| Brian Carlton. 27th August, 2005 - 7:00 am
 To be the man, you have to beat the man. Or at least that’s how the saying goes. But what if you don’t get a chance to? It’s hard to take the title while your sitting on the sidelines holding a clipboard. It’s not a secret that Bill Parcells likes veteran QBs. If more coaches would be honest, they’d probably agree with him. Why? You don’t have to teach veterans how to read defenses, how to handle a blitz or what to do when your line caves in. That’s something that comes with experience but it doesn’t mean they’ll magically get you results either though. Take a look at Ben Roethlisberger or Tom Brady. Young quarterbacks tossed to the wolves, who proved that they had the skills to play. Then flip the mirror and look at guys Father Time seems to be tapping on the shoulder, such as Jeff Garcia and Vinny Testaverde. Older isn’t always better.
Parcells always seems to hate rolling the dice however, picking the battle tested vet over the young kid. Aside from Quincy Carter, name one young gun who’s gone under center for Parcells. Last year it was Vinny Testaverde over Drew Henson or Tony Romo. This offseason, he picked up Drew Bledsoe after Testaverde didn’t work out. Normally that’s nothing surprising, because everyone would probably agree Bledsoe is a much needed upgrade over Vinny. What has fans curious is the fact he already had two other quarterbacks on the roster, one of which has been heralded as the future of the franchise. When do they get their shot at the title? When Dallas gave up two first round draft picks to land Drew Henson, it sure wasn’t to stick him on the bench. If you don’t think he’s ready or don’t want to play him, why waste the picks?
Granted Parcells has already answered this one in part, because he says Henson isn’t ready to play yet. Honestly it would be hard to hard to refute that, just by looking at the stat sheet. So far this year, he was 6 of 13 for 64 yards against the Cardinals and then 4 of 10 with an interception against the Seahawks. Not exactly awe inspiring numbers but then again, young quarterbacks don’t get better by osmosis. More puzzling was the fact Tony Romo has got virtually no attention, but was given a contract extension. Romo, who has been the most stable of all Cowboys quarterbacks in the preseason action that he’s seen the past two years, was given a two year contract extension by the team this summer, despite never throwing a pass in a regular season game. Against the Cardinals this year he was 8 of 10 for 71 yards, but then was just 2 of 6 against the Seahawks, as he got pulled for Henson. Over the past two years, he’s tossed one interception to go along with 6 touchdowns. Too bad all of that was in the preseason.
Bill Parcells has a lot in common with Phil Jackson. Besides the championships, both are known for taking veterans and molding them into champions. But with this Cowboys team, Parcells is basically signing off on a rebuilding, just like Jackson. Now the question is if Bledsoe falters, what will the Cowboys do? The byline these days is that Drew Henson is the quarterback of the future, but yet it was Tony Romo signing that two year extension. The contracts for both players end at almost the same time, yet neither one has really been able to show what they can do on a football field. If Bledsoe does have to sit out for any part of the season, who plays? Better yet, who would be prepared to, since neither one has had any field time except in games that don’t count? It might be time for Bill to do what he should have done last year. Sit back and help tutor the young quarterbacks through their growing pains. Better to do that now than be stuck in the same position three years down the road, still grinding it out in neutral. |
