Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Bledsoe the Man, At Least for Now

Originally posted 8/24/2006

Ever since Bill Parcells started Tony Romo and let him play the entire first preseason game this year, a lot of people are speculating that Romo is about to take Drew Bledsoe's job as the starter of the Dallas Cowboys. It ain't going to happen. Not right now anyway.

Bledsoe is a proven NFL quarterback. Sure, he has had a few problems with getting sacked in his career, but he did make it to the Super Bowl in 1996 and he also won the AFC Championship game for the Patriots in 2000 when Tom Brady was sitting on the sideline. Tony Romo has never thrown a pass in an NFL regular season game, and anyone that thinks Bill Parcells will just up and throw Romo in as the starter this season is crazy.

Here is the deal: the Cowboys had a very suspect line last year after Flozell Adams went down for the season with a knee injury. Drew Bledsoe was among the top three QB's in the NFL up to that point. Once Flozell went down, Drew started having problems but still carried the Cowboys to some great wins. If the Dallas O-Line is struggling this year and Bledsoe begins to have problems, then Romo might get his chance, because he is more mobile than Bledsoe.

The Cowboys and the Cowboy fans have always turned their backs on the starting QB when times got rough, whether it was the QB's fault or not. Don Meredith had Craig Morton in the wings, Morton had Staubach, Staubach had Danny White, White had Hogeboom (or Hogenbloom as Tom Landry used to call him), and even Troy Aikman had to fight for his job against Steve Walsh early in his career. Cowboy fans are not happy without QB controversy, and those fans are trying to stir it up again this year.

Bledsoe had one of the best years a Dallas QB has ever had last season, despite the 50 sacks. Just because Romo has thrown a few good passes against third team defenses does not mean he is God's next gift to the Cowboys. I would ask that you people just settle down and let the season play out.

2005 Philly at Dallas

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