Jackson Free Press

Sunday Night Football should see an increase in ratings this week when the Dallas Cowboys host the Philadelphia Eagles. The rating should be helped with the Cowboys alone, who produce a strong reaction in nearly every NFL fan.

The game should also get a boost from two rookie quarterbacks: Dak Prescott, who is still at the helm for the Cowboys, and Philadelphia Eagles feature quarterback Carson Wentz.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo didn’t return to practice today, but he was on the field throwing the ball to teammates. Romo won’t be back this week, but Dallas is going to have to answer the question sooner or later about the team’s quarterback situation.

Head coach Jason Garrett knows which way the locker room is leaning, and that should help guide him to his decision. There is no reason to announce to the rest of the league what will happen when Romo is fully healthy, but he needs to have a plan in place to avoid a quarterback controversy.

But the Romo-Prescott problem is for another week. This week, it’s the quarterback drafted second overall against a fourth-round quarterback.

Before the preseason, it seemed highly unlikely that Wentz and Prescott would be starting for their respective teams. Even more unlikely is that both quarterbacks have a combined 9-3 record.

Rookie quarterbacks aren’t supposed to be this successful this fast. Instead, Prescott has the 5-1 Cowboys on a five-game winning streak coming off their bye week. Wentz has the Eagles at 4-2, and the team beating the Vikings last week ended a two game losing streak.

Both quarterbacks have very similar numbers, but Prescott has been better. He has thrown for 1,486 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception. Wentz has thrown for 1,324 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.

Prescott is completing 68.7 percent of his passes with a 103.9 passer rating, and Wentz is competing 63.8 percent of his passes with a 92.7 passer rating. Prescott is averaging 8.2 yards per pass, and Wentz is averaging 7.2 yards per pass.

Even when needing to use their legs, Prescott has been better. The Cowboys rookie has 20 rushes for 67 yards and three touchdowns, but Wentz has 43 yards on 18 carries and zero touchdowns rushing.

Both quarterbacks must work on protecting the ball in the pocket and rushing. Prescott has four fumbles, and Wentz has six this season. Wentz has been sacked 12 times for a loss of 60 yards, and Prescott has been sacked nine times for a loss of 44 yards.

In fact, the Cowboys’ fourth-round draft pick has out-played most of the quarterbacks in the NFL.

Prescott is second in the NFL in completion percentage at 68.7 percent and trails only Tom Brady. He is fifth in yards per pass attempt at 8.7 yards, with Brady, Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton and Philip Rivers ahead of him.

Among quarterbacks …

College football is heading into its home stretch as October fades into November. It is time once again to look into the bowl and SWAC East hopes for Mississippi teams.

This season has featured more bad than good, with just one team that has a winning record at this point in the season: the University of Southern Mississippi. At 4-3, the team comes off a bye week with a winning record.

Delta State University, at 4-4, and Alcorn State University, at 3-3, are the only teams that currently even boast a .500 record. The University of Mississippi (3-4), Jackson State University (3-4), Mississippi State University (2-5), Millsaps College (2-5), Mississippi College (2-6), Belhaven University (1-6) and Mississippi Valley State University (0-8) all have losing records.

Things aren’t looking good for the teams in our state. Time is running out for a dramatic turnaround, and for most teams, even a turnaround won’t earn them a winning season.

Even as bad as things are right now, Mississippi teams still have hopes of a bowl or SWAC Championship Game berth. Here is a quick look at those hopes for five teams.

Mississippi State is still mathematically alive to reach a bowl game. The Bulldogs should get a win this week against Samford and reach 3-5 on the season.

MSU has to be kicking itself for missing a field goal in a loss to the University of South Alabama, a late rally against Louisiana State University, an overtime loss to Brigham Young University and leaving too much time on the clock so the University of Kentucky to make a game-winning field goal.

If a few of those four losses had gone the other way, the Bulldogs would be playing for six wins this weekend or already have six wins. Discounting a blowout loss to Auburn University, MSU has four losses by a combined 13 points.

Even if they win this weekend, the trouble for the Bulldogs is finding three more wins. MSU’s schedule over the last four weeks is home games against Texas A&M University (6-1) and the University of Arkansas (5-3) with road trips to the University of Alabama (8-0) and UM in between the home games.

It seems impossible to find three more wins in those four games. MSU would have to upset three teams just to make a bowl game.

While still alive, the reality is the Bulldogs’ bowl streak ends this year. It could have gone differently for MSU, but close losses doomed this team.

The schedule looks a little better for the Rebels, even with two straight losses to Arkansas and LSU. They still have to win three more games to reach a bowl game, but they have opportunities to get there with the remaining games.

UM faces an Auburn team that has found its lost offense. The Tigers look like a tough game to win …