Larry Brown Sports

The Dallas Cowboys finished 8-8 for the second straight season and missed the playoffs for the third straight year after losing to the Washington Redskins 28-18 Sunday with the NFC East on the line. Tony Romo threw three interceptions, including picks on back-to-back possessions in the first quarter, and a third to ruin a comeback attempt late in the game. The performance cemented nearly everything about Romo’s reputation as a player; he commits too many turnovers and chokes under pressure.

Former Cowboys legends Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders, who work for NFL Network, were among the commentators who were hard on Romo following the poor ballgame.

“I’m never going to say 8-8 is a success, not a guy who holds three rings. Playing hard is good. Winning is better,” said Irvin, via the Los Angeles Times. “You watch all these guys, Robert Griffin III, Eli Manning, Michael Vick — these are top quarterbacks, drafted in top spots, they know and feel like they belong in that situation. Tony Romo is the only undrafted QB in the East and sometimes, in those moments, he feels like, ‘I have to prove to everybody I belong here,’ and tries to do so much and that gets him into trouble.”

Sanders seemed even more fed up.

“How many times are we going to sit here as fans and say, ‘Here we go again?’” Sanders said. “I love to win at all costs. 1-6 in elimination games, that’s telling me something is not getting better around here. The kind of person I am, I need to jump off and try to correct this thing…. I can’t put this one thing all on Tony. But Tony brings me to the same situation at the conclusion of every year. Take a picture, this date, and see if we’re playing the same picture next year. We always think it’s going to get better, but it’s the same-old same-old.”

I don’t really agree with Irvin that Romo is out to prove he belongs with these other quarterbacks, but how can you not agree with Deion? It feels like the same thing over and over with Romo. The guy makes some spectacular plays and can move the ball, but he’s so unreliable with the game on the line. Dallas’ front office would have to be foolish not to see that by now and realize they need to make a change.

Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Forget spygate. Forget asterisks. Forget all the snarky, condescending remarks at the podium. Not only does Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin feel as though Bill Belichick is one of the most accomplished head coaches in NFL history, he thinks the NFL should eventually give him one of the most significant honors a coach could receive.

“I think the world of Belichick,” Irvin told the Boston Herald recently. “I told him this, ‘Man, if it was up to me, that (Super Bowl) trophy would be called the Lombardi/Belichick.’ I don’t care what they think. It would be called the Lombardi/Belichick. That’s how good he is to do what he’s doing in this day and age, what the league is now.

“I would call it the Lombardi/Belichick.”

Belichick is the only coach to win three Super Bowls in four years. His 139-53 regular-season record and 16-6 postseason record speak volumes to what he has been able to accomplish since taking over in New England at the turn of the century.  By the numbers, Belichick is easily one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time.

That being said, there will always be the spygate issue. Vince Lombardi’s name was not attached to the Super Bowl trophy until he had passed away. Perhaps after Belichick passes, the scandal will be completely forgotten and people will simply look at what he was able to accomplish during his coaching career.

And in the rare event that it happens, we can then begin our discussion on how ridiculous the name “Lombardi/Belichick Trophy” would sound.

Photo credit: Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

LeBron James is now an NBA champion, which raises an important question for all the sports fans out there who love celebrating the misfortunes of famous athletes: Who do we turn to next? Prior to last week, LeBron was the ultimate case of a superstar athlete who has never won a thing. Before LeBron, we had Alex Rodriguez. What about now? As Michael Irvin reminded us this past weekend, Tony Romo seems like a decent candidate.

“Now LeBron’s got the title, who do we turn the thing to and say, ‘When are you going to get one?’” Irvin asked according to the Dallas Morning News. “That noose has been put around (Tony Romo’s) neck. It better be soon. Jerry Jones has already said that. That’s where it’s going from here. It’s going back to Tony Romo now.”

Romo isn’t exactly to the NFL what LeBron is to the NBA. If not for some of the huge mistakes he has made in crucial situations, people would have a lot less to say about Romo’s inability to win a championship. However, the pressure certainly exists for the mere fact that he is a quarterback and plays for one of the most popular teams in the NFL.

Like one of his teammates recently said, Romo will be criticized until he wins a championship with the Cowboys. He may not be one of the best players in the NFL like LeBron is in the NBA, but the fact that there is one less person to harp on certainly won’t help alleviate any of the pressure the Cowboys quarterback already faces.

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Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Dez Bryant is widely considered to be one of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL. As a first-round pick, he has been somewhat disappointing. The Cowboys expected Bryant to have an immediate impact on their offense and he has done just that — when he plays. A combination of injuries and mental check-outs in the second half of games have resulted in Bryant being an underachiever. Former Cowboys receiver and current Hall of Famer Michael Irvin believes Bryant will get it together. When he does, Irvin thinks he’ll be tough to stop.

“I thought Dez made great strides this year on the football field,” Irvin said according to the Dallas Morning News, noting that the third-year receiver will have to work on his conditioning. “He has a lot of room to continue to grow, but he made great strides. When Dez really locks it all in, understands it, Dez will be the best receiver in the NFL.”

Irvin didn’t say “one of the best,” he said “the best.”  We already know who his favorite NFL receiver was this past season, and it wasn’t the guy who will likely stand in the way of Irvin’s prediction Bryant prediction over the next several years.  That guy I’m referring to is Calvin Johnson.  Megatron is only three years older than Dez, and he is already one of the best — if not the best — receivers in the game.  With a young quarterback in Matthew Stafford who continues to improve, he’ll be tough to dethrone as the NFL’s best receiver over the next five years or so.

On a separate note, the Cowboys are likely thankful Irvin decided to provide some words of encouragement for their young star.  As we saw earlier in the season, some of Dallas’ former wide-outs haven’t exactly been supportive of Bryant.

The Peyton Manning situation in Indianapolis has gotten ugly over the past couple of weeks, and it will probably get worse before it gets better.  Manning is frustrated.  He does not seem to know what his standing is with the Colts. In addition to that, rumor has it he is struggling with his rehab.  When Manning expressed his displeasure with the way Jim Irsay and the Colts have conducted business since the season ended, Irsay responded by saying Manning should be careful about “painting the horseshoe in a negative light.”  Enter NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin, who said what many of us were thinking over the weekend.

“Whatever understanding we have of what Irsay called ‘the horseshoe’ is Peyton Manning,” Irvin said according to The Huddle. “The horseshoe is first? The horseshoe is nothing before Peyton got here. You could’ve taken that horseshoe, and you couldn’t have given it away. It wasn’t lucky, it was killing you. This horseshoe was garbage without Peyton — it was garbage when he got here and garbage when he left here this season.”

Irvin’s right.  This isn’t Randy Moss joining a Super Bowl-winning Patriots team that is giving him an opportunity to rescue his career.  Before the Colts drafted Manning, their last division title was in 1987.  With Manning calling the signals, they won eight division titles in 13 seasons. They went to two Super Bowls and won one of them.

If it is time for the Colts to move on from the Manning era, Irsay and company should watch what they say — not the other way around.  Indianapolis’ 2-14 record this year further proved how valuable Peyton has been to the franchise.  A Brett Favre-style exit is not in the best interest of the Colts franchise, especially if they want their fans to continue supporting them as they begin rebuilding.

Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin is the latest NFL analyst to enter the “best receiver in football” debate. Todd Haley and Jason Garrett both have Calvin Johnson at the top of the list, as does Andre Johnson. Rob Ryan ranks Miles Austin and Dez Bryant towards the top. But Michael Irvin? Well the former Cowboys star is going in a different direction.

“If you ask ‘Who is the best receiver in the league?’ I say it’s Wes Welker,” Irvin asserted during a guest spot on Jim Rome Is Burning. “His versatility makes him one of the best. Period. And we don’t want to hear that, because he’s not a 6’4″ 230 pound Andre Johnson, or Brandon Marshall, or Calvin Johnson. He goes inside and he plays outside. Man, I love Wes Welker.”

It’s not just Welker’s spectacular start to the season that impresses Irvin, it’s also his ability to recover from a major knee injury suffered in 2009.

“I had a knee injury that almost ended my career. I went into depression,” Irvin admitted. “I couldn’t come out of that thing. [Welker] snaps right back.”

Welker leads the NFL with 40 catches and 616 receiving yards through four games. He’s blowing away the field in both categories, but Irvin should know better than to fall into this trap.

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We’ve been talking about a potential dream fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao for two years. In our first mention of the fight, it was Manny Pacquiao who said he had no interest in the bout. That was a long time ago, because things have changed since then.

Floyd said he had nothing to gain from the fight and demanded Manny Pacquaio take extra drug testing. Pacquiao initially refused, later acquiesced, but he’s always wanted a cutoff date for the testing. Because of his demands, it’s appeared as if Mayweather was ducking the fight. It’s so bad that he’s even been called out by Michael Irvin. Check out this interview the Playmaker gave to Elie Seckbach:

“I like both fighters but I’m telling you right now, I wish Mayweather would go ahead and fight the guy. It makes brothers look bad with all of this running. You know we’re not into the running.”

That’s a pretty funny line, but I back Floyd on this. He’s the one who looks bad because he doesn’t have a loudmouth promoter like Bob Arum controlling the press. If Pacquiao would agree to complete drug testing, this would be on. As it is, it looks like the fight will finally go down early next year.