NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - The Tony Romo Spectacular!

Episode Date: April 5, 2017

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, & Gregg Rosenthal – break down the winners and losers of Tony Romo’s retirement – what does it mean for the Texans, and how will it affect Romo’s legacy? Plus the heroes discuss Marshawn Lynch’s decision to come out of retirement, and whether or not he could be the missing piece for the Raiders offense.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Plays Calliope on the Riverboat Ron. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined. by a room filled with heroes.

Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosethal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey, Wes. Little struggles getting out of the gate today. Yeah, I think Greg and I are afraid to speak. We've started the show over three times,

and I don't want to be the reason for a fourth. I mean, we had sound issues the first time. Then the conversation went a little sideways very early in the show. Wes is upset about it right now. It didn't go sideways. I was just telling you guys what a calliope is. It's been a long time since we had to restart the show just because we didn't think it was good.

Yeah. Strange. I think, yeah, we need to get, you know why we need to be sharp right now, though? Because today's episode is a special one in the never-ending NFL off-season. An off-season that will never end. Is Daddy ever coming back? It's just going to roll right in. This is the Tony Romo, spectacular episode.

Because on Tuesday, the news came down that Tony Romo was going to retire to take a job with CBS and leave football, and isn't that crazy? So we're going to dig into that, Greg. Some people say, hey, you're a little, you're going to delaying the dial short here. But we're going to be the podcast of record when it comes to this topic. People are going to look back in 10 years and wonder what was Tony Romo's career like? And they'll listen to this podcast. I like that.

And they'll also know when they look back on this podcast that the Around the NFL podcast is not sponsored. Driven by Hyundai. Love it. What a automobile. Any more to that? That's the start and end of it. That's it. That's the sponsor of the show.

And any update on Mr. Flame, who was the sponsor unceremoniously dumped in a big spot on Monday. Mike Flame, I think, could not have handled it more gentleman-like than he did. I mean, he basically wrote us all an email thanking us for the year. We should be thanking him. He sent us multiple products and gifts, Hyundai, yet to do that for us. Well, the Rosenthal family could be looking for a second car. My wife does not have a car, which is tough sledding when you live in Los Angeles. It might be time to do it.

I think this off season, we've kind of set. so maybe Hyundai step your game up hey if you want to be driven the way this podcast is driven then you better get to the local Hyundai they're getting their money's worth anyone want to restart it for a fourth time anyway this is the Tony Romo spectacular podcast we will break down the huge news and how it affects the entire NFL and we look back at Romo's career in Dallas and what it means for other teams specifically one that also

plays in Texas so we'll break the whole thing down and we'll have some fun doing it as the podcast of record on this topic and I feel like maybe guys this is a show the news is so big and otherwise

there's not a ton of news out there that we should focus there on Roma but there is one bit of pretty big non-Romo news that we want to touch on before we really dig in to Romo, and it is about Marshawn Lynch, the retired running back, who told the Raiders during a meeting at the team facility that he, this according to Ian Rappaport, he intends to unretire and play again. It's a long process, though, Ian says, which Greg leading into that makes you think this isn't something that's going to happen today or tomorrow, but who knows?

and Rapport also reported on Lynch. His understanding is that the meeting with Jack Del Rio, the Raiders coach is the final hurdle if Del Rio signs off, Domino's fall. So this almost looks like it's a go problem. I think it's happening. I think the Tony Romo situation sat out there for so long because Tony Romo ultimately couldn't decide

whether he wanted to play football or not, whether he wanted to fully commit. And I think that's been the question with Marshawn Lynch as people say, well, he's interested. did, okay, make the declaration, you want to play. I think him showing up to the facility talking with Del Rio, this is it. He wants to play. Now they just got to figure out if there's going to be a trade

or if the Seahawks going to release him or what? Seahawks' GM, John Snyder, was on 710 Seattle today and said a move of Lynch to the Raiders would go in a, quote, smooth manner because of his relationship with Raiders' GM, Reggie McKenzie. They were both in the Ted Thompson front office with the Packers. Yeah, well, why do you want to prevent that from happening? You've signed Eddie Lacey, you've got two young running backs behind him. You're not going to use Marshawn Lynch.

The guy wants to come back and play. He only wants to play in one place. There's no way to tug him back to Seattle even if they wanted to, and they don't. And it's not like the Seahawks have a ton of leverage, it seems. So this all seems like it's going to happen. Then the bigger question. They've got to figure out a contract. He's not going to play under this current contract.

Maybe the way Schneider talked, maybe the Raiders are willing to give up like a late, you know, round swap or something. that it's not major. We'll see about that. We'll see. We'll see. Is it going to be any good? That's the bigger question after taking a year off and being banged up the last time we saw him.

You could look at it from both sides of it and come to the reasonable conclusion that, hey, he had his worst year and his last year was outplayed by Thomas Rawls. He's another year and a half older. Or you could say, hey, he's fresh. He's playing behind what? The Cowboys might have a better offensive line,

but other than them, who does? So it's an ideal fit. Don't bury the lead. What does it mean for Taiwan Jones? Is this the Taiwan Jones spectacular podcast? I think it's, listen, Lynch, he got in the middle of the Super Bowl. Right. When he retired, now he's completely taking over this Romo show.

It was funny because everyone at the time was like, you know, got to give credit to Lynch. Like this guy doesn't, you know, he doesn't need the attention. He doesn't, no press conference. He's just cool. We'll never hear from this guy again. Meanwhile, he's been a part of our lives ever since. He's in the mix. I love Marshaun Lynch, especially as a raider.

But would you rather watch Latavius Murray behind that line or more Sean Lynch? Bring it on. I love the Raiders being compelling. This does make them more compelling. Yeah, they already were among the teams I was looking forward to watching the most this year. This makes them even more. I mean, is he going to cost more or less than whatever Adrian Peterson ultimately signs? That still, to me, made more sense that the Raiders would go after Peterson.

and the Lynch thing seems a little, I don't know, it seems much more of a hit or miss proposition, but I get the Oakland ties and all that stuff. They have two other good young running backs, not just like, okay, we have two guys on a roster. I think Jalen Rashard is a big-time weapon, and I think DeAndre Washington's a good player, so he doesn't have to come in and kind of just save the day.

He's just part of a group. But he does help play a little bit of a different role than those guys. I think they have a very complimentary backfield now. It could go terribly too. All right, Dan. I'm just saying. And not into this move. No, I'm not, I'm just saying everybody's got to not assume that you're going to get the old beast mode,

and he might even, you know, if this is possible, be a headache. He might be a problem child. We'll see. It's going to happen, it looks like. Let's now. Now, should we move to the Tony Romo spectacular? Please. Romo Palooza.

I'm just a cupcake in a brownie. I'm calling it a crowny. Yes, the big news. Tony Romo has chosen to retire. Despite interest from the Houston Texans, the Dallas Cowboys star four-time Pro Bowler retired from playing on Tuesday and was officially released by the team. Romo will not go gently into that good night or quietly. He's not going to pull a Dave Letterman because he immediately now segs to a new job with CBS where he will be working with Jim Nance as the number one team for CBS calling games. which is a big deal and it's good news for Romo and very bad news for Phil Sims

who Romo replaces. Romo had a conference call after all this news broke on Tuesday and here's what he had to say. You know, I got to go with practice just like football and see where I'm good and see where I'm not. The one thing I've always felt like if there's a strength of mine, it's my ability to learn. If I'm not very good right away, my hope is it doesn't take too long. And if I'm not, I can promise you I'll be spending, you know, 20 hours a day trying to figure it out, and I'll be analyzing it all the time. And so, you know, that's the approach I'm going to take, and I think that gives me the best chance to succeed.

And Roma was also asked about whether this is it. Is he going to absolutely retire? Is he 100% out? He did leave the door a little bit open. You know, I wish I could tell you unequivocally 100% for the rest of my life. I'll never play any sports at all, you know, but I, I'd. I just, I don't envision coming out. I'm committed to CBS.

I'm going to be there for good. So I think I'm going to get some calls. I'm sure I will. Greg, you said on Monday show, you thought the news that came out Monday that the Cowboys were opening up the doors to trade talks was a sign Romo was playing. It didn't be more wrong on that. Not been more wrong there.

First time anyone's been wrong on the show. We were overdue. I think we saw what happened, though, because CBS courted Romo, made him feel like give him an offer he can't refuse as their number one guy in a dynasty. There's only been five guys basically since football was born on television that have done this position. And the Broncos and Texans, this was their last ditch effort to prove to Tony Romo they wanted him. And I think Jerry Jones put that out there on purpose to say, hey, CBS is putting heat on you to make a decision. Why don't we release this to see if anyone gives you a reason to play football this year, gives you a reason to turn down CBS?

and their answer was there's no reason to turn down CBS. Which on some level is strange because the Texans were interested in him if he was released. And that's why ultimately I think the Texans played this the right way. That if Tony Romo wasn't committed enough to playing in 2017, that he was that much on the fence that he sort of didn't want to commit to going and visiting them and getting a MRI or anything, going through this whole process of, like, just release me, I want to get a job, I just want to play football, that he had to be sort of winded night. He was never totally in it.

Well, there's some irony here because the Texans and Broncos wanted Romo to be committed, and Romo wanted the Texans and Broncos to be committed to trade for him, to know that he wasn't going to embarrass himself by hitting the open market and nobody wanted him. Well, when you've come as far as he has, you're an undrafted player that has, he's a fringe Hall of Fame candidate. Some believe so, some don't. You want to be wanted. You want to be courted. You don't want to go into the open market. Listen, the way his career ended is unceremonious. It's not the way you want to go out as a quarterback. You were pushed aside by a rookie. And now you get into potentially a scenario where you could have teams coming after you.

A couple months ago, we're writing Tony Romo landing spots and they were six, seven teams deep because there was a belief, why would you not go after Tony Romo? And then the market wasn't there in the end. You didn't play the situation the right way if Tom Savage is your opening day starter. I'm sorry, but you didn't. Well, just this particular... The results are disastrous. Sure, but... He played it the wrong way.

You could have tried to convince him. I guess. I mean, you're right. Like, it would have been worth taking the chance. It just sounds like maybe that wouldn't have been enough anyways. He, if he wanted to play football, he would play football. He has medical people telling him things. He has not been able to play more than two or three games in recent years.

He made it a point multiple times during that press. conference to emphasize, I can still play. I haven't been this healthy in three or four years. If doctors are telling him that he doesn't believe it, you could tell that he wanted to make it clear to everyone that physically he can still do that. And he said it, he said it during that press conference last November, that he still had the burning desire to play. We saw it in the last game of the regular season, that he was still functional

passer in that one drive where he let him to a touchdown. I wonder how much his pride was hurt here and getting back. Back to the original point we were talking about that a few years back, and I know Tony Romo, even though he is a borderline Hall of Fame candidate, is not Peyton Manning. But when Peyton Manning was on the open market, you had the entire league clamoring for a shot at him. And it just wasn't the case here.

There was no Romo sweepstakes. The Broncos did everything, but basically called a press conference to say, hey, only if it really works out are we even interested. We like our guys. And it became a Texans or bus scenario. And maybe he didn't love that. Maybe he didn't love the idea that the Cowboys and Texans are in the same state. He didn't want to get involved in sullying his Cowboys' reputation or his legacy.

I mean, that to me is a big part of it. And I can't question his desire to want to play potentially when there are reports out there that if the Cowboys lost Dak Prescott early in the year, that there would be an arrangement potentially where CBS would let him get back on the field or for another team. It doesn't even have to just be the Cowboys. Right. There's another layer here.

It's not just that the Texans and Broncos weren't willing to trade for him. It's that if they weren't committed to him enough to do that, was it worth it to him to leave the Cowboys and play in a different uniform? He talked about his legacy, looking back when he's 80 years old, and when he thinks about football, he wants to envision himself in a Cowboys uniform as a career-long Dallas Cowboy. And if you're not willing to trade for him, he's not willing to part with that part of his legacy.

Well, and if CBS wasn't involved, maybe none of this happens. I mean, maybe he just sucks it up and plays. Oh, I think that's, the CBS involvement is everything. Yeah, the CBS and just the level of job that he's getting, the level of opportunity, the level of pursuit. So it's those two things together. If there was, if he was just getting kind of lukewarm interest in broadcasting, maybe he would be more willing to just be like, all right, release me.

I'm going to just try to play. You know, I mean, with the broadcasting side and we'll get more into that, but you talk about legacy, yes, We remember him always as the Dallas Cowboys quarterback, but someone that's 15, 16 years old right now that's just getting into football, they know Troy Aikman as Fox is Troy Akeman. They knew Pat Summerall as Pat Summerall from television

and John Madden, not the coach, but the broadcaster. I mean, he has got a chance to go 20, 30 plus years and create an entirely new career and identity. The most surprising part about Tuesday was that his retirement was on a conference call with Sean McManus. And it's just this muffled, boring, like he just sounded, you know, very, you know, quiet, lackadaisical thing. He's not up there on, you know, with the star behind him and Jerry Jones. And, like, all they, all he got was Jason Garrett's, like, totally milk toast, forgettable statement in a team press release.

It's a very strange inch for such a great quarterback. You're forgetting about the LED screens outside the Cowboys facility with the number nine. So they did, they did check their box. I don't blame. Insult to the word milk toast. There's a good chance he chose that. I have no idea. It's just strange.

Can you imagine Philip Rivers retiring to, you know, Fox or something? And there's no big deal in San Diego. I mean, this is one of the five to seven best quarterbacks of his era. He's a big time. Does that hint at the fact that, I mean, listen, it could have been a little cleaner in his split with the Cowboys that maybe it isn't quite as rosy as everyone wants to put out there? Well, Jane Slater of NFL Network reported that he was hurt.

Tony Romo was hurt by how the whole thing wrapped up in Dallas. So maybe that ties into like he's ready. And maybe when he gave his press conference November, that was his goodbye press conference. And now he is looking to move on with Shenzhou. He's with his new girlfriend, his new lady now, CBS. Lady lover. But that's all.

Tiffany Network. That's all true. But I think we found out that Jerry Jones did have Tony Romo's best in his heart and was being protective of him and was doing him favors but not putting him on the market when it was. it would be like putting Adrian Peterson on the market. Yeah, it just is strange because you go back to the first hours of free agency where Romo put out the farewell to the Cowboys,

maybe thinking that something else would happen immediately or wanting something else to happen, and it didn't. It was protracted. I don't think he obviously didn't know what the outcome was going to be. I mean, Brandon Whedon said he was texting with Romo last week, and he thought Romo wanted to play last week. So I don't think he made this decision until Monday, and it probably... I think CBS.

forced him to make the decision. Yeah. And that's why Jerry put out that press release saying, if you want to trade for him, come get him. And everybody assumed it was Jerry trying to wrangle a draft pick out of him, but it was really Jerry saying, hey, look, Tony, these teams don't want you. If you want that CBS job, you should take it. This was floating behind the scenes, too.

Slater said it on air yesterday. This is something that I had heard around this building as well, that it was a very real chance that Romo was going to retire. So this was always in play as an option And I think when CBS brought the full court press And like you guys want to talk about that a little bit Because that is if you work in sports And that's a seismic decision to take a guy with with zero experience

And now all of a sudden he is becoming the number one color guy And we're talking about it downstairs Mark that once upon a time The Cowboys they wanted Tony Romo to be the next Troy Aikman but now it's CBS that wants Tony Romo to be the next Troy Aikman and hoping they get a 20-plus year run out of him. What a move. And poor Phil Sims who gets caught. What a horrible situation for Phil Sims.

It's one thing to lose your job. But when losing your job is tied into a massive NFL story, it becomes even a bigger deal than it ordinarily would be. Absolutely. And two quick things, and we were talking about this downstairs yesterday too, that I think I'm happy for Tony Romo when you pick a former player to become a broadcaster

it's funny because Charles Davis from NFL Network talked for the fact that for years he was buried on like the 6th and 7th team that he cut his teeth that he really learned how to become a better broadcaster but not doing Monday Night Football by doing smaller broadcast college games and they're taking a swing

the same way that Phil Sims had that happen to him too we're going to put you high up early and hope that it floats and it's funny that Sims exits, there's two things. One, the assumption that Romo is just going to be marvelous at this out of the gate. It is not an easy job. And a lot of people yesterday were destroying

Phil Sims on Twitter. How if Romo did one good thing here, it's that he got Phil Sims off broadcasting, and we're not, I don't think we're the biggest Phil Sims fans in the country ourselves. It's so over the top, though. I get it, but it was over the top. But I talked to Phil Sims for that calling the game

piece last year. And the one thing that I came away with, well, listen, It's like the last notable thing I wrote at this company. So he honestly, he talked about how he spent so many hours during the week working hard for that job, watching tape. He put the working. It is not an easy job. You have to literally spend just as much time watching film as you would as a player.

Yeah, I keep hammering home at the boomer Osias in point because there are so many similarities. And he's the one who blazed this trail. He created the blueprint for retirement. when you still have something left in a tank and getting the most plumb broadcasting opportunity available to anyone that year. And he said a couple of years

ago with the Sports Business Journal, I wish I got that job today, as opposed to 1998, because it takes time to understand the mechanics of television. And he said something similar to Peter King on Tuesday. I wish I knew them what I know now. Look at yourselves. Like,

we're all better writers now than we were when we first started. It takes time to be good at something. And Tiki Barber is another notable example of someone that traded in a couple more years at the top of his game to take the job when it was there. And that did not work out at all. What do Boomer and Tiki Barber have in common with Tony Romo? Everybody in the media was absolutely convinced that these guys' personalities would shine through and automatically make them immediate smash hits as broadcast. In 1998, or whenever that happened to Boomer or Sison, a completely different time than right now. Now when everyone is watching Monday night football, Sunday night football, Thursday night,

if the analyst does not nail it right away. If the smallest gaff occurs, Twitter explodes, the media columnists go nuts on this guy, he's going to be so highly exposed and analyzed. He's the same way he was as a player when he was maybe unfairly scrutinized during his career. Same thing's going to happen to the booth. But at least when he was a player, he was doing what came naturally to him. And he was able to use his abilities on the field. This is, he's going to be a total neophyte.

Well, the one thing he doesn't have in common with Boomer and Tiki is he's likable or he's more likable. Oh, God. Are you sure? I mean, I guess we'll find out. And I guess you'd ever know that 100% going in. Although I don't think Tiki Barber, even during his playing careers. I think at this point in their situations, everybody viewed Boomer and Tiki as just as likable as Tony Romney. More breathless words were wasted on Boomer Assize in 1998

than have been wasted on. Teague Barber was a scene as this guy that they put him on Good Morning America, Greg. Not even, it was, we're going to put you in front of America, not even a sports job. But it wasn't, it wasn't, I don't think it was because he was likable. I think because he had a massive PR campaign. This is a guy who dominated the New York tabloids in the front page of the paper for being unlikable, for his teammates, hated him. That was a big part of his career.

It was Michael Strayan and him getting after it. I just mean that the listening to Tony Romo in terms of how much, like, he is a likable guy and listening to how seriously he clearly is going to take it from step one, that this isn't rocket science. You know, we've put Tony Kornheiser in national spots. Joe Thaisman had this job for years and years and years. Likeable is about one fifth of the job. Yeah, I think your point is taken that Tiki and Boomer probably had a little more ego

than Tony Romo, who seems to be as down to earth as any 125 million. dollar quarterback could possibly be all right now let's move on to the next and poor Phil I don't even know where Phil lands you have you have what do they I always get this wrong the bird and the beak the beard and the beard and the bird the beard and the bird are the bouts and eagle by the way they should be number one giant eagle is a fascinating he's a fascinating play by play guy really I love young eagle fascinating oh I think he honestly should be number one somewhere. There's an entire bar in Santa Monica, which knows exactly how much more Cessler loves I and Eagle. Love Ian Eagle. No, he's a total pro. I like that team.

And you're not going to like drop Phil down to the third or fourth string, I'm thinking. So maybe this is it for Phil. I will say this. What's the same version of what Tony Romo did as a quarterback? He may say enough. I don't want to kick the guy when he's down. But the Nance Sims team never did anything for me. I think Buck and Aikman are a far superior team. And don't get me started on. Collinsworth and Al Michaels are. or the best of them all. Then you got Tariko, who does a great job. It was the right time, I think, to spruce it up,

and they're kind of swinging for the fences. There are worse game analyst than Phil Sims. I think it's fair to critique him. You don't have to treat him like a piñata, though. Yeah, I agree. You always felt like there was a little too much of, like, are we watching the Masters or are we watching the NFL with Nance? And that's more Nance, maybe, than Sims.

Well, that is more Nance than Sims. Not maybe. I mean, but it was kind of a sleepy, I can imagine. you know, grandparents enjoying this broadcast. So let's have some guy, let's have someone who, I love the notion of someone that was just in the game who's going to know these players. I know it's the AFC

for the most part, but he'll be on some NFC games too when they're the road team. Like a little fresh blood. And, you know, let's talk winners and losers of this deal. We've already touched on a couple of Phil Sims, notable loser. Sorry, buddy. Poor guy. It really sounded like because CBS

and Pro Football Talk made this point. They didn't have a plan for him publicly, which is a pretty strong indication that there probably is no plan for him. But also, they're just going to work it out. He's been with them for nearly two decades, and that's how you say goodbye to someone. It's a rough situation.

He got swept up in a title wave with this. But let's focus a little bit now on the Texans, who other than Phil Sims are obviously the big loser here because Wes, it seemed like in their decision to cut ties with Brock Osweiler and basically leave no. Nobody but Tom Savage, all people, as the team's presumptive week once started. It looked like they had cleared the deck for Romo, and now he's not there.

Now what? That's a tough situation. They have their own starter kit for the Browns jersey with all the quarterback names on it. Yes, they do. Fitzpatrick, Keenham, Mallet, Hoyer, Yates, Weeden, Osweiler, Savage. I mean, it's a... The difference is they win about nine games a year. Half of those are Brown's quarterbacks of old.

I mean, Bill O'Brien is the Funhouse Mirror version of Jeff. Fisher. He goes 9 and 7 every year with bad quarterback. This team is, it's unbelievable how reactive they are at that position instead of proactive. You have the hard knocks thing, which we keep going back to, both those kids can play. The second part of that whole diatribe was, and if they get the chance to, they're going to show everyone. Bill O'Brien gave Brian Hoyer three quarters of the season over for that chance. So they go out, Hoyer's a failure. They overpay for Osweiler without ever meeting him and now because they did that they over correct and say we can't overpay for Romo or we can't trade for him period because we now we're now we're passive instead of aggressive

and you're stuck with Tom Savage a guy who is every bit is injury prone as Tony Romo just 10 years younger well I don't think that's fair with Savage because you know it's been a couple minor injuries I think the Texans has it it's been a couple injuries a couple times he played I think Tony Romo's injury situation is so significant and it's been four straight times he's been on the field that he's gotten hurt, that caution from any of the team, I can't kill them for that because we would be making fun of them or maybe we wouldn't be making fun of them, but the odds were telling you that he was just going to get hurt again. I mean, his injury history is beyond just like it happened a few times.

It happened in 2014. It happened in 2015. It happened in 2016. It happened a couple times in 2015. Like, it was happening. I agree. But here's what I'd say. So I don't mind them not branding over backwards for.

The flip side of that is John Elway going after Peyton Manning when he was coming off a neck injury where all of us were wondering if he'd even be able to throw the same way. John Elway has onions. It's like you can't kill the Texans. If after they, I like when they admit their own mistake. I'm saying when they admit their own mistake, though, with the Brock Osweiler. No, moving on from Brock Osweiler, had they then gone on and gone after Romo, you have to say you did everything you could in one off season to correct the position.

And now I can't give them credit for going halfway and now smiling at us and telling us that Tom Savage is a perfectly defined answer under center. I don't think they believe that. But they're telling us that. Yeah, they have to. Now they have to say it and they have to look toward the draft. Right. And then you look at the, I can't let it all the way off the hook here.

I thought both there was a lack of onions on both Denver and Houston side. They're both a quarterback away from competing with the Patriots. L.A. invested. They invested a first-round pick in Paxton-Tonch, and Trevor Simeon can play. Everyone says Savage can play, but Simeon actually can't. But the Texans invested in Brock Osweiler, and they knew they had to get out of there and try to get... You're trying to win a Super Bowl here. I'm just saying, like, you had an opportunity if you played aggressively, and of course it's a roll of the dice. You just talked about it, Greg, to have Tony Romo out front with two Super Bowl quality defenses in both Houston and Denver, and I thought both of these teams should have been more aggressive.

And now they don't have the option. Mike Cliss was on NFL network on Tuesday and had some good points. John Elway was intrigued with the idea of Tony Romo if he was single-mindedly obsessed with winning a Super Bowl. Not if he had one foot in CBS. Not if he was like, I kind of want to play for the Cowboys, not the Broncos. Not if he was, I'd rather be closer to Texas than Denver. There's also. So I agree with that.

But John Elway has Trevor Simeon and Paxton Lynch. Right. The Texans have Tom Savage and no Super Bowls in a history of bad decisions. John Elway has more rope here, and we have more reason to trust John Elway. Well, and he has two good options, I think, at quarterback. At least two real options. So I hear you on that, but that same reasoning to me makes sense for maybe why Rick Smith and the Texans in this particular case didn't go after him.

Now, I think Rick Smith is a-together. I think Rick Smith is a loser here because of what you just said, his history of not drafting a quarterback. Like, this points it out. This is going to be his 12th draft with the Houston Texans. He has yet to take a quarterback in the first three rounds ever. That is absolutely insane stat. I mean, the Patriots have taken two in the first three rounds the last couple of years.

And the Texans haven't even taken a swing at it. And at their best, they had a good couple seasons out of match job. It's absolutely crazy. So it's 11 years. It's been 11 years. This will be his 12th draft. He has been there. since 06.

So you can't say that in 11 straight years, everyone took your guy right before you wanted him. This is a philosophical choice that you would rather build stronger roster at other positions. Which we know by now simply doesn't work 99 out of 100 times. Right. And yet he's still there. When you told me that he's been there that long, I had no idea.

It's remarkable. We were talking about the Texans had the Brown starting kit. How many GMs have the Browns had since 2006? About 105. Right, and I'm not saying they're the way they do it is the way to do it, but for one team to have 17 firings and one to have zero, they're both wrong. Well, they've always stayed relevant, and I think if Rick Smith should get any credit for anything, it's hiring head coaches.

I think ultimately he's picked two pretty good head coaches in Gary Kubiak and Bill O'Brien that maybe made the roster look a little better than it really was. Rick Smith's career is essentially as long as Tony Romo's active career. True. Yeah. Good point. Both came up in 06. It's been a long time.

Mark, you wrote the winners and losers banger. Bangor. NFL.com. You got on the bang train and you want to share another winner? I will. That's hardly where I would want that experience to be coming from. But how about this? I mean, we touched on it briefly, but this year's quarterback prospects

because I think that you now are going to see a rush on quarterbacks potentially earlier than people thought because the Texans are a lock at 25. I think, to take a quarterback or to move up. Daniel Jeremiah, who at least when he does this mock draft, is talking to other people. He has no quarterbacks going in the first round until the Texans at 25. That would surprise me.

I think we're going to get more early because this is just what teams have done every single year. But he is absolutely right that the Texans now have no wiggle room. You can't wait till the, whatever, the 59th pick they have, I think. And then the 89th, you cannot wait that long at this point, except you're dealing with Rick Smith. So we know what they're going to do. They're not going to take any quarterback.

Maybe they won't take any one. counterpoint, they were going to take a quarterback either way, possibly, because if you were getting bed with Romo, you absolutely know you need to have a plan B still or a future. And I wouldn't be surprised if even if they got Romo, they'd take a guy in the first or second round. And then when you look at any other team in the league, whatever happened to Romo didn't really affect anybody else because nobody else was interested. I agree with that, except that I think it's fair to have viewed Tom Savage as an okay

plan B if you had gone out and gotten Tony Romo. You don't need to get another rookie on top of that soup. They're in the spot you don't want to be in, which is everyone knows what you have to do and you have to take that position, just out of desperation. Yeah, that's a tough spot. Again, pretend you like one of these guys more than you actually do.

How about another loser mark off your list? So many choices. Well, we've, well, how about this? The primetime football schedule is one that I pick because I realize they haven't completely locked it in, but I think the Texans would have been an AFC that is lacking a lot of compelling teams. There isn't a lot beyond the Patriots and the Steelers and some of the

AFC West teams that you get the AFC South with the Texans and Tony Romo on a bunch of primetime games early in the year. Last year's early primetime schedule was a mess. This would have spiced it up. You have to watch those games. I don't care where you live. You have to watch the Texans. Now you run from the Texans. You don't need to watch them at all. Remember the Bengals Texans game in Week 16? Unbelievable, right. One of the most boring games of the season. Featuring time. And it decided the Titans and Texans play off. God, what an awful game.

If we want to look at things with how it might actually have turned out, if the Texans got Romo and then he got hurt by week six, it would just be the Texans getting flexed out of like seven Sunday night games. But it probably if you break it down what it will actually mean, instead of the Texans being on Sunday night football two to three times and being on Monday night football once and being on Thursday night football once, we'll probably see the Texans Thursday night, for sure. and then maybe a Monday night game.

Yeah, maybe. Maybe. If you're a Texas fan, you're dying right now because you were close. And if you believed in Tony Romo here as a real great option because you know the rest of the team is pretty good. Yeah.

Offense is in better shape, I think, now than it has been. And if you had Romo in there, there was real reason to hope you could contend in the AFC. Now you're left kind of scrambling, maybe trying to talk yourself into things that you don't believe in. All right, Wes. Mark, is that your big takeaway, by the way?

We're going to sag into big takeaways. I thought we're doing some winners and losers still. Oh, we're still doing winners and losers? No, I have a separate Romo takeaway. I mean, it's... Okay, good. I just want to be on the same page. Any more winner and losers?

I like this loser one of the Tony Romo redemption story. Mark talked about kind of a sliding door situation here where what would have happened if he had taken the Broncos or the Texans that roster spot in both of those teams, he could have gone further in the playoffs than he's ever gone before. And if things sink up, Super Bowl appearance, who knows? Well, that was going to be my losers. I mean, Tony Romo is the ultimate loser in this, unfortunately.

I mean, Antonio Romero, Romo, came into the league. Wow, nice setup. In 06. Gravitas. I mean, he was one of the most exciting players in the league. One of my, one of, a lot of people's favorite players to watch. The last time he played in the NFL, the only. time he played a full season with this Cowboys offensive line.

He led the league in completion percentage, in QBR, in quarterback rating, in yards per attempt, in game winning drives. He was third in the MVP race. He had his best season, I would argue, certainly one of his best seasons of his entire career, and that was it. That was his last season. Think of what he's been robbed over, not just like the redemption story with the Broncos, which I agree, that could have been really cool.

like the last two years with this Cowboys team. I mean, DAC was great last year. I would have taken Tony Romo last year if he was healthy over where Dak was. Like, he should have been finally winning those playoff games with the Cowboys had a totally different end to his career, piled up some numbers. And then I do think he's a Hall of Fame type of guy. And he got robbed by all that because of all these back injuries. How many Super Bowls does he have if he, in 2006, just completely changed his identity to Ramiro

one word. Ramiro. Oh, like a Brazilian soccer player? Ramiro. Yeah, probably seven Super Bowl. Multiple Super Bowl appearances wins. By the way, great,

counterpoint. Big winner, Tony Romo. Because Romo, let's say he goes to Houston. You're going to say Dak Prescott. He's definitely a winner. He was already winning. Maybe he won that battle. He won in October.

If they were seven and nine, like this might be Tony Romo's job, but he just took it. No, he's a big winner. He's the new Cowboys quarterback. But Tony Romo is a winner too. If you want to look at it a different way, which is he doesn't continue the charade that his body is still able to play football, which means he doesn't have to sign with another team, put on a, like, Joe name with the Rams uniform,

and then get the crap kicked out of him again and get peeled off the turf and then end on that note. Instead, he gets to leave with his health, which is, so he said he feels great, his body is, everything's good, and that's good to hear because he's taking a beating, and he's got his new career completely set up. You could not ask for a better if you want to stay in the public eye and you want to stay in football and you don't want to go into coaching. There's no better job than the top color gig for one of the major networks. And the Cowboys exit was, you know, upsetting, I'm sure, to him. And he'll live with regrets over it. But also from a legacy standpoint, he got to do that press conference, which maybe there will be a movie one day where that's worked into it.

And he was showered with praise over that. That's a good point. And to leap kind of leapfrog off a year. point. Greg, that was a great lament for Tony Romo and what could have been. Antonio Ramiro. But there is a movie to be made here. And it's not quite Kurt Warner who has the best story of any athlete in the 21st century just

about, but an undrafted free agent who comes into America's team has a great 10-year run, gets this cushy TV gig and could be doing it for 20 or 30 years. I mean, there is a made for TV movie here. Whether he's a winner or loser, like the Romo that wakes up at 3 in the morning and is either contemplating regret or thinking about all the stuff that's ahead, that's the winner or loser. He knows whether he won or lost. Winner, Dak, not for the reason you'd say, but in your article, you talk about the Cowboys

Quarterbacks. Don Meredith, Roger Stalbuck, Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, all retire early due to injuries and get cushy broadcasting gigs. Dax, if you're the quarterback for America's team, you're going to have a cushy broadcasting And maybe he can do women's college basketball, big time fan. Oh, really? Oh, I don't know if you guys. That doesn't feel like a big time gig, but I guess you guys didn't watch the end of the Mississippi State game.

Jack was going wild. The camera was on him a little too much. Did they win the title, by the way? They did not win the title. They ended up losing the next game. How about Jerry Jones as a winner too? I mean, he keeps getting this, not only did this situation work out perfectly, and he has Tony Romo singing his praises about what a great boss he is, but he didn't have to go watch Tony Romo play for another team.

And he has the Cowboys' Barmo. brand, I think Bomani Jones was the first one that I saw point this out. He's got the Cowboys brand on every national game. Like, the Cowboys are just, this is the Cowboys' NFL. All they got to do is get back to the Super Bowl, by the way. And that's just like going on forever. That's going to be the next 20 years. That's another reason why he's a winner.

You stumble onto Dak Prescott, and if ever a team stumbled onto a guy, they tried to trade for Paxton Lynch. They tried to trade for Connor Cook, ended up taking Dak Prescott. And now you've got the same competitive advantage that Seahaw, had when Russell Wilson was on a really minor rookie contract and you've got half your offense is all pros. And you have the chance for stability at quarterback, not unlike going from Brett Farve to Aaron Rogers, from Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck, not saying that these are all equivalent

of those players, but when you have stability for 30 years at that position, we know, Dan, what happens when you don't. Yeah. And that's the last piece of the cowboys. Everything looks great for the Dallas Cowboys, but they've got to figure out a way to get over the hump now. And with this new core and Tony Romo in the past, let's see, it's been 20 years since they made the Super Bowl.

That's the last piece for Jera in the twilight of his tenure with the Cowboys. They've got to get over the hump. Won't be with Tony Romo. One big takeaway, Mark Sessler, before we move on. Well, I think I wanted to look back and kind of remember when my idea of Tony Romo pivoted entirely. I never liked the way that he was this eternal scapegoat for everything that happened with the playoff loss against Seattle

and a lot of other big games where he crumbled. But for me, I'll never forget being in Santa Monica at a bar watching Week 2, 2011, when he went up against the 49ers, took him down in overtime with a punctured lug, a broken rib. He was out for most of the third quarter, came back in the fourth and in overtime,

completed 12 of 15 passes through a 77-yard completion to Jesse Holly at the end to set up that game-winning field goal. And here's the thing. Finally, after that game, people started to catch up with the fact that Tony Romo cared about football as much as people should have realized he did, and that he was incredibly tough. He went on right, he played the next week against the Redskins and didn't miss a start the rest of the year. Injuries swept away the later part of his career, but the guy absolutely cared about being the Cowboys quarterback, which was in contrast to some of the stuff that happened with Jessica Simpson and the vacations and all that business early on where it was more of a soap opera. There was an extended period, people now completely forget this,

but where he was a durable starting quarterback and you could count on him, it was just near the end where the body really started to break down. Nice big takeaway, Mark. That was big. Wes. It's a shame for football fans that Tony Romo won't be playing. He will not be a starter in week one. As it seems now, Jimmy Garoppolo will not be a starter in week one.

Jake Cutler, Colin Kaepernick, will not be starters in week one. So four of the top 30 quarterbacks on this planet will not be starting in week one while the likes of Josh McCown, Cody Kessler, Tom Savage, Brian Hoyer, Jared Gough, and Mike Glennon will be starting in week one. How dare you throw Glennon in there? NFL teams should be more bold, first of all. And second of all, watching bad football stinks, and I don't want to see these guys starting in week one when there are better options.

You're going to get some. You're going to get plenty of bad quarterback. West, there's no running from it. I love that this offseason has turned West into missing Jay Cutler. Didn't see that coming. That's why you got to keep listening to the podcast. Always surprises over the year. Look, Jay Cutler has been my, I don't know, he's been a tomato can to me on this podcast.

I've been kicking him up and down the street for four years, but nothing bothers me more than NFL teams just settling for mediocrity because it's comfortable. You don't see Bill Belichick doing that? You don't see John Elway doing that. You've given up on Jared golf, by the way. Can't be a top 30 quarterback? I mean, all right, but week one, I don't know. Maybe by the end of the year, I'll be singing it.

I haven't given up on it. And I do, it took like four years, but it took Josh McCown finally signing with the Jets for you to get up to get up in the town bandwagon. Look, he's 37. He can barely walk. Something serious had to happen and it was going to your hated jets. That's a fair point. All right. My big takeaway is we won't have Tony Roman to kick around anymore.

I don't think our group. by any stretch was part of this. But for years and years and years and years, Romo was the guy that people love to hate and unfairly put things on and call a choke artist and all other things. And now he's gone. And in the same offseason where, you know,

just said Jay Cutler might be gone too. The other great whipping boy of the NFL. So in the same off season, we lose two of the people that people most enjoyed kicking around. Who's going to fill their void? who becomes the number one whipping boy in this league, whether you want to look at it just from a quarterback perspective of an entire league, or maybe they're just a void now,

and that's less fun. You like to have somebody to beat up on that said. Could be bad news for Eli Manning, late period, Eli Manning. Or maybe one of these young quarterbacks that Wes already feels disdain for to have some sort of heel turn early in the year. Because, I mean, Cuddlers was a heel turn at one point where he's sort of, this is a guy that doesn't seem to care as much as the other people. and maybe one of these guys shows up in that kind of way,

and they take that mantle. He's a new villain. Cam Newton is in danger. He's always seemed to engender a lot of dislike from people. Don't overlook Blake Bortles with this possibility. Blake Bordles. Andy Dalton, maybe he's kind of been a familiar person to pile on. But there's not a lot.

Matt Stafford, look out, Matt. Hey, Matt. He's coming off a couple of his best seasons, but, you know. Hey, Matt. Hey, Matt. Look out. That's all I'm saying. I mean, you're a prominent quarterback, highly paid, haven't done a lot.

He's on your radar? No, no, no, no. I'm saying, Matt. I just keep your head on a swivel, that's what I'm saying. Oh, you're saying he's going to be like the new media whipping boy? Yeah, that's what I'm saying? I'm taking shots. I thought you were saying he was going to be like sort of a black sheep.

No, no, no, no. Oh, maybe he will. If you become like a whipping boy of the league, you just got to watch out. I think I'm just going through the quarterbacks right now. I don't know. Capernick's too easy at Target. Aren't a lot of options. No, that's what.

We're kind of missing. What if we just don't have a whipping board? There has to be, though, right? Doesn't there have to be? So society can take out its frustrations? And isn't that what football is? It's a way for the people to get out all their frustrations in life and try to forget about what they're dealing with it.

But sometimes that comes up and you need to kick Tony Romo in the ribs. So it's like you're putting all your sins on a goat and sending them outside the city walls. Exactly. Sam Bradford's still hanging around. And my favorite Romo game. Oh, Bradford. My favorite Romo game is the week five. I wrote about this yesterday, 2013, Peyton Manning and his 55 touchdown season.

That was a great game. The shootout in Giro World where for 58 minutes, Tony Romo outplayed the best quarterback alive in a year where he had at one point in that game because I watched some of yesterday. Peyton Manning in the second half had 17 touchdowns and zero interceptions on the season. That's how locked in Manning was that year. year and Romo had a, I wrote, Troy Aikman meets Joe Namath performance where he threw for over 500 yards on just 36 attempts. Five touchdowns. And it was like everything you love about Tony Romo, he made some amazing acrobatic type of spin moves and making every throw you can imagine. And then in a game that was 4848, he throws a bad interception in his own end. The first mistake he makes all day

and he never sees the ball again, the Broncos win with a field goal at the gun. It was the most Tony Romo game the ultimate ever and it also it's because Tony Romo was kind of the you know we we call him the Rorschart what is it called the Rorschach Worshack test that people saw in that game

what they wanted to see and I think that's what Tony Romo has been throughout his career Is that your big takeaway? No but it's pretty good one that's a good one it's connected which is that he was one of the most entertaining players in the league since the

minute he joined it And football is ultimately an entertainment for me. And that's why he, I'm, him retiring makes me realize that he really is one of my favorite players of all time that I've gotten to watch, you know, over this last decade, certainly, because he was always willing to go deep. Like he, he was always willing to go for it. And my takeaway is really that the Cowboys, for the most part, let him down. You know, when people get on Tony Romo, it's like, well, he didn't do this or that. It's like no one's saying he was Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or one of the top three or four quarterbacks. But he was in that group right behind him.

And when you, they had weapons around him, but they had one defense in his entire run that ranked in the top 12 in points allowed. And I was looking at this old article I wrote that I don't even remember the 10 most painful Tony Romo losses. Humble Brick. And they're all them blowing huge leads, which is partly on Tony Romo, but it's mostly on a lousy defense. And Jerry Jones, you know, signing, you know, picking Bobby Carpenter, Felix Jones in the first rounder, trading for Roy Williams, or signing Ken Hamlin.

And in his best years, I think they really let Tony Romo down, and people would think of him differently if they had a better team around him. He wasn't perfect, but he was more than good enough during the, the best part of his career to win a lot more games. A lot of his best seasons were when they were eight and eight, and just the rest of the team was junk. To your point about entertaining players, why do we watch sports for the thrills?

And I think when you look back and you do rankings of who was the best at this position or that position, you always leave out who was the most fun to watch, which is not a small factor. When I think about Brett Favre, until the last few years with Tom Brady, Brett Farr gave me more thrills than every other quarterback combined. That's how funny he was to watch for.

And you, like, I know younger generations kind of saw the end of Favre, and he was sort of like everybody was tired of him because of the retirement stuff and John Madden's effusive praise. But in the 90s, there was not a more fun athlete to, well, Michael Jordan, but. You're right, but when the Browns moved for those three seasons, I went to the sports bar. I continually mentioned sports bars on this episode. I don't know why, but like week after week for one.

reason, Brett Farr, I would watch him over and over, and I just sit in front of one of his game. And Romo's playing style is like... It was a lot like that. Like, he didn't have the arm strength of Farr, but he was really talented. I mean, that kind of gets overlooked with Romo because he's an undrafted player, but he was an exceptionally talented player who pulled off like crazy throws all the time. There's also a point to be made as football gets more and more complicated and coaches

become more and more important, not only important but obsessive. you lose some of that improvisation at quarterback, and that's one of the most fun parts of the game. He also saved the Cowboys after, you know, they're always America's team, so they're always in prime time. I mean, we get sick of some teams in prime time these days. How about the Cowboys for the 10, 15 years before Tony Romo arrived?

Always on national television, always a bore with Quincy Carter or Hutchinson or even Drew Bledso. It's like, give me a break. Romo came along. Suddenly, they're a lot of fun. I liked when Romo was on our show. show. Maybe it was an Easter egg, Sid.

Maybe we could put that at the end of this episode. Or maybe not. But we'll have to listen to it. But when Roma was on the show, I always enjoyed that he worked in like this totally canned anecdote about his like brother going to the grocery store. It was like, does anybody have any memory of this? I do not. I totally do.

He had said this story like three, like 14. It was like the way I'm reading off a sheet for an ad. He was reading off the sheet that clearly, like, somebody else had written for him about. And he's like, you're right, guys. And you know what? It reminds me of my brother when he would go to the supermarket. And I remember being just like taking it back. Maybe regrets.

I have us not having a real conversation with Tony Roman, but it's not easy on the phone. And that's why we usually don't have guests on the show, to be honest with you. Well, I think he did one of about 70 that day. And we were just like the next, we were like number 46. That was at the height of the crownies, right? that was like well it might have been a I'm calling it a crowny

yeah it was because we played that and laughed way too hard like every time we played it well yeah now we have to add to the end of the show all right

by the way Mark you've perfected your wardrobe but what about the stuff not everybody gets to see like you're junk all right Greg what about it

What is mey undies? Well, it's underwear that gets shipped to you if you're us. That was rhetorical. Rhetorical. I'm reading. Oh, continue to read. I don't even know. I'm going to jump out of the spot.

Intractually, I don't know if anyone's allowed to talk while I'm talking. Who knows? They're getting more time. I guess we'll find out. And I also realize it's ironic mark to work you into the meundies bit when you don't wear undies. I actually do now. Oh, you do? You're in.

Yeah, I've changed. Yep. But the two. Did mey undies pull you in? Oh, whoa, Cindy. Come back to us. Breaking news. A little bit of breaking news here.

Breaking news. Mark Sessor wears underpants. I do. And like, here's the thing. They shipped us a couple pairs, which were fantastic. But mine, my two pairs of Mionis are still in my car in the passenger seat. So I need to try them on. I had the wife wash mine.

Give them a nice wash before you put them over your privates and your buttocks. All right. I wore them. How do they feel? I would tell you this, I am very particular about underwear. Yeah. As particular as I am about anything. I wear.

Sure, sure. And they stack up. They stack up. I'll be wearing them. They're in the rotation. Anyway, what is meandies? Oh, just seriously soft feel good undies delivered right to your door. Miundis are designed in L.A.

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What, 10? Thanks. You can save time and money each month with a monthly subscription. And if you're not ready for a subscription, that's okay. You can still save. That's because MeUndies is offering you 20% off your first pair. Just use our special URL, meundies.com slash NFL 2017, and get 20% off your first pair. So go ahead, revamp your underwear drawer. You deserve it.

Once again, that's meundies.com slash NFL 2017. meundies.com slash NFL 2017. I like that it's a local product right here in Los Angeles but again we appreciate that they sent us a few pairs but the next portion

the next gift to follow on the footsteps of Mr. F how about a tour of the underwear factory right in our own backyard? I mean that's certainly something that could interest some people with. I think you should be our emissary on that tour.

Well I'm trying to report I don't know what else they have to offer at this point. Great underpants. Wow, I'm reeling from the Mark Sessor reveal That he's back in the underpants game In a big spot Hey, by the way, I think you said you felt a lot of pressure

Once, you know, I told you that this is going to be the show people look back on I think this I think we delivered Yeah I think it will hold up in the test of time People want to know what was up with Tony Romo Check this out And if you didn't like it Suck it! Is that something that people say?

Yeah, you did And people in future generations, if you want to know what people talk like, if someone disagrees with you, you just go, suck it! That's what everyone said in the mid-tenths. Hyper-contemporary, Dan. All right, before we go, should we call Ely, by the way? Let's do it. Because, you know, he's the lovable loser of the podcast for, you know,

the Cam Newton situation, I mean, the Super Bowl with the Panthers and the champagne bottle. And then last year, UNC lost, you know, horrifically at the buzzer to Villanova. But then they got back to the title game and they won it. So I think it's only fair to give him a shot now to get on the line. It's not the only reason why he's a lovable loser. You once eviscerated him for his love life. I mean, that's something that's still a little sensitive. So why don't we said, can we call up the newsroom and, okay, thanks.

She does great work, behind the glass. NFL Network, this is McKenna. Hi, McKenna. Can I speak with Dave Ely, please? May I ask who's calling? Stan Hansis of the Iran, the NFL podcast. I suppose so. Hold on one second.

All right. McKenna. There's a two-score game. McKenna, I suppose so. She says. NFL, it's David. David Ealy. Hey, buddy.

Hey, Dan. How's it going? You tell me. I'm flying hi man A Chapel Hill student Dave Ely Heartbreak both when he bought the champagne bottle

Super Bowl 50 for the Panthers His beloved Panthers Heartbreak again when Villanova The buzzer beater Heartbreak of course when the only girl that he's ever truly loved decided she would rather be with another man But

on this day April, what was it, fourth or third, 2017, Dave Ely finished first. Yeah, and obviously the Tar Heels Day. I mean, I just was watching. I actually was out of the Final Four

Saturday, so it's been a whirlwind of a few days. And that was another kind of riveting victory, and I imagine there were a lot of celebrations, both before and after both games. And at this point, I think you probably are feeling pretty good about yourself,

I'm feeling good. I'm feeling better today. Yesterday was pretty touch and go. It was a late Monday night and then to see Tony Romo's news at 6 a.m. the next morning on limited sleep was it was quite the change of emotions. Were you even planning to come into work before that before you saw that? I was definitely not planning on coming in early. It was 50-50 on whether I wanted to come to the office. Let's just say I wasn't feeling great. when I came into work at 7.30 a.m. You're a true pro because you had the Romo content cranking, well organized. I salute you.

West, stop kissing up. No, I really do believe that Ely, like, that was a La Raville Magnifico. He showed his true colors. It's the rare positive La Ravio Magnifico. Yeah, you don't get too many of those. Oh, wow. I feel like that must need a new name for that. Yeah.

Well, I'll tell you what, Ely. So let's check the boxes here. things are going well at the office. You have a nice position. You seem to have the respect of your colleagues. You are now a champion in terms of the teams that you follow with the UNC with the big victory. Cam Newton is going to come back from coming off a down year and probably really get back in the swing of things. And, Mark, there's only one thing missing now, which is that big hole in the center of Dave's heart.

Yeah, I mean, when we tried to call Dave initially, we got it. a, you know, does not connect number. And that's essentially David's love life as far as we know. We need more to happen. Anything on that front. Sorry, David. I mean, I'd rather talk basketball, but I'll just say things are going well in that department right now.

Wow. I'd like to see some tangible proof of that, but... Dan was looking for different people other than Tony Romo to kick around. Maybe you won't have David Ely to kick around either anymore. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy for Dave, but isn't a little bit more fun when things aren't going, Dave's Dwight, let's be honest. I mean, I think it's probably more fun for the listeners, but, you know, maybe it's 2017.

Some good things that do happen in 2017. All right, good to hear, David Ely. Things are looking up for the lead desk editor at NFL Media. What a moment in the sun you're having. So we just wanted to give you your fair time here and say, congratulations, buddy. Get your act together, bro. You're trash.

I appreciate it. You've still got to work on Debbie still to believe you, but we believe it. I was hurt. I was hurt when that happened. But I feel like Mark systematically set that up. She didn't really want to do it. Mark wanted her to do it. Just a side note, I will not be appearing in our workplace for the next three or four weeks, David.

That's my boss. I think I should let you know. All right, Dave, we'll be great talking to you again the next time Carolina wins a championship. All right. Sounds good, guys. Take care. There you go. See, we're equal opportunists here.

I mean, I think David deserved that. And am I a little disappointed that Gonzaga didn't figure out a way to pull that thing out and send Ely back here with the tails between his legs a little bit? But I also like the guy. So it's like, it's like you're kind of torn. You're torn. Well, we know your first priority is the podcast. Yeah, you like the podcast.

Number one. Number one. David Ely, number two. Podcast is in the trust tree. All right. We'll be back on Thursday, actually. We are doing our first, this is big news, actually. we are doing a series of shows on tape video video digital i don't know it's on a real to real tape

it's going to be on nfl.com on the site we're going to stream the show a video version of the show which everyone can watch on nfl.com and it's going to be every thursday i believe for the month of april does anybody else plugged in on this that is i think it's an april production log on your like eight pound laptop or desktop computer to nfl dot com i believe you can you can watch it on your phone. Really? I don't know. Maybe.

You can. I believe it. It streams at six specific, so that would be nine Eastern. Or on your phone. And why is the weight of the laptop matter at all? I'm just saying like, oh, this show applies to people that are like home in a den on like a gigantic, like, desktop computer with a giant box. It's from like 1990s.

Or you can watch it on your phone on the subway. All right. Or on your Apple TV. There's so many options here in the year 2017 to watch our show on video tomorrow Thursday. So we'll have another show. tomorrow so that's good news if you're a fan of what we do so let's go we got stuff to do more stuff to do today this is dan hans is signing off for quiet storm the mailman pepper spray talk about that on thursday and i see it behind the glass till thursday

On the phone right now, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, yes, the great Tony Romo. Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast, Tony. Glad to have you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, guys. You know, you're always no right around this time of your commercial start airing, and you see it. And then you're like, oh, I'm going to have to watch this commercial, roughly seven million times. over the course of the NFL season.

In the case of these direct TV commercials, it's pretty good, though, because they obviously, they put some, there's some good production work, some good premises. Tony Romo has a great new direct TV commercial for a Sunday ticket. The name of the character,

and Tony, you can let us know if you had anything to do with us creatively, the background. Arts and crafts Tony Romo, the feature is gems like this. I mixed a cupcake in a brownie. I'm calling it a crowny. I mean, that is good stuff.

So first of all, Tony, take us through this character and did you have anything to do with coming up with it? And how did you like doing, you know, arts and crafts, Tony Romo? It was great. It was definitely a unique experience. I hadn't sat in a makeup chair for four hours before. But, yeah, it was a little different. I think they had the plan for the situation and obviously I agreed to it. And then when I was in there, though, they had a certain way, I think that they wanted me to just to be a little bit,

less probably than what you saw, but I ended up feeling as though this guy, like, lives by himself, and he's never seen, like, he doesn't interact with human beings very often. I felt like, okay, there's like the camera crew in this guy's house, and now he's really excited to show, but he's a little weirded out by everybody, and so he just kind of felt that way when I was on set, so I kind of just took on that role a little bit, and then it kind of made it into what it is, and arts and craftsy became a little paranoid arts and crafty, so So you went full method. You're like Robert De Niro.

You create a whole, you know, character sketch and a story to get you in the mind frame before you go. Yeah, exactly. I'm just like Robert De Niro. It kind of what? It was like, I hear a little Paul Rudd. I'm sure my Academy Awards are right around the corner here anytime. If someone asked me to describe it, it would be like Bob Vila meets Bob Ross and then just a lot of sadness. It's a good description.

That's pretty good. And I am excited, and we're going to let you go in a second, Tony, that you have, the NFC East is going to be obviously wide open again this year. But the biggest, to me, battle right now is arts and crafts Tony Romo and bad comedian Eli Manning on the commercial front. That's a good one. Before you guys let me go, when I was younger, I used to want to watch our NFC East opponents,

and I never had actually, you know, DirecTV, the NFL Sunday ticket. And I would literally go there, get excited about our bye weekend, or we played a Thursday game. We're going to watch Eli or we're going to watch Eagles or the Redskins or whoever. And then I get on there and they put on whoever. And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me.

And I would be so set. Matt Schab again. No. And it was like, you know, you got the Sunday ticket thing. You can watch every single game, you know, live, and then watch every minute of it. It's just crazy.

I mean, how does everybody not have, you know, this deal? My uncle literally orders the Max deal, and he gets to watch it, it streams on his phone. He watches it, like, he goes out to the grocery store and watches it again. I'm like, it's so different than it was five years ago. So I want to thank you to a TV and send a ticket for that. It's made it a lot better for our by-weekings. It definitely has. It's a lot different in a sports experience now.

Tony Romo, good luck in the upcoming season, and thank you for joining us on the around the NFL podcast. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you. inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers,

and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Flaureo, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

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