Chilling comment from Babe Laufenberg

[Zimmy Lives]

My point is that Babe is close with Garrett and Romo, and he may be privy to those conversations with the doctors. I hope his back is fine, but as someone that has back issues, I can tell you once a disk is bad, it's never the same in my experience.

I don't think this is the reason for his concern. I think his comments are based on the idea that it is hard to recover 100% from back injuries once the damage is done. I also think he is basing his opinion primarily on Troy's experience.

 

[tm1119]

Has Babe recently graduated from medical school and I wasn't aware? If not his opinion means absolutely nothing on the health of a person's back. What a stupid thing to say with 0 medical background.

 

[Sydla]

What controversy? The better player starts, the other one sits. I know that is a bit of a foreign concept given how our team has been run over the last several years. If Manziel is better he'll play, if not he'll sit and learn under Romo and Garrett.

Oh god, that last sentence sounds frightening.

Sweet.

Blow a first round pick on Manziel, who has a huge boom or bust factor, and then sit him on the bench for 2-3 years possibly.

If you think there's a chance that Manziel would start over Romo, if Romo's healthy, you've been smoking crack.

 

[DOUBLE WING]

What if his back is fine? Are you willing to throw away this draft and many drafts of the future for one QB who may or may not be good? I would rather build the team to help out the current QB.

I don't think we're throwing anything away by taking Manziel at 16.

 

[DOUBLE WING]

Sweet.

Blow a first round pick on Manziel, who has a huge boom or bust factor, and then sit him on the bench for 2-3 years possibly.

If you think there's a chance that Manziel would start over Romo, if Romo's healthy, you've been smoking crack.

Romo wouldn't get 2-3 more years if Manziel is drafted. Maybe one more year.

 

[Sydla]

Romo wouldn't get 2-3 more years if Manziel is drafted. Maybe one more year.

There's that pesky thing called a salary cap. After the 2014 season, Romo's cap number will be $28MM according to OvertheCap.com. So it's a $10MM cap hit to cut him (or trade him I believe).

So let me get this straight. In one more year, Dallas could basically bench a $27MM player or take a $10MM cap hit to insert Johnny Football? I know that might work in fantasy football, but not in the real NFL.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Bortles talk dropped dramatically with soft games versus SMU and USF that hurt UCF in the rankings.

The bowl game versus Baylor put him back on the map tho he did throw two more picks.

He needs some development to be sure.

Oh, I 100% agree that he needs some development. I have Manziel ahead of him personally. The USF game was not a good showing, but I will take 242 yards passing and 37 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns against SMU on an icy 20 degree day every time. They were going to initially leaning towards canceling the game because UCF was having trouble getting a flight into Dallas. Storm Johnson and Stanback could not get going and Blake was the entire offense for that game.

 

[Moderately_Askew]

I don't think we're throwing anything away by taking Manziel at 16.

There lies the problem. We would trade away numerous picks to move up ala the Deadskins with RGKnee. Drafting Manziel does not fix all the problems this team has. Romo is still a great QB and building the team around him makes more sense.

 

[DOUBLE WING]

There's that pesky thing called a salary cap. After the 2014 season, Romo's cap number will be $28MM according to OvertheCap.com. So it's a $10MM cap hit to cut him (or trade him I believe).

So let me get this straight. In one more year, Dallas could basically bench a $27MM player or take a $10MM cap hit to insert Johnny Football? I know that might work in fantasy football, but not in the real NFL.

I would expect them to bench him rather than cut him.

I don't see the problem with benching him while he makes $27 million. You play the best players, not the guys who make the most. That's what Seattle did with Russell Wilson/Matt Flynn.

 

[DOUBLE WING]

There lies the problem. We would trade away numerous picks to move up ala the Deadskins with RGKnee. Drafting Manziel does not fix all the problems this team has. Romo is still a great QB and building the team around him makes more sense.

Oh sure, but I'm not assuming they'll trade up. I don't see that happening. I'm more talking about if he's there at 16.

 

[Moderately_Askew]

Oh sure, but I'm not assuming they'll trade up. I don't see that happening. I'm more talking about if he's there at 16.

There is no chance he will drop,there are at least 3 or 4 teams in the top 10 of the draft that want Manziel if not more. It is a pipe dream to think he would fall to Dallas.

 

[erod]

A really poor man's Andrew Luck. He'll be decent, but there are four QBs in this draft that I'd take ahead of him.

He has the prototypical size and skills you want in a QB, but he's not very special. He reminds me of Jake Locker.

You and I have no idea if he's the next Luck, or the next Casey Clausen.

 

[Sydla]

I would expect them to bench him rather than cut him.

I don't see the problem with benching him while he makes $27 million. You play the best players, not the guys who make the most. That's what Seattle did with Russell Wilson/Matt Flynn.

Because Flynn was pretty brutal once he got to Seattle. They didn't really have a choice at that point. Wilson played well leading up to the 2012 season, Flynn was brutal. Additionally, his contract, while high, doesn't match Romo's in terms of cap hits, etc.

There are few teams in this league that would bench a guy with a $27MM cap hit for a 2nd year QB unless the $27MM man completely sucked or was hurt. It's more likely Romo will be injured than suck this year and next year to the point he gets replaced by Manziel.

And that's assuming something that is clearly un-assumable. That Manziel can even play in this league.

 

[erod]

And if he is close with them and they have shared info in confidence with him, he would not come on the air and spill it, especially right before the draft. This is nothing more that conjecture and his wondering aloud on the radio. If he actually knew something and blabbed it on air, he wouldn't be close with anyone on the team any longer.

Have you ever known anyone who had a disk problem that fixed it with surgery? I have not.

And they didn't play quarterback in the NFL. I hope Romo is fine, because I'm a big fan of his, but back injuries are like plastic. Once you bend it the wrong way, you can never get it back like it was.

 

[DOUBLE WING]

Because Flynn was pretty brutal once he got to Seattle. They didn't really have a choice at that point. Wilson played well leading up to the 2012 season, Flynn was brutal. Additionally, his contract, while high, doesn't match Romo's in terms of cap hits, etc.

There are few teams in this league that would bench a guy with a $27MM cap hit for a 2nd year QB unless the $27MM man completely sucked or was hurt. It's more likely Romo will be injured than suck this year and next year to the point he gets replaced by Manziel.

And that's assuming something that is clearly un-assumable. That Manziel can even play in this league.

If Romo plays this year out and we miss the playoffs again, there is very likely to be a completely new coaching staff in place that will likely want to put its own imprint on the team (as much as Jerry allows) that probably won't include wheeling around an oft-injured 35-year-old QB in Romo. His time is running out if we don't win big this year. The only thing tying Romo to the starting job in that scenario would be the money Jerry has paid him.

 

[erod]

And yet ALL scouts, for the most part, have him as either the best or second best QB in the draft, despite this "concern", so what does that tell you?

Most QB's are tall because of this ancient theory of what the "prototypical pocket passer" is supposed to be. That mold is being shattered by guys like Drew Brees, Russell Wilson and now Johnny Manziel. BTW, it's more of a three quarters release, not "sidearmed".

The NFL is a different game than it was when everyone was looking for the next Drew Bledsoe. Perhaps you should get up to date with the times. From where I sit, there is no evidence that I've ever seen that links height to an inability to produce in the NFL. Russell Wilson and Drew Brees hardly ever get passes batted down. They hardly ever have trouble getting it over the offensive line. This is such a tired, lazy argument that it's no surprise Laufenberg is making it. Unfortunately you've now lumped yourself in with an idiot like him. Good luck with that.

Super Bowl aside, Russell Wilson struggled last year for long stretches of games. He's a champion because of his ridiculous defense, not his dynamic offense. Same for Kaepernick, who struggled last year. RG3 is struggling. Manuel, Vick, Locker.....the guys you tout ain't getting it done with any consistency.

The Mannings, Rodgers, Flacco, Roethlisberger, Brees (pocket QB), Romo, Rivers, Ryan.....pocket passers win in the NFL. That hasn't changed.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

We will know how bad (or good) Romos back is by the end of the first round tonight. Hopefully he is good to go because we really need to go defense early and often.

We won't really know until the season starts.

 

[Sydla]

Have you ever known anyone who had a disk problem that fixed it with surgery? I have not.

And they didn't play quarterback in the NFL. I hope Romo is fine, because I'm a big fan of his, but back injuries are like plastic. Once you bend it the wrong way, you can never get it back like it was.

I had a disc problem back in college (i can't recall if it was L4-L5 or L5-S1) over 10 years ago.............. Developed severe pain in the lower back and then numbness developed down the left leg into my calf and ankle area over time. Did injections and exercise that only provided temporary solutions but eventually the pain would come back. I had surgery to remove part of the disc and have been fine ever since with some occassional flare ups but nothing significant.

Granted, as you said, I am not a NFL QB. But I can attest that I have had a disc problem that was largely fixed with surgery.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Have you ever known anyone who had a disk problem that fixed it with surgery? I have not.

And they didn't play quarterback in the NFL. I hope Romo is fine, because I'm a big fan of his, but back injuries are like plastic. Once you bend it the wrong way, you can never get it back like it was.

This. Anyone who thinks Tony will not have setbacks related to his back are wishful thinkers. If Jerry truly believes QB is a position of strength (as stated in his pre-draft presser) then he is foolish… and shortsighted as well given his statement last year concerning the defensive line being a position of strength.

 

[Cowboys22]

Have you ever known anyone who had a disk problem that fixed it with surgery? I have not.

And they didn't play quarterback in the NFL. I hope Romo is fine, because I'm a big fan of his, but back injuries are like plastic. Once you bend it the wrong way, you can never get it back like it was.

None of that has anything to do with my post. My point was that I don't believe Babe's comments were the result of inside information from anyone he is close to because if they were and he blabbed it on the air right before the draft, he would lose all his contacts and possibly his job. His comments were his opinion based on what he knows of back injuries and that's fine but is totally unreliable when it comes to Romo because no one knows at this point.