Brookover: Prescott or Romo? Tough QB call looming for Dallas

Dak Prescott is going to be the Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Sunday afternoon in Green Bay. Beyond that, coach Jason Garrett has a difficult decision to make, provided it is not made for him by Jerry Jones, the Cowboys' hands-all-over-everything owner. Regardless of who makes the call, it is a tough one.

Following the game against the Packers and a bye week, the Cowboys have an Oct. 30 home meeting with the Eagles at Jerry's Enormous Dome. That has long been the target date for veteran quarterback Tony Romo's return from a preseason back injury. The debate is already being waged down in Dallas about what the Cowboys should do, and there are pros and cons to both sides.

It is obviously a lot nicer problem than a year ago, when Romo played only four games and the options to replace him were limited to Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel, and Kellen Moore. "None of the above" always looked like the best poll option with that trio.

It is easy to understand why a lot of Cowboys fans would want to stick with Prescott. The 23-year-old fourth-round pick out of Mississippi State is the first Cowboys quarterback to emerge as a suitable backup and/or replacement since Romo took over from Drew Bledsoe in the middle of the 2006 season.

Romo has not matched the success Bledsoe's 2001 replacement in New England has enjoyed, but he has been pretty darn good for a long, long time. Still, he is 36 years old and the Cowboys have found a rookie with a winning touch, so why not ride with that formula?

Prescott has led the Cowboys to four straight wins since an opening-day loss to the New York Giants, and he has thrown 155 passes without an interception to start his career. He has thrown only four touchdown passes in five games, but he has also run for three.

You could argue that Prescott has been only a game manager, but the Cowboys have that luxury, thanks to the punishing running tandem of rookie Ezekiel Elliott and veteran Alfred Morris. If the best thing you can say about Prescott is that he protects the football, the Cowboys are OK with that, too. It's high on their list of importance after finishing a distant last in the NFL with a minus-22 in turnover differential a year ago. They are plus-two this season.

Prescott has also connected on 74.6 percent of his passes during Dallas' four-game winning streak and posted a passer rating of 103.7 or higher in each of those games.

As well as Romo played in 2014, when he was a candidate for NFL player of the year, he was not as good in his four games last season. The list of injuries have also added up for Romo, which makes you wonder how much he has left in the tank.

To Prescott's credit, he has said all the right things when questioned about his accomplished veteran teammate.

"This is Tony's team," Prescott told reporters who cover the Cowboys last week. "I knew that going into the situation. I think everybody knew that. I'm just trying to do the best I can to give my team a chance to win week in and week out."

He has done exactly that, and that is why the question now looms about who should be the Cowboys' quarterback when they play the Eagles on mischief night.

Television ratings for Week 5 games were down again, according to SportsBusiness Daily, and theories abound as to why that has been a season-long trend for the NFL.

Without question the kinder-gentler Green Bay Packers vs. New York Giants game on Sunday Night Football could not compete with the ferocious debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. And there wasn't much juice for the Monday night game either once Carolina quarterback Cam Newton was ruled out with a concussion.

It will be interesting to see whether NFL ratings rebound once we elect a new president.

Of course there's also the theory that the drop in ratings can be attributed to the national anthem protests that were triggered by the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick during the preseason.

Kaepernick, after restructuring his contract to relieve the 49ers of the injury risk they would have taken under his former deal, has another chance to be a starting quarterback Sunday in Buffalo.

For the record, he was 3-10 with a 76.2 passer rating in his last 13 starts before being benched in the middle of last season. He had thrown 10 touchdown passes and nine interceptions in that span while completing just 58.6 percent of his passes. Kaepernick did remain a running threat during that time, averaging 7.6 yards on 74 carries.

This week he'll be the target of fans in Buffalo. The reaction should be interesting.

The New York Giants have lost three in a row and fallen to the bottom of the NFC East, but that did not stop head coach Ben McAdoo from granting his players more than an hour Wednesday to talk about something far more important than football. According to the New York Times, the Giants players, along with McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese, gathered to discuss improving race relations in the United States. The meeting was also attended by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

"I saw a thoughtfulness and a love of this country, and these guys don't want to be sitting on the sidelines . . .," Booker said. "They want to be in the game."

Do we dare call it locker room talk?

The most disturbing story of Week 5 came out of Stoughton, Wis., where a Minnesota Vikings fan was stabbed seven times with a box cutter after he confronted a 21-year-old man in his front yard who was in the process of slashing an inflatable Viking figure. The victim, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, was Dave Moschel, a father of six.

"Luckily I didn't have my concealed carry on me at the time," Moschel said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time I leave the house, I never leave without it. And this is the one time I did. I'm kind of glad I did, because he would have been dead, and I would have had to live with that."

The Vikings have invited Moschel to a future practice and their Nov. 20 home game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Sunday early game:

Cincinnati at New England

A loss here and the Bengals fall to 2-4, which will equal their total number of losses from a year ago. Marvin Lewis survived the Bengals' inability to win a single playoff game during his first 13 seasons as the head coach, but if they miss the playoffs this season he has to go. Tom Brady should get more resistance from the Bengals defense than he got from the Browns' in his return last week.

Sunday late afternoon:

Atlanta at Seattle

The Falcons' top-ranked offense against the Seahawks' top-ranked defense makes for a great Week 6 matchup. Add in the fact that Falcons coach Dan Quinn was the defensive coordinator for the Seahawks teams that went to consecutive Super Bowls and you really have some intrigue. Matt Ryan leads the league in passing yards (1,740) and passer rating (121.6) and the 4-1 Falcons last week became the first team from outside the AFC West to beat the Broncos in Denver during the regular season since 2011.

Sunday night:

Indianapolis at Houston

These are the only two teams that have won the AFC South since the 2009 season and they came in as the favorites again in 2016. Brock Osweiler, however, has been erratic as the Texans' new quarterback, completing just 58 percent of his passes while throwing six touchdown passes and seven interceptions. The Colts' Andrew Luck has been sacked a league-high 20 times and Indy is allowing 29.6 points per game, tied with Cleveland for the second most in the NFL.

Monday night:

N.Y. Jets at Arizona

These two teams are among the most disappointing in the NFL. The Jets appeared ready to soar after Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 374 yards in a Week 2 win at Buffalo, but the veteran quarterback has completed just 55.3 percent of his passes and thrown two touchdown passes and nine interceptions in three straight losses since then. Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is expected to return after missing Week 5 against San Francisco because of a concussion.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob