last night i felt something i'd not truly felt in years. something that i've loved about this team since we beat denver in the superbowl in the 70's. something that carried me through a 1-15 season while still wearing my jersey and supporting my team while in front of our family TV with a football in hand and my emotions on my sleeve. i cheered, i yelled, i wanted to win so badly i even cried at times when we didn't.
but i cared.
last night when romo hit the field, i cared again, almost like that all over again. i didn't care that the 1st pass was deflected and int'd. i didn't care romo threw it right at a lineman and was int'd again, and of course, it happened 3 times and each time bledsoe sat there looking like someone stole his dog, caring as much about the game as i did when he was playing, so i suppose that's only fair.
i've made it no secret that since bp refused to play henson or romo in the last 3 games and went with "best chance to win" in vinnie "not gonna be here next year" that i hated this "Hard Headed" time from BP and i viewed it as wasted because it would never work.
yep - i flat out said this path would *never* work. mostly the way bp was doing it. he knows bledsoe needed an all star OL and he wiffed in even trying to build one. but i digress - most people here know my stance and in several forums i've taken a lot of grief for being "negative" well i was so negative because of this "wasted time" i didn't want to waste. i wanted to play the young guys and i've always said sooner or later you've got to bite that bullet.
what would be so bad in doing so while you revamp your defense? where was the coordination of efforts (not outcome) to build up at the same rate? it just wasn't there, so i found it so very hard to "get into" a team i felt had zero chance to win. if i were to be wrong, if i'm still wrong, i'll admit it gladly but only because i will continue to say how i feel.
only i've suddenly got a reason to feel positive in a way i've not done in quite some time. this "elation" will only grow when parcells gives it up and goes off into the sunset. i thought he was going to at the press conference. he was about to cry, it seemed, and he said he was "ashamed" of this team and their performance.
screw you bill - you built this team. you coach it - you make every call on when people fart. if you're ashamed of this team then be ashamed of yourself for building it in this manner that many of us "fans" could tell was doomed from the start. when people ask about romo's mistakes, mr parcells, don't sit there and say "he shouldn't make those mistakes, he's been here four years..." yea - on the damn bench holding a clipboard.
you don't learn NFL speed on the sidelines. you don't learn the consequences of your split second decisions with a baseball hat on. and you don't grow as a player not playing. especially in those 4 years where YOU parcells squandered many opportunities to get these young guys time to learn and experience the NFL at full speed.
best chance to win. win what? meaningless games in which that experience could have helped romo tonight win a very meaningfull game? i said then each "game" isn't important and if you want a healthy franchise that's an investment and sometimes, in time for your players to learn to play at a higher level.
it's easy to see bp is about done and out. it's sad, really, cause i don't hate the man regardless of how it's come out over the last few years. i hate the stubborn decisions he's stuck with, the stupid decisions his players have made he's "Covered" for. last night was also the first time i ever heard parcells say that bledsoe was at fault for something and you could see how much it hurt him to say. he's known it all along but he's tried to excuse it away.
excuses are over. so is bledsoe. but the hope begins.
the hope that romo will learn from last night. the hope that the darts he was throwing at times were how he plays, NOT luck of a moment. herein lies a such a vast difference in the players and just why i now have hope - i don't know what romo is going to do.
i predicted drews INT at goalline to the play. lucky that time but overall accuracy is there on knowing drew will implode and only get worse as the games go on.
romo may not be the answer and i'm not going the route that he is. but we've FINALLY seen parcells realize bledsoe is NOT the answer and we DO know that. welcome to the club bill, now let's let romo have the rest of the year to learn and see what he can do.
only then will we know what we'll need to do in the next draft.
it's good to be home and it's good to be excited about this team again.
