Chris Cooley Needs to Shut Up About Tony Romo

-by Braden Gall (@AthlonBraden on twitter)

The Washington Redskins' tight end Chris Cooley has had some interesting things to say about Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo this week after watching Dallas blow another fourth-quarter lead to the Detroit Lions. He didn't mince words.

“It’s SO good,” Cooley said of Romo’s fourth-quarter choke-job on his weekly appearance on the LaVar and 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 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. But it wouldn’t be as good as my cage fight.”

LaVar Arrington couldn't let the cagefighting reference go unnoticed, so he asked Cooley how long a cage fight with Romo would last.

“For me to beat Tony? I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know what kind of cagefighting skills he has,” Cooley answered. “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.”

I love a good trash talking as much as the next guy — and as far as trash talking goes, this one (as we say around the office) is strong-to-quite-strong. There is one major issue here, however. Cooley and the Redskins got beat by a fourth-quarter comeback on national television by Tony Romo and the Cowboys not even two weeks ago. And Romo did it with receivers who couldn't line up right, a center who couldn't snap the ball and without scoring an offensive touchdown!

Cooley’s comments are not incorrect or egregious in any way. And frankly, they are as entertaining as any comments I have heard in years — especially considering the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry. Maybe they were over the top, but not necessarily untrue. The problem, Mr. Cooley, is your timing. If you are going to run your mouth about a player who is the No. 5-rated passer in NFL history, you better have not just gotten beat by said player 10 days earlier.

To top it all off, Cooley has been dramatically outplayed by teammate Fred Davis and may not even be the best tight end on his own team. Davis has caught 16 passes to Cooley's seven, 248 yards to Cooley's 66 and Cooley has yet to reach the endzone.

I love the attitude. I love the moxie. And I would take Cooley in a cage fight against Romo any day.

But right now, Romo is 1-0 against the Redskins, Chris.