Chris Cooley and Tony Romo
Chris Cooley plays for the Washington Redskins. The Redskins play in the NFC East, the same division as the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo is the Cowboys’ quarterback. So it should come as no surprise that the Redskins’ tight end took pleasure in the late-game collapse by Romo against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
But this much pleasure?
“It’s so good” – Cooley said during his weekly appearance on the LaVar and Dukes radio show. “It’s amazing, amazing to watch him choke like that.”
Romo had been enjoying a monster game, with three touchdown passes to help give the Cowboys a 27-3 lead early in the third quarter. But then he mysteriously unraveled, throwing three interceptions – two of which were returned for touchdowns and the other set up the Lions’ game-winning touchdown – and Dallas loses, 34-30.
Needless to say, Romo probably was feeling pretty bad already without Cooley piling on. But that didn’t stop Cooley.
“I’m just saying, I’m up 24 points in the third quarter, if I’m the head coach, I feel like I could probably just take a knee for the rest of the game, punt it away and there’s no way that Detroit’s gonna drive on you that many times” – Cooley continued. “The only way you’re gonna give up that many points is turnovers, right? It’s hilarious to watch him throw pick sixes too, back-to-back. I loved it.”
Easy there, big guy. Cooley might want to keep in mind that the Redskins (3-1) are just a game up on the Cowboys (2-2) in the standings … and that Dallas already has defeated Washington once this season … and that the two teams meet once again next month.
Chris Cooley.
Tony Romo is used to having a target on his back. And this week the Dallas quarterback has taken a lot of heat – most recently from Deion Sanders – for his miscues as the Cowboys squandered a big lead against the Lions.
For all his talent, the Cowboys quarterback has come up short in big games. And he’s 3-7 in his last 10 starts. So it’s predictable – and boring – when sports analysts and fans pile on the critiques.
But now an opposing player, Redskins’ tight end Chris Cooley, has joined the fray. And he isn’t holding back.
So Chris, what did you think of Romo’s struggles on Sunday?
“It’s so good” – Cooley said on the LaVar Arrignton and Chad Dukes show. “I was watching the scoreboard in St. Louis, and I didn’t see that they’d lost really until they end, I thought they blew them out so I kind of stopped paying attention. It’s amazing, amazing to watch him choke like that.
“I’m just saying, I’m up 24 points in the third quarter, if I’m the head coach, I feel like I could probably just take a knee for the rest of the game, punt it away and there’s no way that Detroit’s gonna drive on you that many times,” Cooley added. “The only way you’re gonna give up that many points is turnovers, right? It’s hilarious to watch him throw pick sixes, too, back-to-back. I loved it.”
Tell us how you really feel, Chris. But the talkative tight end didn’t stop there. He actually followed up on with a strange proposition that he had floated a week before on the radio show – a cagefight.
“For me to beat Tony? I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know what kind of cagefighting skills he has” – Cooley said. “I would probably try to incorporate my wrestling ability, like when I was in high school. Obviously it’s been a while, but I didn’t like to beat people fast. I like to embarrass ‘em a little bit. Like, take a 24-point lead, and then just play with it a little bit.”
Cooley is a funny guy so perhaps he’s joking. But he is also an eccentric dude so maybe he’s not joking.
Through four games, Chris Cooley has seven catches for 66 yards. Considering it took him one game last season to surpass that yardage total – on six catches, it’s not surprising to learn that Cooley wouldn’t mind getting a bigger piece of the offensive pie.
He discussed this issue at length during Monday’s LaVar and Dukes show, and it’s worth noting that his tone was jovial and jokey throughout. It’s an hour-long weekly commitment; dude has to talk about something. But still, I think there was some truth in here, starting when LaVar asked Cooley about being a bigger part of the offense.
“LaVar, you are asking my question of the day” – Cooley said. “It’s tough for me to not be a productive part of this offense. I’ve had so many catches and I’ve been able to be more of a part of the offense in the pass game my whole career.
“And I’ll do whatever they want me to do. I mean, I’ll go in and play fullback. I’ll act like I like it, but I don’t really like it. I mean, I want to go run routes, and that’s obvious; that’s stating the obvious. But I guess it’s just gonna have to be more and more of a confidence level between the two of us. [Rex Grossman and I] both feel confident in what we can do as players, but it’s just gonna have to develop throughout the season. It’s not quite there yet that we’re gonna call plays or call a gameplan based on getting tight ends the football. We haven’t done that yet.
“It’s not costing us games, so I’m not gonna go in there and have a fit. I would like to be a guy that’s getting the ball. Fred [Davis] would absolutely love to catch eight balls a game. But as of now, we’re just gonna execute what we’re supposed to do. I mean, ultimately it comes down to we’re gonna show up and work, and I think that’s a good thing for the team.”
Cooley went on to say that “right now, I’m probably the highest paid fullback in the league,” that “Kerrigan has more touchdowns” and that Grossman “did complete more passes to the Rams than to me, but that’s not here or there. I’m sorry, it was just a fact.” He was joking, he was joking. But still.