Jack, I've been a Dallas Cowboys hater for most of my adult life, but I must be mellowing because I took very little joy from watching this young man screw up this bad. You know, Bill Purrcells is a great coach, but he believes in the pressure cooker approach. Phil Simms recently said he was under intense stress from the coach the moment he got to practice every day, although he did go on to play nearly perfectly in the Super Bowl. I believe Purcells could get a similar result from Romo over several years, but I don't think it worked this season. The kid started out happy-go-lucky and played great - then for whatever reason (and it could have been Purcells) - it all got to him down the stretch. Yesterday he looked like he was on suicide watch.
The other thing about that play - and something Madden and Al Michaels completely overlooked - was that he came inches from getting a first down. Michaels acted like he had to get in the end zone but first down was on the one and that Seattle player caught Romo inches from getting there. This was the opposite of Boise State. This was ignominious defeat. I personally hated to see it happen to the young man because you know it will haunt him for the rest of his life. Optimistically, it could make him focus and become a great player, but winning builds greatness, too. Now as for how it affected Jerry Jones and T.O.? That part I can live with.

Yeah...what happened to all the conspiracy theorists who thought the Super Bowl was rigged against Seattle? Where are they now?

Fixed games never come down to the final play--professional fixers are too good, and would never let chance interfere with their chance to make some big $$$. A 35-9 game is more likely to have been fixed than a 21-20 game.

Plus... if they were fixing the game, it would be FOR DALLAS, not Seattle, which is a much bigger draw and TV market. You know, "America's Team" and all. Ugh.

Gotta disagree with you, Bill on Romo. Don't get me wrong, I don't get pleasure out of his mistake, but that's the NFL. He gets paid very handsomely to do what he does. If he gets to enjoy the perks of being a pro athlete in America (ie dating Carrie Underwood, instant fame and recognition, obscene wealth) then he has to accept the risks as well. I think sometimes a failure haunting you is a good thing, might ensure you don't make that mistake again.

But here's the one thing I really couldn't understand - when he was on the bench, hanging his head, I couldn't believe that someone wasn't over there slapping his helmet and getting his head back in the game.... Bledsoe, that was YOUR job to do.

PS. Go Chargers!

I listened to it on the radio last night. The Seattle guys initially called it a fake. I haven't seen the play until just now. Wow. How about that.

Hero to goat in a split second.

That was an amazing game! The almost fumble for a touchtown turned into a safety was one of the best defensive plays I have ever seen.

Perhaps that is when the Cowboys attempted to throw the game but T. Glenn did not expect the ball to actually go out of bounds :-)

Seriously, I cannot imagine ever Purcells throwing a game. He would rather drink cow vomit.

And Romo would rather be thrown in a river than have to face Purcells and his team after than gaff.

I meant Romo would rather be thrown in the river by the Mob than face Purcells and teammates.

I take lots of pleasure in Romo's goof. And not because I'm a Seahawks fan. (Can't stand 'em.)

Rather, it is a complete travesty that Tony Romo was voted to the Pro Bowl. Midway thru the season, he hadn't played a down. Then, a handful of good games.

The NFL inexplicably chooses its all-stars after Week 14. Romo was chosen based on his handful of good games. He promptly then tanked the last three weeks of the season.

With this goof, Tony Romo proves one thing: He's not an all-star. He's a QB who just got a starting job, benefited from some good luck and defensive befuddlement for a few games, and is a nice guy. But he's not (yet) an all-star.

I'm hopeful that this fiasco will cause the NFL to rethink its all-star process. This, along with the absurdity of Shawn Merriman getting voted to the Pro Bowl too - despite a four-game suspension for steroid use. (Which is much greater travesty than Romo.)

p.s. Everybody, it's Parcells - not Purcells.

Whoops. I started the Purcells thing, but it was 7:17 in the morning.
I have a question about the safety. The Seattle player who turned out to be out of bounds clearly had the ball and tossed it back in a forward direction. Wouldn't that be a forward lateral even though it was in the endzone?
Even if he had remained inbounds that play looked illegal. In fact it could have been a great break for Seattle that he was out of bounds before he did it.

Wait, I got it. Even though he lateraled the ball forward he didn't have possession yet. Otherwise he'd have a touchdown right there. Never mind. It does bring up an interesting idea for a trick play. Let's say a receiver jumps up and catches a ball, then laterals it forward before he lands. He never really had it in a football sense. So why wouldn't that count?

In the case of the receiver, that would be an incomplete pass.... because he never had possession. And they have that weird definition of possession as coming down with the ball and making a "football move" whatever the heck that means... pretty subjective as we've seen in several games over the last couple of seasons. ALTHOUGH... if you're saying that he laterals the ball forward before he comes down and the ball DOESN'T hit the ground, but instead was caught by someone, then yes, that would be either a reception or interception. But REALLY tough to pull off....

Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that it was 20 to 21 and a field goal would have made it 23 to 20 Dallas. There was over minute on the clock. Seattle very well could have come back to score another 3, and with Josh Browns range at 55 yards it isn't so far fetched. Seattle does it all the time. It's unfair to blame Romo, because who knows what would have happened...it's called football. They should also have a designated holder other than a harried young starting quarterback. Usually the backup QB holds in case you want to go to the fake fieldgoal.

They should also have a designated holder other than a harried young starting quarterback.

In fact, Romo was the only starting QB in the league who was holding for kicks. Earlier in the year, Plummer did - but he's no longer starting.

No, it was justice. Sweet, wonderful, beautiful justice.

Don't feel too bad for Romo, he'll be back next year, and it will build character. In fact, I wouldn't wish it on him again. Next year someone else on the Cowboys can take a turn.

Bill McDonald: Because the Seattle player had his foot on the sideline, he did not recover the fumble in bounds. Therefore the ball was still in the possession of Dallas when it went out of bounds in the end zone. Hence, the safety. What the Seattle player did after he grabbed the ball is irrelevant.

Larry and Bill: First of all, by definition a lateral pass can't go forward. And if my memory is correct, there is a specific rule against an offensive receiver tipping it forward to another offensive player. I'm not sure about tipping it laterally.

...NFL fixed? Who calls the plays? What if the only 2 people who had to be "in" on it were the coaches...most professional football players are great athletes, but all they really do it follow directions.

I notice almost subconsciously, plays in which it appears players get an arm across a rushing player, like the Hugh hole and resulting touch down in the Colts Pats game. Colts go ahead when a player #36 on the Pats could have thrown a shoulder, his head, anything then just a glancing brush across the running back at the 3 yard line, not to mention how the seas parted, not to mention another player #93 I believe 2 yards earlier with a shot at the running back. What is more noticeable how no comments made on the missed tackles? I've seen this before and just starting to ponder why? I played football not any professional level, and I was concerned about sticking my neck out and stopping someone charging ahead. These guys are pros, it's less then 2 minutes to go your going to tell me a corner back who has the chance to throw a big time hit, maybe pop the ball loose or stop a touch down pulls up and throw his arm out in front instead. Well I've been noticing a lot of things that don’t seem to add up. I think if we set up two game plans your team runs X and we run Y knowing that one plan is clearly at an advantage over the other by design and a few key players are aware of the sequence of plays then it can be entertaining and the outcome can be forecasted with great accuracy … FIXED ! How about Choreographed with sensational key moments.

I wrote this last week as you can see by the date.

Big AL(2) Says:

January 15th, 2007 at 9:44 am

I think it is fixed through the refs. I really don’t think the players have any knowledge that it is fixed. Maybe certain players get paid off here and there but the majority of it is fixed through the refs making bad calls or “not” making a call when it is warranted. I made the correct prediction last year of the superbowl winner a full year before the 2005 season began. I am a Steeler fan but I told my friend that I predict the Steelers will win the Superbowl because it is Bettis’s last year and the Superbowl is in Detriot. The NFL also needed to have it’s “team of the decade” so it chose the Patriots since 9/11 happend.

Remember the Brilliant Belichick was the head coach for the Browns and didn’t do crap for them. In fact Belichick’s record before coming to the Patriots in 2001 was 37-45. Not a very good record. All the sudden 9/11 happens and the NFL pick the Patriots to be the team of the decade.

Let’s look at this season. I predicted before the season even started that it would be Indy and the Saints. So far I am right. I even think the SD game was fixed because they want Manning to beat the “Champs” of the NFL in the Patriots and also beat Brady in order to give his superbowl win more validity. The reason the NFL wants the Saints to go is obvious, to help with Katrina but the Saints won’t win. The reason they want Indy to go is two fold, they want Manning to get his ring because they don’t want another Marino and also there is a connection between the Mannings and the Saints since Archie Manning played for them. So that would be another big story line.

So basically Indy will beat NE next week and the Saints will beat the Bears and then the Saints will lose in the Superbowl. You can bank on it!

Not sure what my prediction is for 2007 yet. I’m thinking it might be the Packers and SD or maybe even Indy again. I am pretty sure on the Packers though. I think Favre will come back for one more season and they will go to the superbowl and win it so he goes out a champ. They already set up some validity there this year because they just fell shy of the playoffs.

I guess the bottom line is I feel the NFL has like 3 or so scenerios they would like to see happen and they use the refs to try to bend the games in that direction. If one scenerio doesn’t work out because the team they are pulling for stinks too bad or the other team is too good, they go to the next. Like last years game of the Steelers vs. Indy. I really think they wanted Indy to go to the superbowl as their plan A and really tried to make it happen, (especially with that horrible interception that was overturned by the refs that basically would have ended the game for Indy) but the Steelers played too well so they went with Plan B which was have the Steelers win so that Bettis could go out on top.

sorry, this was on another board about the same subject. I then followed the first comments up with this, which I still firmly believe. Especially after the last two days of non-stop comments about two black coaches in the superbowl and now the Steelers have hired a black coach. of course that is in between the tons of articles about the Tuna. Geez you would think he was God or something.

Big AL(2) Says:

January 21st, 2007 at 3:34 pm

HAHA! Just watched the Bears beat the Saints, which halfway kills my theory but just like the WWE writers throw the fans a curve ball sometimes, the NFL threw one. I now know what the plan was. The plan this season is to have a black man win the Superbowl. They brought it up, I don’t know how many times today. I still say Indy will win it all because then they have a double whammy there. A Black coach and the prince of football gets their rings.

While watching the game today, it was very evident that the refs were calling the game in the Bears favor. From the bad call on the Saints turnover during a punt or kick off return, I forget which, to the intentional grounding call in the end zone on Brees. It was evident from the beginning that the refs were pulling for the Bears. I couldn’t figure it out until I said above I realized the theme this year is to have the Black coach win it all!