It took Kellen Moore suffering a season-ending injury for reality to set in for the Dallas Cowboys: their backup quarterback situation is a major problem. And somehow Jerry Jones doesn’t remain interested in addressing it.

Moore and rookie Dak Prescott were never really the answer. No more than Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Moore were the solution. If some serious injury befell Tony Romo — and a very specific, serious injury has befallen him multiple times in his career, with Romo injuring his collarbone twice last year alone — the Cowboys offense would be in trouble with only Moore and Prescott to run it.

Nothing really changed, but the realization set in when Moore went down with a gruesome ankle injury. And yet, Jones remains content to sit by and see what the Cowboys have, telling 105.3 the Fan he has no interest in adding a veteran backup to the mix.

“To be very candid with you, we’re going to evaluate these quarterbacks,” Jones said. “Without Romo getting a lot of time here in preseason, which is the case, then we can afford that — we can all afford that.”

Limiting a starter isn’t a new notion in training camp or the preseason. Romo doesn’t need reps to get on the same page with an offense he’s run plenty of times.

So it does make sense to give Prescott and new No. 3 quarterback Jameill Showers some run. The coaching staff needs to see what their two current backup options can do when the proverbial bullets start flying.

“These young quarterbacks are going to get it, and I’m not going to waste that time,” Jones said. “That time is a precious commodity in the NFL to evaluate quarterbacks.”

There’s also this logic: if the Cowboys wait to sign a quarterback, they could their pick of the litter once cuts start being made. If the Cowboys want to sign someone like Cassel again, perhaps they don’t want to spend any of this preseason handing him playing time when the youngsters can use it.

“We’ve seen enough from them that they deserve this opportunity,” Jones said. “We’re going to see that, and so I don’t see bringing a quarterback in here that has to take reps away from these guys during the preseason.”

So, Dallas is going to wait until cuts are made, the youngsters are evaluated and the regular season is about to being before making a move — or not making a move! — on a veteran quarterback. There is some viable rationale when it comes to looking at the younger guys on the depth chart. It makes a little sense.

But everything will be out the window if Romo suffers another major injury and there’s no backup in place who can take over the offense and functionally run the Cowboys system (hand off to Ezekiel Elliott, but still) at a level that involves a high floor of operation. Prescott is a high-ceiling guy and could conceivably end up being the Cowboys starter of the future.

If he’s forced to start in 2016 one of two things is going to happen: the Cowboys will suffer another rough season just like 2015, or Jones is going to bolster his alleged first-ballot Hall of Fame resume.