ARLINGTON -- The Cowboys may have not seen their future Saturday night.

But they did see hope.

Hope for the final two games of the season in the form of a young quarterback who had never thrown an NFL pass before Saturday night. Finally given the chance 14 games into his fourth NFL season, Kellen Moore did everything the Cowboys asked of him except win the game.

Moore came off the bench to ignite the NFL's 28th ranked offense and 29th ranked passing offense, involving the wide receivers, putting the ball in the end zone and engaging a sellout crowd of 90,345. But the game meant more to the 9-5 Jets than to the 4-10 Cowboys and New York prevailed, 19-16, on a late field goal.

That officially put an end to the far-fetched Jerry Jones' notion of an NFC East title in 2015. Ten losses aren't going to get the Cowboys into the post-season -- nor do they deserve to play in the post-season. Not when you go 1-6 at home and 1-9 with backup quarterbacks not named Kellen Moore. The division is bad -- but not that bad.

So put Tony Romo on injured reserve now. The Cowboys won't need him in January. And let's all take a longer look at Moore.

Jason Garrett had told us all week he was sticking with Cassel because he believed Cassel gave the Cowboys their best chance of winning against the Jets. Eight passes and 18 minutes into Saturday night's game, Garrett changed his mind.

After watching Cassel toss an interception on a play he was trying to throw the ball away, then take a 19-yard sack, then fail to put the ball in the hands of any wide receivers in his first eight throws, Garrett decided it was time to take a look at Moore.

The wide receivers had become non-participants in the Romo-less offense. Weeden continually checked down to the safe passes underneath and Cassel often would lose Terrance Williams, Cole Beasley and even Dez Bryant for long stretches in games.

That wasn't the problem with Moore. He entered the game with the Cowboys trailing 6-3 early in the second quarter and immediately went to work with his wideouts. He threw his first eight passes as an NFL quarterback to wide receivers, including his first career touchdown pass on a 10-yard bubble screen to Bryant that staked the Cowboys at a 10-9 halftime lead.

"Get the ball to the guy who makes plays," said Moore of the Bryant touchdown _ but he could just as easily have been talking about his own offensive philosophy.

Moore wound up throwing 25 passes in his NFL debut and 18 of them were to his wideouts. Why not? Clearly, wide receiver is a strength of this offense and this team. A week earlier, Cassel connected with Bryant on only one of six passes in Green Bay. Moore hooked up with Bryant four times for 50 yards and threw him seven passes on the night.

Moore did throw three interceptions but the first two were errors of inexperience and the third a failed Hail Mary. Two of the interceptions came on passes directed at Bryant. Moore's first interception came on his second pass when he ducked under a pass rush and tried to throw a deep pass that neither his body nor his arm would allow. Bad idea. That pass to Williams was intercepted by Marcus Gilchrist.

His second interception came on a crossing route to Bryant at the back of the end zone. Moore didn't see safety Calvin Pryor coming from the other direction for that theft. His final interception came on the Hail Mary to Bryant, who was surrounded by three New York defenders. The deflected pass landed in the hands of cornerback Marcus Williams.

Moore showed poise under pressure and guts with his arm. He completed a nine-yard pass to Cole Beasley on a fourth-and-two in the closing minutes that set up a field goal by Dan Bailey that tied the game at 16-16. He found Beasley three times for 37 yards in the fourth quarter alone. In the eight games since the bye, Beasley had five games with one catch or fewer from Cassel.

Moore left Boise State as the winningest all-time quarterback in NCAA history with a 50-3 record. He saw all that the college game and college defenses could offer, throwing 1,658 passes for 14,667 yards with 143 touchdowns and only 28 interceptions. Then he spent the last four years watching a couple Pro Bowl quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford and Tony Romo.

If the kid is ever going to be ready to play in the NFL, it's now. He's got two games to play for his future as a backup to Romo.

Let's see what he's got. These last two games could be entertaining.

Listen to Rick Gosselin at 10:50 a.m. Tuesdays on Sportsradio 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket with Norm Hitzges and Donovan Lewis, and follow @RickGosselinDMN on Twitter.

Twitter: @RickGosselinDMN