Week 3 of the NFL season wraps up tonight with the New Orleans Saints playing host to the Atlanta Falcons. As has been the case throughout the season, several notable players suffered rather serious injuries on Sunday, and teams are scrambling to come up with solutions. Here are the latest news and rumors from across the league:
Prescott to keep starting job when Romo comes back?
Dak Prescott has been impressive so far this season, leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 2-1 start without turning the ball over yet. He was put in place to play until Tony Romo returned from his back injury, but as Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon writes, there's a good chance Prescott keeps the job - even when Romo is healthy.
Quarterback situations involving rookie fourth-round picks should generally remain fluid, especially when you have a veteran Pro Bowl quarterback on the roster. And there remains plenty of time for Dak Prescott to come back to earth, making it easy for the Dallas Cowboys to hand the starting job back to Tony Romo when he returns from his back injury.
But given the way Prescott has played through three weeks, the Cowboys would be foolish to view the Mississippi State product as anything less than their permanent starting quarterback.
If Prescott—who on Sunday night completed all but five of 24 passes for 248 yards and a touchdown in a turnover-free victory over the Chicago Bears—continues to perform the way he has three games into his maiden NFL season, he has to remain the guy going forward, even with Romo healthy.
It's entirely possible he's only experiencing all of this success because opposing defenses have yet to figure him out, and that could change as more game tape is produced. But until or unless that happens, the Cowboys would be crazy to risk attempting to fix what ain't broke by benching Prescott in favor of a healthy Romo.
As Cowboys legend Deion Sanders said late Sunday night on NFL Network, Dallas has to ride the wave Dak Prescott has created—even if that means keeping a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback on the sideline.
Prescott has completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 767 yards and one touchdown, while rushing for 54 yards and two more touchdowns.
Patriots unsure who will start on Sunday
The New England Patriots are dealing with injuries to both Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett, and as a result, they aren't sure who will start at the position next weekend, according to NFL.com's Conor Orr:
As of Monday morning, the Patriots would not say who their starting quarterback would be. The Patriots got a long weekend off and don't report to the field until Tuesday. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels told local radio station WEEI on Monday that he hoped both Jimmy Garoppolo (shoulder) and Jacoby Brissett (thumb) would be healthy enough to make a start against Buffalo. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport noted that New England not signing free agent TJ Yates is a sign that both quarterbacks should be healthy enough to dress.
If neither quarterback can play, wide receiver Julian Edelman is the team's fourth-string quarterback. He played the position in college at Kent State. Tom Brady will be eligible to return from his four-game suspension in two weeks when the Patriots take on the Cleveland Browns.
Latest notable injuries
The injury bug hit several teams noticeably hard on Sunday with key players going down. The Seattle Seahawks were hit the worst, as quarterback Russell Wilson suffered a MCL sprain and running back Thomas Rawls suffered a fibula injury. Wilson may miss next weekend's game against the Jets with the injury, while the team is saying Rawls could miss "a couple of weeks."
New York Giants running back Shane Vereen suffered a torn triceps in their loss to the Redskins, and he is expected to miss the rest of the season.
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