Since Tony Romo left the Dallas Cowboy’s Week 2 matchup early against the Philadelphia Eagles with a broken clavicle, his team has struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm. Whether it's been Brandon Weeden or Matt Cassel under center, things simply haven’t worked out.
That said, the Cowboys were able to take away a positive or two from the outstanding play of Cassel and Dez Bryant in an overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 9.
As far as Cowboys’ fans are concerned, there’s hope that what took place out on the field at AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas is a sign of things to come—regardless of whether or not Romo is back under center. Cassel, for example, successfully completed 25-of-38 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns.
The only blemish on his performance was an interception he threw to Jordan Hicks, who returned the wayward pass for a 67-yard touchdown. Though the quarterback out of USC took quite a few sacks and did most of his damage on check-downs to Cole Beasley, Cassel was able to keep his composure when things appeared most uncertain for his side.
Unfortunately for America’s team, in spite of Cassel’s heroic play out on the open field, the overtime loss is the Cowboy’s sixth in a row. Cassel has one more scheduled start before Romo is eligible for return.
In addition to better quarterbacking, the Cowboys’ star receiver appears to be back on track. Dez Bryant made his presence known, catching 5-of-8 targets for a total of 104 yards.
In fact, on the opening drive of the game, Bryant scorched the Eagles for two catches and 56 yards. Though relatively quiet in the second half, Bryant soon found himself on the receiving end of the game’s most exciting play.
After some impressive scrambling in the backfield, Cassel launched a Hail Mary-type pass into the end zone that Bryant skied above a pair of Eagles’ defenders to pull down, his first and only touchdown of the game.
For fantasy owners, in spite of Cassel starting, Bryant is easily considered a WR1 option come Dallas’ next game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida. With Romo only needing one more week of healing, things appear to be coming together for Dallas. Needless to say, the state of Texas hopes it’s not too little, too late.