Dallas Cowboys: Starters Not Resting a Wise Move for Rookies

Jerry Jones said on Tuesday that the Dallas Cowboys won’t be resting starters no matter what down the stretch, which is the right decision.

Entering NFL Week 14, the Dallas Cowboys have an absolute stranglehold on the NFC and the East. With a Washington Redskins loss on Sunday in Week 13, they became the first team to lock up a playoff berth. Now heading into a Sunday Night Football clash with the New York Giants, they can already lock up the division, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the NFC.

With a win over the Giants, that would put them up four games in the NFC East with a game to play. While that locks up a top-four seed and leaves them at 12-1, their day could get better. If the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks both lose on Sunday, that gives them a similar lead in the NFC as a whole.

As the Cowboys near that mark, though, many wonder what that would mean for the rest of the regular season. Would the red-hot Boys turn on cruise control for the rest of the season? Specifically, would Dallas not want to risk injury and rest their starters down the stretch.

Team owner Jerry Jones says that won’t happen. Talking with 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday, Jones said that the team won’t be resting their starters once they clinch (per Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram):

In what has been a magical season for America’s Team, even Jones is now making the right call.

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While the risk for injury is certainly worth considering in the decision to not rest starters, there’s a bigger risk at play when it comes to the notion of sitting them. Yes, this Cowboys team is immensely talented. However, no one should be foolish enough to discredit the confidence and momentum on their side right now.

Analytics and statistics can try to belittle the existence of momentum, but there’s no denying the mental side of football in this league. And when you’re leaders on offense consist of two rookies, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, that mental side becomes more crucial. They’ve never experienced postseason football in the NFL. Consequently, the team and coaches need to have them in the best possible position going in. Playing at home and with a bye accomplishes that to a degree. But if they’ve also been picking up splinters going into the playoffs, that ultimately gets them out of their groove.

What’s more, let’s not forget that Tony Romo is still the backup quarterback in Dallas. So let’s imagine a scenario where Prescott rests to end the regular season then. That would put Romo under center. Consequently, there’s the chance that he comes in and looks like the quality quarterback that he is. In doing that, Dallas now has lit the match that sparks the narrative of if Prescott should start in the playoffs as a rookie. Guaranteed, no one on the team wants to deal with that pressure from the media.

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So while the Cowboys will need to be cautious in terms of injuries down the stretch, not outright resting Zeke, Dak, and the rest of the starters is the right call. If you’ve got lightning in a bottle or the start of something great, you don’t shelf it and hope it still has the same electricity a little while later. You keep unleashing it, hopefully all the way to Houston for Super Bowl 51.