Football: Manning, Romo an unlikely two of a kind
Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer
The comparisons to Philip Rivers were inevitable.
What the New York Giants' Eli Manning wasn't counting on entering this season were fans and media in the Big Apple bashing him for not being as good as another young, exciting quarterback who has his team on a major roll:
Tony Romo.
Manning and Rivers will forever be linked because of the 2004 draft-day trade in which the Giants acquired Manning's rights from San Diego — the Chargers used the No. 1 pick on him — for the rights to Rivers and a handful of draft picks.
And for Manning, the younger brother of Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, there's no shame in being compared to the Chargers star. Rivers, after all, was also labeled a can't-miss pick following an epic college career at a Division I school.
But Romo? The kid the Dallas Cowboys signed in 2003 as an undrafted rookie free agent? The unknown from a Division I-AA school?
As they say in New York, forget about it.
In training camp, the Cowboys envied New York's quarterback situation. With Manning in the huddle, the Giants seemed poised to repeat as division champs and even make a run at their first Super Bowl appearance since 2001.
Dallas, meanwhile, was looking at another up-and-down year with old, plodding Drew Bledsoe at quarterback.
But all that changed soon after coach Bill Parcells benched Bledsoe and replaced him with Romo.
Since the move, the Cowboys have won four of five and three straight while New York has dropped three of five and three straight.
The teams meet Sunday at Giants Stadium in a rematch that could decide the NFC East. It's a game filled with storylines, including a tale of two quarterbacks seemingly headed in opposite directions.
"(Manning) is a young, developing player that is going through growing pains, but he does have good ability and has demonstrated that," Parcells said. "It's what it is. It's not going to be a smooth, upward spiral. It never is. This guy we got here ... he's going to have the same deal some day."
Giants fans might find that hard to believe. Romo leads the NFL with a 110.8 quarterback rating and is completing 69.4 percent of his passes, an impressive number considering he averages a league-best 9.20 yards per completion.
Those numbers stand in sharp contrast to Manning's 76.0 rating, 58.3 completion percentage and 6.4-yard average.
Then there are the interceptions: Romo has five compared to Manning's NFC-worst 15.
So how did it come to pass that a football ruffian has outplayed someone with Manning's impeccable pedigree?
An obvious starting point is the different paths they took to becoming starters.
Manning played in nine games as a rookie, starting seven. Romo didn't attempt a pass in a regular-season game until this season.
"Had he played his first or second year, he probably would be out of football," Parcells said. "That's the way it is with young quarterbacks. They get thrown in there and everyone is happy to see that, but they don't think of the far-reaching effects that might have.
"Part of the experience I have is that the quickest way to destroy someone is to put him in a situation where he can't succeed."
Parcells said Romo wasn't even close to starting in his first two seasons.
"I'm not bragging about the process in any matter of speaking," Parcells said. "In Tony's particular case, he was a developmental player that needed time to develop and understand what's going on."
"I was raw," Romo said. "I had pretty good instincts when I was younger, but I probably was too inaccurate and made too many bonehead decisions that drove (Parcells) nuts."
Romo also hasn't been burdened by high expectations.
"Everyone expects Eli to be just like his brother all of a sudden and he's not," Giants running back Tiki Barber said. "It's only his third year, second year as a full-time starter. He knows most of the system, but he hasn't seen everything yet."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin echoed Barber's comments.
"He has been playing for two-and-a-half seasons and I think people also tend to forget that chronologically he is a very young man," Coughlin said.
Express-News Staff Writer
The comparisons to Philip Rivers were inevitable.
What the New York Giants' Eli Manning wasn't counting on entering this season were fans and media in the Big Apple bashing him for not being as good as another young, exciting quarterback who has his team on a major roll:
Tony Romo.
Manning and Rivers will forever be linked because of the 2004 draft-day trade in which the Giants acquired Manning's rights from San Diego — the Chargers used the No. 1 pick on him — for the rights to Rivers and a handful of draft picks.
And for Manning, the younger brother of Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning, there's no shame in being compared to the Chargers star. Rivers, after all, was also labeled a can't-miss pick following an epic college career at a Division I school.
But Romo? The kid the Dallas Cowboys signed in 2003 as an undrafted rookie free agent? The unknown from a Division I-AA school?
As they say in New York, forget about it.
In training camp, the Cowboys envied New York's quarterback situation. With Manning in the huddle, the Giants seemed poised to repeat as division champs and even make a run at their first Super Bowl appearance since 2001.
Dallas, meanwhile, was looking at another up-and-down year with old, plodding Drew Bledsoe at quarterback.
But all that changed soon after coach Bill Parcells benched Bledsoe and replaced him with Romo.
Since the move, the Cowboys have won four of five and three straight while New York has dropped three of five and three straight.
The teams meet Sunday at Giants Stadium in a rematch that could decide the NFC East. It's a game filled with storylines, including a tale of two quarterbacks seemingly headed in opposite directions.
"(Manning) is a young, developing player that is going through growing pains, but he does have good ability and has demonstrated that," Parcells said. "It's what it is. It's not going to be a smooth, upward spiral. It never is. This guy we got here ... he's going to have the same deal some day."
Giants fans might find that hard to believe. Romo leads the NFL with a 110.8 quarterback rating and is completing 69.4 percent of his passes, an impressive number considering he averages a league-best 9.20 yards per completion.
Those numbers stand in sharp contrast to Manning's 76.0 rating, 58.3 completion percentage and 6.4-yard average.
Then there are the interceptions: Romo has five compared to Manning's NFC-worst 15.
So how did it come to pass that a football ruffian has outplayed someone with Manning's impeccable pedigree?
An obvious starting point is the different paths they took to becoming starters.
Manning played in nine games as a rookie, starting seven. Romo didn't attempt a pass in a regular-season game until this season.
"Had he played his first or second year, he probably would be out of football," Parcells said. "That's the way it is with young quarterbacks. They get thrown in there and everyone is happy to see that, but they don't think of the far-reaching effects that might have.
"Part of the experience I have is that the quickest way to destroy someone is to put him in a situation where he can't succeed."
Parcells said Romo wasn't even close to starting in his first two seasons.
"I'm not bragging about the process in any matter of speaking," Parcells said. "In Tony's particular case, he was a developmental player that needed time to develop and understand what's going on."
"I was raw," Romo said. "I had pretty good instincts when I was younger, but I probably was too inaccurate and made too many bonehead decisions that drove (Parcells) nuts."
Romo also hasn't been burdened by high expectations.
"Everyone expects Eli to be just like his brother all of a sudden and he's not," Giants running back Tiki Barber said. "It's only his third year, second year as a full-time starter. He knows most of the system, but he hasn't seen everything yet."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin echoed Barber's comments.
"He has been playing for two-and-a-half seasons and I think people also tend to forget that chronologically he is a very young man," Coughlin said.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:53 PM
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