Cowboys' Bledsoe is coach's go-to guy all season
by Tom Orsborn
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted: 09/09/2006 08:33 PM CDT
When Drew Bledsoe throws his first interception at Texas Stadium this season, fans will jump out of their seats and demand Bill Parcells play Tony Romo.
They'd be wise to save their breath.
Bledsoe is Parcells' guy — today, tomorrow and for the rest of the season.
End of story.
"He's the newest pretty girl," Parcells said last week when asked why so many fans want Romo at quarterback. "It's just like actresses in Hollywood — it's the new pretty face. 'Oh, we like that one better than we like the other one. Oh, we like this next one.' OK?"
Parcells isn't as fickle. If he were a Hollywood director looking for a female lead, he'd cast Michelle Pfeiffer instead of Jessica Alba.
Romo performed well in the preseason, but that doesn't erase the fact that he has never thrown a pass in the regular season.
Bledsoe, meanwhile, is a Super Bowl victory away from Hall of Fame consideration. Entering his 14th season, he ranks in the top 10 in NFL career categories for attempts (fifth), completions (fifth) and yards (seventh) and is tied for 13th in touchdown passes (244) with John Hadl and Peyton Manning.
In 2005, Bledsoe became just the 10th quarterback in league history to pass for 40,000 career yards. And his 23 TDs last season were the most thrown by a Cowboys quarterback since Troy Aikman had 23 in 1992.
But what matters most to Parcells is that he knows what Bledsoe will do today if flattened by 6-foot-5, 285-pound defensive end Reggie Hayward or another Jaguars defender. Parcells can't say the same of Romo.
"I think he's competitive, and I think he's tough," Parcells said of Bledsoe. "He's taken some physical abuse, and he's still standing. You've got to have something in you to keep getting up, and he has."
Bledsoe said that "something" is a byproduct of being Mac Bledsoe's son. To illustrate that point, the younger Bledsoe said he got "annihilated" on a play during his sophomore season at Walla Walla (Wash.) High School and saw his dad, who was Walla Walla's coach, motion to him to get up.
"Well, if Dad says get up, I'll get up," Drew recalled.
Bledsoe discovered at a hospital after the game he had a bruised liver.
Parcells has been no less demanding. That was the case when he coached Bledsoe in New England in the 1990s, and it's still the case today.
What's changed is how Parcells views Bledsoe.
"He's a grown man now instead of a teen-ager," said Parcells, who drafted Bledsoe No.1 overall for the Patriots in 1993. "When I first got him, he had kind of bad hair and a dirty T-shirt. All he needed was a peanut-butter sandwich and to drape his foot over the couch to look like some of my teen-aged daughters.
"But now he is a grown man with kids of his own, and he's in the same place as I am. It's more precious to him too."
That could explain why Bledsoe played so well in the preseason. He admits he heard the chatter about the possibility of Romo supplanting him as the starter.
"It is motivating, but it's not something I spend a lot of time (worrying about)," Bledsoe said.
He shouldn't. Parcells won't abandon him for another pretty face.
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted: 09/09/2006 08:33 PM CDT
When Drew Bledsoe throws his first interception at Texas Stadium this season, fans will jump out of their seats and demand Bill Parcells play Tony Romo.
They'd be wise to save their breath.
Bledsoe is Parcells' guy — today, tomorrow and for the rest of the season.
End of story.
"He's the newest pretty girl," Parcells said last week when asked why so many fans want Romo at quarterback. "It's just like actresses in Hollywood — it's the new pretty face. 'Oh, we like that one better than we like the other one. Oh, we like this next one.' OK?"
Parcells isn't as fickle. If he were a Hollywood director looking for a female lead, he'd cast Michelle Pfeiffer instead of Jessica Alba.
Romo performed well in the preseason, but that doesn't erase the fact that he has never thrown a pass in the regular season.
Bledsoe, meanwhile, is a Super Bowl victory away from Hall of Fame consideration. Entering his 14th season, he ranks in the top 10 in NFL career categories for attempts (fifth), completions (fifth) and yards (seventh) and is tied for 13th in touchdown passes (244) with John Hadl and Peyton Manning.
In 2005, Bledsoe became just the 10th quarterback in league history to pass for 40,000 career yards. And his 23 TDs last season were the most thrown by a Cowboys quarterback since Troy Aikman had 23 in 1992.
But what matters most to Parcells is that he knows what Bledsoe will do today if flattened by 6-foot-5, 285-pound defensive end Reggie Hayward or another Jaguars defender. Parcells can't say the same of Romo.
"I think he's competitive, and I think he's tough," Parcells said of Bledsoe. "He's taken some physical abuse, and he's still standing. You've got to have something in you to keep getting up, and he has."
Bledsoe said that "something" is a byproduct of being Mac Bledsoe's son. To illustrate that point, the younger Bledsoe said he got "annihilated" on a play during his sophomore season at Walla Walla (Wash.) High School and saw his dad, who was Walla Walla's coach, motion to him to get up.
"Well, if Dad says get up, I'll get up," Drew recalled.
Bledsoe discovered at a hospital after the game he had a bruised liver.
Parcells has been no less demanding. That was the case when he coached Bledsoe in New England in the 1990s, and it's still the case today.
What's changed is how Parcells views Bledsoe.
"He's a grown man now instead of a teen-ager," said Parcells, who drafted Bledsoe No.1 overall for the Patriots in 1993. "When I first got him, he had kind of bad hair and a dirty T-shirt. All he needed was a peanut-butter sandwich and to drape his foot over the couch to look like some of my teen-aged daughters.
"But now he is a grown man with kids of his own, and he's in the same place as I am. It's more precious to him too."
That could explain why Bledsoe played so well in the preseason. He admits he heard the chatter about the possibility of Romo supplanting him as the starter.
"It is motivating, but it's not something I spend a lot of time (worrying about)," Bledsoe said.
He shouldn't. Parcells won't abandon him for another pretty face.
posted by The Gryphon at 9:05 AM
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