bye week, with Garrett confirming that La'el Collins will take over for Ronald Leary at left guard, via Machota. Werder also reported on Wednesday that the team is considering swapping Christine Michael in for Joseph Randle at running back.
Accuracy hasn't been an issue—Weeden's among the NFL leaders at 72.4 percent—but his inability to stretch the field has hamstrung the Dallas offense. He has completed only one pass longer than 30 yards in the last three weeks, which has allowed opposing teams to creep toward the line of scrimmage.
The New England Patriots were particularly brazen in their coverages Sunday, and Weeden turned in what was by far his worst performance of the season. He completed 26 of his 39 passes for only 188 yards. Dallas did not have a pass completion longer than 21 yards, and Weeden also accounted for one of the team's two turnovers in a 30-6 blowout.
Weeden, for his part, attributed some of his NFL struggles to luck, via Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram:
Norv Turner told me a long time ago when we were sitting in the [Cleveland Browns] quarterback meeting, and he said, "Brandon, I don’t know what you have done to whoever, but you’ve got the worst luck of any player I have been around." I have, ever since I was a little kid. I don’t know what I did. But it is what it is. I’m never going to lose confidence in my ability. I wouldn’t be here and [be] put in this position if I couldn’t play this position. You’ve just got to clean it up—the little things that maybe I missed today.
Dallas acquired Cassel, 33, from the Buffalo Bills for a conditional draft pick following Romo's injury. He has served as Weeden's backup since his arrival but has not taken a snap.
A 2010 Pro Bowler, Cassel will be starting for his fourth NFL team. His last two runs in Kansas City with the Chiefs and Minnesota with the Vikings saw him get benched, and in one case he was booed out of town. So it's unclear whether he'll be an improvement over Weeden.
ESPN's Tim MacMahon provided some logic behind the move:
It is fair to note that teammates generally play better for a quarterback they believe in. But Cassel has posted a quarterback rating of under 80 in three of the last four seasons. The Cowboys will soon find out if they're merely substituting one kind of mediocrity for another.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.
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