Kellen Moore has jumped in for a few snaps with the Dallas Cowboys’ first-team offense this week as the team prepares for a must-win game at home against the New York Jets.
Clarence Hill dropped this little bit of knowledge on the Twitterverse Thursday morning, noting Moore is mostly working with the scout team.
Kellen Moore has gotten a few reps with the starters this week but he has mostly done scout team per Jason Garrett
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) December 17, 2015
Perhaps the Dallas Cowboys really aren’t as confident in Matt Cassel as they say they are.
When asked if Moore would get reps with the first team earlier in the week, head coach Jason Garrett was pretty brusque on the topic.
“I don’t really want to get into any of that stuff. Matt is our starting quarterback, so we’ll prepare him to be our starter,” Garrett said (h/t ESPN.com). Kellen will mostly do scout team stuff like he’s been doing the last couple of weeks.”
For almost every NFL team, when it comes to preparing for a game the starter gets all the first-team reps. That’s how it goes.
The fact that Dallas is actually giving Moore any first-team reps at all tells us all we need to know about how the organization feels about Cassel. This lack of confidence is founded, too. When given a chance to start, he’s been pretty darn miserable, throwing five touchdowns, six interceptions and compiling a record of 1-5.
Dez Bryant is practically non-existent on the perimeter and has just two touchdowns this year, and Jason Witten is tied with Terrance Williams with the team lead in receiving touchdowns with three. The passing game has suffered greatly with Tony Romo out nursing his broken collarbone this year.
Moore is no savior. The former Boise State star has never started an NFL game in his four-year career.
If he’s pressed into duty, then that means the white flag has been raised. That said, the fact that he’s being prepared at all for any work with the first team is evidence that the Cowboys are pretty close to waiving that sucker.