Maybe ex-Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw can't spell "cat" even if he was "spotted the c and the t," as ex-Dallas Cowboys linebacker Hollywood Henderson professed before Super Bowl XIII when the Steelers played the Cowboys.
But Bradshaw, an NFL analyst for FOX, couldn't have said it any better when discussing Tony Romo's bye week escapade in beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with bleach blonde bombshell Jessica Simpson.
"If only Tony had called me and said, 'Terry, Jessica [Simpson] and I are going to go to Mexico,'" said Bradshaw to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I would've told him: 'You crazy? Don't do that! The paparazzi is going to find you, man. You're a star. She's a star. It's just going to happen.'"
The bottom line wasn't Romo's choice of vacation hotspots or girlfriends. It was his choice to go with one of America's most famous celebrities a week before the biggest game of his life.
That means paparazzi and mayhem.
"For an athlete, there's no time off ... until it's over," Bradshaw told Star-Telegram. "You don't take a mental break ... No way that I would ever, ever do what Tony did.
"Everybody in Dallas knows you played horribly when Jessica showed up (against Philadelphia). OK, now what if you play poorly (against the Giants)? You haven't exactly lit up the place lately. I don't understand. Why set yourself up?" he said.
Bradshaw was trying to be respectful.
What he really wanted to say was: "Tony, you've done nothing in your career except win a few more regular-season games than you lost. You are not Brett Favre and you are definitely not Tom Brady. From August through the first week of February, make believe, at least to the public, that you care greatly about winning football games."
Bradshaw is right. The pressure is on Romo to beat a Giants team this weekend that is playing as well as any team in the playoffs not named the New England Patriots.
Romo's Cowboys have won two hard-fought games against the Giants. This is no time to cause distractions.
The fact that Romo and Simpson hooked up with Cowboys tight end Jason Witten and his wife doesn't help. The appearance is that Romo is in a "Simpson Slump" these days, like maybe she's been a distraction.
While he was the best quarterback in the NFC (36 touchdowns, 19 interceptions, 97.4 QB rating), or at least side by side with Green Bay's Favre, his last three games were more like Rex Grossman's - 1 TD pass, 4 INTs while completing barely 50 percent of his passes (48 for 94).
Remember how last year's season ended in the playoffs for the Cowboys and, eventually, Bill Parcells' career in Dallas? Romo mishandled a snap on what was supposed to be the winning field goal against the Seahawks, and the Cowboys' season ended in shame.
Brady's had his two girlfriends at most of his games and, in fact, he has been seen with them on his off-days. But those days came after he won Super Bowls and after he proved he was able to separate his personal life from his public one.
Romo is not there yet. Not even close.
A difference between the two is the Brady attended and starred at the University of Michigan, one of the country's most marketed college football programs. Romo attended Eastern Illinois, needing four years to get his first start.
So the pressure is on Romo, pressure he didn't need to add to his broad shoulders.
A win tomorrow and Romo and Simpson will be the toast of Texas. A loss and Simpson may want to back to being a mouse-brown brunette. It isn't the prettiest look, but it will definitely be the safest.
E-mail Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.
