His 3rd gear was remarkableTO had the freaky ability to get 5 yards deeper than the deepest defender. On numerous plays Romo would uncork a frigging BOMB that went above the camera viewing angle, only for it to come down in view in TO's hands 5 yards ahead of the defender. I just don't know how TO did that! It was awesome.
Nick Nolte at the beginning of North Dallas FortyThe challenge of the older athlete is not so much game days.. It's the days in between. Because the body takes so much longer to recover between times of getting beat to hell once a guy reaches a certain age he pretty much has to stand around all week between games just to be half ready to play on Sundays. And even if you take the entire week off between games, eventually the cumulative effects of the punishment of NFL football will make it so you're not even able to perform on game days because you're still recovering from the previous game. I have no doubt that T.O. could go into an NFL game and run 4-5 routes right now. He would then need the next 20 minutes to recover. If he got taken to the ground all the little bumps and bruises that he used to shrug off in a few minutes at age 30 would stay with him for days. But because he's a tough old football man he would take the beating and still suit up the next week. He would be able to do this for maybe 5-6 weeks before he would not even be able to get out of bed on Monday. He would lumber around practice on dead legs all week and then look like he was 80 years old on game day.. and the team would release him.. Father Time is undefeated. T.O. needs to just accept it.
ya him toowhat about Hershel walker. he's staying in shape.
His 3rd gear was remarkable
Champ pulled his hamstring before he even got goingI hear ya man. Loved to watch the dude run.
Champ Bailey had been traded from Washington to Denver and still in his prime. T.O. caught a simple bubble screen and took a couple strides to kick it into second, then by the time he hit third, he had left Champ.
Something about watching those large guys with speed run.
I am a big fan of watching a lot of running back Eric Dickerson's old runs for that same reason. He was so big, fast and smooth. Like an oversized gazelle when he ran.
Lolol what?!
He can’t run routes?
He was one of the best route runners in the league.
He won’t get a shot but if there was one athlete in the history of the sport I would not bet against it would be TO.
Dude is just a different type of athlete.
Very true, I want to say that TO played that Giants playoff game with a very bum ankle. That was our freaking SB year but the GODS said otherwise…We could've used a healthy TO for those 2007 playoffs.
Dude was a beast
I'm sure the man will be in good shape at 70, but he was starting to get regular, nagging injuries even 15 years ago in his early/mid 30s