IRVING, Texas – Kellen Moore made Dallas Cowboys history last week against the New York Jets.
He became the first left-handed quarterback in team history to throw a pass in a regular-season game. Paul McDonald was on the Cowboys’ roster in 1986-87, but did not throw a pass.
For the Cowboys’ pass-catchers, there is a little bit more of an adjustment to make in catching passes from Moore.
The rotation of the ball is different than from Tony Romo, Brandon Weeden or Matt Cassel.
“You just have to look at the ball all the way in,” wide receiver Terrance Williams said. “It’s a challenge. You just have to revert back to your fundamentals.”
Assistant receivers coach Kyle Valero tells the players to “look at the skinny, catch the fat,” in terms of the point of the football.
Moore did not take any first-team snaps with the offense until last week, so his time with Williams, Dez Bryant, Jason Witten and Cole Beasley has been limited. Bryant (foot) and Beasley (knee) did not practice Wednesday and Witten (chest) was limited on Wednesday as Moore took all of the first-team snaps for the first time.
“Sometimes it tends to go up whenever he throws it, like the tail end it sometimes goes up,” Williams said. “But it’s not that big of a deal if you pay attention to the ball. The biggest thing is if you don’t pay attention to the ball, it could come out of your hands.”
Williams said the biggest adjustment comes after catching the ball.
“When it hits your hands, it kind of feels different because normally from a right-handed quarterback, you can catch it and tuck it [right away],” Williams said. “For Kellen, you have to do it the exact opposite way. That’s why we practice, to get it down. But I think he throws a really good ball.”
Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett acknowledged the spin is different, but he doesn’t want the players to overanalyze it.
“The ball’s coming to you; reach up and catch it,” Garrett said. “Kellen’s been around these guys enough. He’s thrown the ball to each of them enough in practice and some of them in the games that I think they’ll be able to handle it.”