Could the ‘Ol Gunslinger have been a target of Bill Parcells and the Cowboys?
One of the key members of the
Dallas Cowboys and their famed “Doomsday Defense” was cornerback Herb Adderley. He was a member of the first Dallas Cowboys team to ever win
the Super Bowl, but before that he helped the
Green Bay Packers win their first two.
Herb was one of the first common denominators between two of the NFL’s most storied franchises. Since those days many more have arisen, especially the number of players that have played for both teams.
The present-day version of the Cowboys have a quarterback that serves as the foundation of their team, #4 Dak Prescott. For a long time that iconic number four was someone who Dallas saw on the other side of the field wearing green and yellow (before all the drama), the one and only
Brett Favre.
According to Ed Werder on
the latest episode of the Doomsday Podcast, Favre could have donned #4 in Dallas long before the days of Dak. The Favre-to-Dallas bit starts right before the 30:00 mark:
Werder: I’ve also played golf with Tony before he was, before he was Tony. Before he was Tony, I played golf with
Tony Romo. He talked about during the round about how the Cowboys had had an interest in trading for Favre late in his career when he was available, Parcells was the coach.
I said, “Oh yea, I kind of heard that.” And he said, “
Well you know, the deal went dead when the Packers asked for me to be in the trade.”
And now I’m like, “Oh really the Cowboys didn’t trade for Favre because they didn’t want to give you up?” And maybe it was true as it turns out, right? He was good enough as it turns out! He had a hell of a good career!
Bill Parcells was the Dallas Cowboys Head Coach from 2003-2006, which happen to be Tony Romo’s first four (how coincidental is that?) seasons in the blue and silver. In that stretch of time the Packers went 10-6, 10-6, 4-12 (the season they drafted
Aaron Rodgers), and 8-8.
Favre saw a significant dip in his own personal production during that 4-12 2005 season, which in hindsight makes it pretty amazing that he wasn’t pulled for the first-round rookie. He only threw 20 touchdowns, but he did lead the league with 372 completions (he also led the league in interceptions with 29). Is this the point in time that Ed Werder is potentially alluding to?
Brett Favre would play through the 2010 season, but in 2005 people were already thinking that was the end for him so it fits the “late in his career” bill that Werder described. Additionally Werder mentions that this occurred during Parcells’ tenure in Dallas, meaning this idea would have had to have been discussed prior to 2007 (Favre’s last season in Green Bay).
Additionally, Tony Romo didn’t become the starter in Dallas until mid-way through the 2006 season. 2005 was Drew Bledsoe’s first in Dallas, the Cowboys went 9-7, so it makes sense that after that season Parcells might’ve been willing to part with Romo who he’d protected for what was then already three full seasons.
Could the Cowboys have traded Tony Romo to Green Bay after 2005 then? For Brett Favre? This would have given the Packers both Tony Romo and Aaron Rodgers while Dallas would’ve been left to deal with a Favre that, in all fairness, did find the fountain of youth over the next few seasons (albeit in Minnesota).
Imagine the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Dallas Cowboys teams with Favre under center. In 2007 it was the Cowboys who were the NFC’s top seed, with the Packers right behind them. Many thought a 1995 NFC Championship Game rematch was going to happen, but the New York Giants wrecked that party (it’s been almost a decade and we’re still not over it). Considering Favre lost the Giants anyway, it’s hard to assume the Cowboys would’ve beaten them with him.
It was an older version of Brett Favre in Minnesota that ended the 2009 season for Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys... could that team have gone any further with Favre under center? The answer is not likely. Romo played magnificently across 2009, and the reason Favre’s season in Minnesota ended was an ill-timed interception during the
NFC Championship Game (which also happened in 2007 against New York) in New Orleans against the eventual Super Bowl XLIV Champions.
Bill Parcells has long been credited for finding and developing Tony Romo. Romo himself has praised Parcells on many occasion. What sort of world would it have been had the Tuna traded him away for Favre?!
Of all the places that he did win, Brett Favre never won a game in Texas Stadium. Had he been traded to the Dallas Cowboys, at least he would have likely done that. Thankfully though, Parcells and the Cowboys held off and we got to experience the entire career of Tony Romo.
Plus now we have our own number four.
Continue reading...
.
