Kellen Moore had similar debut to this Cowboys star

Quarterback Kellen Moore’s first action in the NFL was reminiscent of the first significant playing time for this Dallas Cowboys star.

Last week, the Dallas Cowboys had to turn to a one undrafted free agent that had never played a down of professional football to quarterback America’s Team due to the incompetence of a veteran starter. It was not the first time this has happened and what is interesting is that debuts of quarterbacks Kellen Moore and Tony Romo were amazingly similar.

Against the New York Jets, backup quarterback Kellen Moore came of the bench after starting quarterback Matt Cassel put on one of the worst displays of quarterback play the franchise had seen in its history.

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In actuality, Romo had thrown two passes in a blowout victory the week prior to his relief of Bledsoe on Monday Night Football. But for all intents and purposes, Romo’s career began in the second half of the game against the Giants.

Romo played the second half of the game against the Giants on October 23, 2006, following a poor first half by the team’s starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe who threw an crucial interception just prior to halftime to thwart a potential Cowboys scoring drive..

Asking a player that has never played a regular season snap in his career to come in to the middle of an NFL game and play the most difficult and important position in sports is a herculean task. Both Romo and Moore handled the situation as well as can reasonable be expected.

In the 2006 game, Romo went 14-25 for 227 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions (including one on his first pass attempt of the game).

Moore’s statistics against the Jets last week were eerily similar. The former Boise State University star that lost only three games in college was 15-25 for 158 yards, 1 touchdown and three interceptions in his first swim through the turbulent waters of the NFL.

Digging deeper into both performances, more similarities can be unearthed. Romo completed 58% of his pass attempts while Moore connected on an even 60% of his.

And what’s more, both quarterbacks threw a touchdown pass to a mercurial wide receiver to make the game interesting. Against the Giants, Romo hit wide receiver Terrell Owens on an 8-yard scoring pass while a decade later, Moore found Dez Bryant from 10 yards out for the only Cowboys’ touchdown.

Ultimately, neither 26-year-old undrafted quarterback from a non-traditional college football program was able to rally his team to victory. Romo fell to the Giants 36-22 while Moore kept his team in the game and had the opportunity to pull out a victory on the final drive of the game but fell short losing to 19-16.

"No one expects Moore to emulate the career of Tony Romo. For as a drunken Cowboys’ owner and general manager one slurred, “Romo’s a miracle.” Link"

As we all know, in 2006, Romo was able to lead the Cowboys to the playoffs after taking over the starting position. Meanwhile, Moore is facing no organizational pressure but the internal pressure that comes with a two-game audition to prove that he should at least be kept on the Dallas roster during the off season when he takes his first snaps as a starter in Buffalo against the Bills.

Next: Kellen Moore's early struggles are a positive for the Cowboys

Moore does not have to deal with the hope resurrecting a season like Romo did in 2006 but he most certainly faces the pressure of trying to preserve his football-playing career.

While the Cowboys have been eliminated from the playoffs, Moore has to prove that he shouldn’t be eliminated from the competition to back up the man whose first significant NFL action was remarkably similar to his.

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