Second thoughts

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, 33, is older than all but one quarterback who has won a playoff game while playing for the Cowboys.
Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, 33, is older than all but one quarterback who has won a playoff game while playing for the Cowboys.

— Age not on side of Romo

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will be 33 next season and in the final year of a $67.4 million contract.

As Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes, time is running out for Romo with the emergence of several younger quarterbacks in the NFL playoffs.

“Second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s performance Saturday - 181 yards rushing, 263 yards passing, 4 touchdowns either running or throwing - bolted the Niners into next week’s NFC Championship Game,” LeBreton wrote.

“Kaepernick is 25 years old.

His counterpart in the title game, Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, is 27. Seattle’s Russell Wilson, who dazzled Sunday in a losing effort, is 24.

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco turns 28 this week.

“The grand old man of the title-game group, New England’s Tom Brady, will be trying to earn a trip to his sixth Super Bowl at the age of 35.

“Youth isn’t everything, Brady showed as he bamboozled Wade Phillips’ Houston Texans defense on Sunday.

“But as this NFL season affirmed, having a dashing, galvanizing youngster at quarterback isn’t a bad place for a hopeful contender to start.”

“[Romo’s] no Colin Kaepernick. Nor, alas, is he a Tom Brady.”

LeBreton added that the ages of the past four Super Bowl winning quarterbacks - Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger - have been, respectively, 31, 27, 30 and 26.

“Only once, in fact, since John Elway won 14 years ago has the winning Super Bowl quarterback been as old as Romo will be this coming season,” LeBreton wrote.

“(Brad Johnson was 34 when Tampa Bay won Super Bowl XXXVII.)

“More numbers: In the Cowboys’ 53-season history, only Roger Staubach has won a postseason game at quarterback at the age that Romo will be in 2013.

“Troy Aikman was one month past his 30th birthday when he won his last playoff game.

Quarterback Danny White was 30 when he won his last postseason game. Craig Morton and Don Meredith were both 29 when they won theirs.

“Yet, owner [Jerry] Jones wants to give Romo, at age 33, a multiyear extension?”

Movie quiz

From Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times:

Zero Dark Thirty is a film about: a) The CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden or b) The Seahawks’ first-half performance against Atlanta.”

An Unexpected Journey is a film adaption of: a) The 1937 literary classic The Hobbit or b) The Seahawks’ fourth-quarter rally from a 20-point deficit and equally stunning defeat.”

He said it

From Brad Dickson of The Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald:

“ESPN apologized for Brent Musburger gushing about A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend [Katherine Webb]. Musburger is 73, she is 23.

73 and 23 - that just sounds like the final score of a Wisconsin-Nebraska Big Ten Championship Game.”

“Danica Patrick announced she is going to skip this year’s Indianapolis 500. Which immediately threw the ABC broadcast team into chaos now that it won’t have 37 cameras trained on the car in 24th place.”

“The University of Nebraska will soon play its first beach volleyball game. OK, this is when you know they put too much sand on the streets.”

Quote of the day

“People ask me if I hate [former Arkansas Athletic Director] Frank Broyles and I don’t hate him. I didn’t like him at the time. I’ve moved on and have things to do.” Former Arkansas men’s basketball Coach Nolan Richardson, who was fired by Broyles in 2002

Sports, Pages 16 on 01/15/2013

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