IRVING, Texas – Brandon Weeden has probably had better birthdays.
Wednesday, the recently-turned 32-year-old not only practiced for the first time this month as the No. 2 quarterback, but then stood in front of his locker at Valley Ranch and answered questions regarding the demotion. Naturally, his competitive nature was on display.
"Well, how do you think I took it?" Weeden said in reference to the decision to start Matt Cassel in the next game. "Obviously I'm pissed. It's the nature of this business. I have to be ready. I'm back in that positon. I'm one play away again. It's my role again."
Weeden said he expressed his displeasure to head coach Jason Garrett, who delivered the news to him on Tuesday about his demotion.
"They know how I feel," he said. "They know I'm pissed. But I'm a pro. There's not a whole lot I can say."
Garrett announced the news to the media on Wednesday, applauded Weeden on the way he handled the news, and the way he played in his three starts.
"Brandon is a competitor. He wants to play," Garrett said. "He did a lot of good things over the course of the last three weeks as a starter for this team. There are some things he should really be proud of in his performance. There are some things obviously he needs to improve upon but that's everybody on our football team. He's a professional. He wants to play. He wants to be the guy who is in there but he understands the situation we're in as a team, he understands the decision, he understands the motivation for the decision. We think it's in the best interest of our football team and he took it like a pro."[embeddedad0]
Weeden, who is now 0-4 as a starter with the Cowboys, has lost 11 straight starts, dating back to his days in Cleveland. The 2012 first-round of the Browns (22nd overall) is now 5-19 as a starting quarterback.
Nick Eatman is the author of the recently published ****If These Walls Could Talk: Dallas Cowboys***, a collection of stories from the Cowboys' locker room, sideline and press box, with a foreword written by Darren Woodson.*
