Tuna, what are you waiting for?

By Andy Targovnik on October 11, 2006 12:11 AM

While the Dallas Cowboys ' loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday was certainly not all Drew Bledsoe's fault, his performance was distressing enough. Frankly, I don't know how much longer Bill Parcells can wait before he gives Tony Romo a shot under center.

At his Monday afternoon press conference, Parcells dismissed the idea of switching to Romo and defended Bledsoe: "When a guy (opposing pass rusher) comes from four yards away from you running at full speed, and you're (Bledsoe) not even back in your stance yet, you haven't got much of a chance."

How can you argue with that? To fault Bledsoe when he's under siege would be unfair. But that's not the point. The point is that when the game is on the line, Bledsoe too often comes up short.

With 1:57 left in Sunday's game, down seven points and out of timeouts, Bledsoe faded back to pass, stood in the pocket, kept pumping his arm, but never got rid of the ball. He was finally sacked for a 12-yard loss but more importantly, the next play wasn't run until a whopping 35 seconds had ticked off the clock. How does a 14-year veteran, who should know better, take a sack at that point?

But even after that sack, Dallas still had a chance to tie the game. After a 57-yard pass interference call, and with the ball resting on Philly's 6-yard line, Bledsoe had four chances to lead his team to pay dirt. On first down, Bledsoe had nobody open, so he did exactly what he should have done - he whipped the ball out of the end zone.

But on the next play, he forced the ball into double coverage, got picked off, and the game was over.

Cowboy fans were once again left scratching their heads. With two more chances to score, why force the ball into traffic?

Monday, Parcells explained Bledsoe's inexplicable interception like this: "He threw the ball into double coverage. There was no place to go with the ball. Hopefully, in that situation, like the play before, we'd throw it out of the end zone and have two more shots at it, but for some reason we didn't."

Here's the reason coach: Your quarterback made a mistake that a veteran who has thrown for over 44,000 yards shouldn't make.

I'm not suggesting that Bledsoe lose his job just because of a couple of fourth-quarter miscues. The problem is that those types of mistakes are a pattern. When he has the time, he's fine. But as soon as he gets some pressure, it's pot luck.

The bottom line: Winning quarterbacks take messy games and find a way to win them. Steve McNair can look awful for 58 minutes - but then somehow finds a way to make a winning play. Same with Donovan McNabb.

Is Romo the answer? We'll never know unless he gets a shot.

It's not like this type of experiment hasn't worked. There's a guy named Brady who replaced a guy named Bledsoe in New England and won the Super Bowl. And, more recently, in San Diego, Philip Rivers has replaced Drew Brees without a hitch.

Parcells said, "I don't think that (Romo) is the answer right this minute."

After Sunday's performance, it doesn't seem like Bledsoe is the answer, either. And it's doubtful he ever will be.