Kellen Moore's debut a losing one, but he gives Cowboys fans something to cheer

He wasn’t Tony Romo, but he wasn’t Brandon Weeden or Matt Cassel, either.

That’s why Cowboys fans had clamored for Kellen Moore for weeks.

Moore couldn’t pull the upset though, losing to the New York Jets 19-16, but his play at least gave the home crowd something to cheer.

Moore made his much-anticipated NFL debut and while he was far from perfect, with a 52.2 passer rating, the lights didn’t seem too big for him.

“Take the good with the bad,” Moore said. “At the end of the day, we didn’t do enough good things to win, but we did have some good things happen out there. You just have to learn from those and grow from it.”

The backup to the backup to the backup (to the backup?) completed 15 of 25 passes for 158 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

“I thought he did some good things in the game,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “He has a good feel for playing. We all saw that. Obviously, you can’t turn the ball over. Critical turnovers in this game, early on, when he was getting his feet underneath him. The red-zone turnover hurt us.

“But I do think he did some good things. He made some good throws at critical moments, kept drives alive. I thought he was comfortable for his first time out. Obviously, you have to eliminate the mistakes. But there were some good things in his performance.”

Moore became the fourth quarterback to play for the Cowboys this season, and he likely will start next week in Buffalo, though Garrett wasn’t ready to commit to that after the game.

The last time the Cowboys started a season 4-10 also marked the last time they started four quarterbacks in a season. In 2001, Dallas had Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Ryan Leaf and Clint Stoerner at quarterback and finished 5-11.

Garrett offered the first hint that Moore might play Thursday when he revealed that the backup had taken “a couple” of first-team reps during practice last week. Owner Jerry Jones was more definitive a day later, declaring that “the game will dictate how he is used.”

It didn’t go well for Cassel, making the decision to switch quarterbacks an easy one.

“They made a decision to go a different direction,” Cassel said. “I don’t blame them at that point just considering we hadn’t done much. But would I have loved to stay in and continue to battle? Of course.”

Cassel started for the seventh time this season. He lasted only four series, one interception and 18 minutes, 44 seconds in his sixth loss.

Cassel completed three of eight passes for 37 yards and a comedic interception in which he was flagged for intentional grounding on a pass picked off by Darrelle Revis. That ushered in Moore, who entered the game to rousing cheers from the crowd of 90,345.

“I was trying to throw it out of bounds and was kind of stumbling back and wasn’t able to get enough on it, and you can’t have that happen,” Cassel said of the interception.

Moore spent three seasons on the Detroit Lions’ roster, including two in Scott Linehan’s system, though he never played a down. Linehan became the Cowboys offensive coordinator before last season and brought Moore to Dallas after the Lions cut Moore in September.

Moore, who went 50-3 in his career at Boise State, has impressed the Cowboys with his work on the scout team.

But Moore’s first pass went for minus-1 yard. His second was intercepted by safety Marcus Gilchrist.

“He’s got a lot of poise,” Jones said. “He really knows the offense. That’s not to say Cassel didn’t, but he’s been in it more than Cassel has. He does have a better understanding. It’s obvious he’s got instincts — very good instincts. I was reminded on that first possession that he got that interception, and that’s what happened to Romo when Romo first got in there — that type of thing. Tough spot, but for a guy that got his first NFL snap tonight, then there were some positives there no question.”

However, for the eighth time this season, the Cowboys scored one touchdown or fewer. They hit their average of 16 points a game without Romo as their quarterback this season.

“Obviously, I took this opportunity for what it was,” Moore said. “We’ll grow for it and learn from it and we’ll see what happens.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 11:43 PM with the headline "Kellen Moore's debut a losing one, but he gives Cowboys fans something to cheer."