Peter King jumps on the Romo bandwagon in his MMQB column today (along with opining on T.O.), and stirs the pot a little more.
Chris Mortenson said on the Dan Patrick show that the Romo issue is a real one, and that Bledsoe is on a short leash.
We have articles coming from all over the media saying the QB controversy is real and that Parcells is very high on Romo. Even some of the fans are getting into the act.
I don't know about you, but doesn't this seem a little crazy? Let's put this in perspective. Before Romo's performance against the Seahawks last week, I don't know of one credible writer who thought Romo was going to challenge Bledsoe for the starting QB position this year. Most people had very little idea of who Romo was, and if they did know he was kind of a mystery. I fell into the latter category, that's one of the reasons I was so excited about going to camp for two weeks; I would get the opportunity to see for myself what Romo was all about.
So what did I see? A QB who looks pretty efficient running an offense in practice and a guy with a decent arm, at least he could make the throws required. He did make quick decisions and moved around well, but I also saw him throw a ton of interceptions over the stretch of a couple of days. I came out of the first two weeks thinking that Romo is a pretty good option at backup and I had more confidence in him subbing for Drew if Bledsoe was out for a short time with injury. I still wasn't sure about his long-term prospects and it's hard to be sure about that until you can see him in actual games.
Then Parcells starts him against Seattle, in the first preseason game of the year, and he turns in a spectacular performance. Now based on that, people have him taking over for a long time vet who has always been a Parcells' favorite. I find it hard to fathom that people are going this crazy over a single preseason game. I can't tell you the number of players I've seen look like All-Stars in the preseason only to be exposed when teams are running their real defenses and are game-planning specifically for a team.
I'm not saying that Romo is a preseason only kind of player, but seriously, based on one game, against a team that had several defensive starters out; who was not overly concerned about Romo and trying to win the game; a team that just wanted to look at their own players and make evaluations; based on that Romo is now in position to oust Drew Bledsoe. Sorry, I'm just not buying it.
I don't think that after all the work Parcells has put into building this team, and finally having a team that most observers think can truly contend this year; I can't believe that Parcells is going to entrust all that to a rookie QB (not in years but in experience). Drew Bledsoe would have to turn in some of the all time stinker performances week after week over the early part of the season for that to happen. While Bledsoe isn't mobile and has a tendency to throw some bad INT's, he's also a very capable QB with tons of experience and a long history of Parcells' trust.
Romo wasn't built in a day, or in a single preseason night. Drew Bledsoe will continue to start for the Dallas Cowboys.