Romo: The Don Meredith of Our Time

[The Emperor]

As I logged onto the Zone Sunday night, I saw a disturbing image. Don Meredith was gone and replaced by Tony Romo? Had the administrators moved on from Dandy Don's demise?

Well, no, because I discovered you could still change it back to Don Meredith. Frankly, I like that. I think that should be a permanent option.

There is still something more disturbing I'm seeing on the Zone though. Many people are lauding Romo for his performance but forgetting all about what Meredith endured some forty-five or so years earlier.

Here. Let me start with this so folks like SDCowboys85 don't fly off the handle. I'm a Romosexual. I made a video defense of Tony Romo a year before Babe Lafenburg made his package in the 2009 off-season defending Tony Romo. I could see the schmuck-morons forming inside the Cowboys fan base, like a insidious, virulent virus of antipathy for the very player that had revived our hopes. I saw what was coming, and so I made that video thesis -- "The Number 9 Thesis." It was a video essay demonstrating how great Tony Romo was going to be for us and how it was fatuous to discredit him because of the 2007 Divisional playoffs. Play some of it so they get an idea of how long I've been a Romosexual and to what degree:

[youtube]baXy0luyKTc[/youtube]

And then finish them off with "Tony Romo: Dead or Alive"; I make nothing off of it:

[youtube]G-EkDzswFcc[/youtube]


I'm doing this to prove that my comments are not detracting or demeaning to Tony Romo or his heroic performance on Sunday. I'm just saying, if you want to truly appreciate his performance in the context of our franchise, you can't forget what Don Meredith did under identical circumstances.

Let's go back to October 8, 1967 in our nation's capital. The Cowboys and the Commanders are hooking up for the 14th time in the series. This game is important because the winner would be the early season leader in the NFL Capital Division.

Down by four and 1:10 left, Meredith and the offense began their comeback at their own 29. All throughout the drive, Meredith was smashed on by Commanders defenders. According to Pete Gent, a Cowboy had to bring Meredith to his feet after every down. He was getting hammered that much.

The Cowboys were now at the Commanders 36. It was fourth down and only 23 seconds remained in the game. Time and chance stood as two extra Commanders defenders, but nothing could prevent Meredith's game-winning strike to Dan Reeves to push the Cowboys past the Commanders 17-14.

That night, Don Meredith couldn't sleep. Monday night, he still couldn't catch any sleep. The next day, he went to Dallas' Presbyterian Hospital and the doctors discovered his punctured lung. The reason he had trouble sleeping was because fluid was collecting in his lungs. It was all the result of Commanders linebacker Chris Hanburger's throttling blow on Dandy Don.

Pete Gent, Meredith's friend on the team (think Jason Witten), went to see him at the hospital. Gent arrived just as the doctors were pumping up Meredith's collapsed lung. The stalwart quarterback who had withstood broken noses and ferocious poundings cried out in agony.

Do you know what's involved in pumping up a collapsed lung? I think we have medicos and folks married to medicos who can go into depth, but this paragraph certainly explains it:

A tension pneumothorax can also be treated by sucking out the air in the pleural space using a syringe or catheter. A chest tube may also be used to help keep the lung inflated. This tube may need to stay inserted for several days for treatment to be completely successful.

You can read more here.

If you understand the league Don Meredith played in, if you comprehend the shots he took game to game, if you know that "roughing the passer" back then was a jejune justice, then you can appreciate what he played through.

And then you can appreciate better what Tony Romo did.

Cicero said that a man is forever a child if he does not know history. Let us not act as children on this board and treat Romo as the only one of our quarterbacks who played through such pain to give the Cowboys a much needed early season victory.

 

[jobberone]

QBs like Meredith and Unitas got beat up regularly. Hits on QBs then would lead to suspensions now. And Meredith took a beating early on that was terrible. Romo hasn't been thru anything compared to him.

 

[The Emperor]

QBs like Meredith and Unitas got beat up regularly. Hits on QBs then would lead to suspensions now. And Meredith took a beating early on that was terrible. Romo hasn't been thru anything compared to him.

But what we saw on Sunday proves he could.

 

[Venger]

Romo hasn't been thru anything compared to him.

 

[jobberone]

But what we saw on Sunday proves he could.

http://www.lolforumpictures.com/orly/orly3.gif

Yeah really you smart *****. Doesn't take anything away from Romo's game at all. But Meredith got the crap beat out of him for years. On top of that medicine is very different now. Many players then were sent back out on the field with injuries that would be sat now.

And while I admire the tenacity of players then, they paid a heavy price for our lack of sophistication medically. Two HOF players died recently of post traumatic dementia. Many players careers ended with orthopedic injuries we can easily treat today. And many more were crippled later in life from repeated cumulative trauma. Johnny Unitas had trouble opening things because of the multiple deformities of his hand. Injuries that would have caused him to be lost for the season now to correct the problem that was ignored so he could go back in the game and continue his season. They never healed properly. Of course we didn't have hand surgeons back then.

Grow up.

 

[adbutcher]

Now this is what I like waking up to, this and other acts that are outside our parental guidance here.

Excellent post as always!

 

[adbutcher]

Yeah really you smart *****. Doesn't take anything away from Romo's game at all. But Meredith got the crap beat out of him for years. On top of that medicine is very different now. Many players then were sent back out on the field with injuries that would be sat now.

And while I admire the tenacity of players then, they paid a heavy price for our lack of sophistication medically. Two HOF players died recently of post traumatic dementia. Many players careers ended with orthopedic injuries we can easily treat today. And many more were crippled later in life from repeated cumulative trauma. Johnny Unitas had trouble opening things because of the multiple deformities of his hand. Injuries that would have caused him to be lost for the season now to correct the problem that was ignored so he could go back in the game and continue his season. They never healed properly. Of course we didn't have hand surgeons back then.

Grow up.

Why the venom? Did his(Emperor) reply really warrant such a response?

 

[Hagman]

And....fans were constantly booing Meredith and riding his butt regardless of how good and how tough he was.

Here's a story I found on the internet about Meredith's explanation for fan behavior....

Rising above the boos
In 1969, after Don Meredith had retired from football and had gone to work as a stock broker in downtown Dallas, he joined a spa that was also downtown.
One day at the spa, Don and I both ended up sitting in the Eucalyptus Room -- a favorite place for those of us with broken noses -- and I was fortunate to have had a private conversation with him.
I told him that I never understood why a quarterback could lead the nation statistically one week in the NFL and then come out in the next game, run two or three bad plays and have the fans try to boo him off the field.
Don philosophically, and with his characteristic wit and humor, just unemotionally replied: "Everyone is perfect in their own sight, and if you come off as anything less, then you are, in their view, nothing but a bum!"
To this day, I have always had difficulty watching pudgy or pint-sized wimps in their TV recliners talking disparagingly about quarterbacks who take five or six hits every game that would send the average man to the hospital.

Chris Boldt, Frisco​

http://letterstotheeditorblog.***BANNED-URL***/archives/2010/12/on-don-meredith.html

 

[THUMPER]

QBs like Meredith and Unitas got beat up regularly. Hits on QBs then would lead to suspensions now. And Meredith took a beating early on that was terrible. Romo hasn't been thru anything compared to him.

I agree, what Romo went through on Sunday, and has gone through for years now behind the lousy pass-protection our O-Line provides, is terrible but nowhere near as bad as QBs in the 60s went through. He doesn't get hit like that on every play like Meredith used to.

Gutsy, courageous, inspirational performance on Sunday and Tony deserves to be lauded for it. You don't see Brady or Manning take hits like Romo does. I don't know how the Pats & Colts always seem to be able to put together solid O-Lines but you just don't see those two pressured like Romo is on every play.

The late hits, head shots, spearing, Diving at the knees, and other things that are now illegal, were all just part of the game back in the 60s and QBs took a horrible beating back then. Meredith was one of the toughest guys to ever play the game and he never complained about the punishment he took nor blamed his O-Linemen.

It sucked that he retired right when we finally had a good O-Line and one of the best defenses in football. I believe we would have won the SB in 1969 and 1970 with him at QB instead of Morton but that's just my opinion of course.

Romo does things that very few QBs can do and makes plays that leave you asking, "How did he do that?" yet the media and many fans can only see the mistakes he makes. Morons! :bang2: :bang2: :bang2:

 

[Rack]

but nowhere near as bad as QBs in the 60s went through.

A broken rib and punctured lung in 2011 is no different than a broken rib and punctured lung in the 60's.

 

[NorthTexan95]

If Romo is the new Meredith, then was Bledsoe the new Eddie LeBarron? Will we have another Staubach and Aikman to follow?

 

[adbutcher]

A broken rib and punctured lung in 2011 is no different than a broken rib and punctured lung in the 60's.

This..

 

[Apollo Creed]

Why the venom? Did his(Emperor) reply really warrant such a response?

My thoughts exactly. He's wrong too.

Yeah really you smart *****. Doesn't take anything away from Romo's game at all. But Meredith got the crap beat out of him for years. On top of that medicine is very different now. Many players then were sent back out on the field with injuries that would be sat now.

And while I admire the tenacity of players then, they paid a heavy price for our lack of sophistication medically. Two HOF players died recently of post traumatic dementia. Many players careers ended with orthopedic injuries we can easily treat today. And many more were crippled later in life from repeated cumulative trauma. Johnny Unitas had trouble opening things because of the multiple deformities of his hand. Injuries that would have caused him to be lost for the season now to correct the problem that was ignored so he could go back in the game and continue his season. They never healed properly. Of course we didn't have hand surgeons back then.

Grow up.

Today's NFL, and players are given state of the art conditioning, training, nutrition, etc - they are well-oiled machines that are bigger, faster, and stronger than they were in Meredith's time.

Hits delivered today are far more brutal, and despite advances in equipment and safety - I'd much rather get hit by a LBer from Meredith's time, than to have to take a steroid infused blast from James Harrison. So once you add PEDs to the equation, you're even more wrong.

So overall, Dude chill, it's the internet, plus you're wrong - so your hostility is even that much more ****ing stupid, smart ***.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

I was gonna say the defenders are bigger and stronger now, but a couple of people beat me to it. It's real easy to go on about the good ole days when everything was better, but Romo is showing the same courage now that Meredith showed then.

 

[Hostile]

Oh my goodness, football History on a Tuesday. I love it, I love it, I love it.

 

[Doomsday101]

A broken rib and punctured lung in 2011 is no different than a broken rib and punctured lung in the 60's.

The injury no the rules yes. Meredith had broken ribs and nose vs the Commanders when Chris Hanberger broke through the line picked Meredith up off his feet then drilled him into the ground. No flag because it was legal. I admire what Tony did sunday but try playing hurt under the old rules where QB was treated like any other player on the field.

 

[Venger]

Yeah really you smart *****. Doesn't take anything away from Romo's game at all. But Meredith got the crap beat out of him for years.

I'm trying to remember, didn't Romo miss some time last year? Oh THAT'S right, he was getting killed constantly because of our crap OL before he got his collarbone broken. Yeah, he's been sitting on a pillow cloud in his fortress of solitude back there unlike Meredith.

Yours may not be the dumbest post on the Internet, but ****** you're trying!

On top of that medicine is very different now. Many players then were sent back out on the field with injuries that would be sat now.

Please give me a list of 250 pound LBs that ran 4.5 40's playing in Meredith's time. Yeah, that's what I thought. Please tell me how many DL were over 290lb's in Meredith's time. Look, another blank list. Fact is the players today are bigger and faster and hit harder, and Romo plays in that league, with an offensive line that for the most part has been getting him pummeled.

Don't let reality interfere with your sepia-toned good old days flashback. Now go read Andy Capp before the Elks club cribbage game starts.

Grow up.

Do I also have to get off of your lawn?

 

[The Emperor]

Oh my goodness, football History on a Tuesday. I love it, I love it, I love it.

Heck, yeah. And to think it coincides with Commanders week because that's the team that gave Meredith his punctured lung.

 

[bbgun]

Don't let reality interfere with your sepia-toned good old days flashback. Now go read Andy Capp before the Elks club cribbage game starts.

:laugh2:

BTW, kudos to the OP for working "Cicero" and "jejune" into his post. That's pretty rare around here.

 

[jobberone]

Why the venom? Did his(Emperor) reply really warrant such a response?

Actually no. After reading it the second time I misread his response. The other one not. I'll PM him and apologize. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.