PHILADELPHIA – The Cowboys didn’t mess around by playing select key starters in this “Preseason-in-January’’ visit to Philly. But Tony Romo — who took his first regular-season snaps of the season for Dallas on Sunday when he entered the game for Dak Prescott on the Cowboys’ third possession — didn’t mess around, either.
“It felt good,” said Romo of his performance in Dallas’ 27-13 loss. “Weirdly, you kind of expect (success) when you go out there.”
Romo completed three of four passes for 29 yards, including a TD pass to Terrance Williams to give the Cowboys a 10-3 lead in the second quarter. On his first snap, he threw deep but incomplete. But he did complete three passes to lead the Cowboys to a score, aided by an Eagles pass interference call on a nice deep ball to Dez Bryant.
Following his short TD pass to Williams — the 248th touchdown pass of his career and first since Nov. 22, 2015 at Miami — Romo trotted to the sideline with a subtle finger-pointing gesture, and was greeted by elated teammates, including Dak Prescott, the rookie sensation who replaced Romo when the vet got hurt in August and has never looked back in leading the Cowboys to an NFC-leading 13-2 record entering this game.
“It was fun to go out there and watch him,” Dak said. “It was easy for him.”
Prescott started here and third-stringer Mark Sanchez finished, signifying the relative unimportance of the contest, which also featured the Jason Garrett coaching decision to keep the team’s offensive and defensive standouts, Ezekiel Elliott and Sean Lee, respectively, out of the game.
Dallas now drives forward to the NFL Playoffs, owning a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout, with decisions to make about Romo’s future … in the future. For now, there is no concern about rust for the No. 2 QB Romo and no concern about controversy for the No. 1 QB Prescott.
“We’re about as well set-up as you could ever dream of,’’ said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
