Loading ...Following two straight days in which retired New York Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer referred to Tony Romo as the premiere quarterback in the NFC East, future NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan came to the defense of Eli Manning, wondering aloud if Toomer's opinion has been swayed by the use of bath salts.
“You need to check [Toomer’s] house for bath salts,” Strahan said on the Hill and Schlereth Show on ESPN Radio. “I haven’t heard anything, but that’s surprising to hear. Somebody’s always better than the next.”
Toomer spent much of his day on Friday defending his comments from Thursday, when he said on Sirius XM radio that Romo was a better all-around quarterback than Eli. The opinion stirred up a lot of press, and an equal number of emotionally charged comments from former Giants teammates. In addition to Strahan, recently retired running back Derrick Ward slammed Toomer for what he felt was a ridiculous thing to say.
"Toomer, you really don't believe Romo is a better QB than Eli is, do you? What happened to you! Eli two SB rings, Tony Romo one playoff win," Ward tweeted. "Bottom line, Eli is a winner! I was in the backfield with him for five years and I've seen him grow into what he is now. I'd take Eli over Romo any day!"
Even Brandon Jacobs and Jeremy Shockey, who was known to have a poor relationship with Eli, weighed in on the situation .. both surprised by Toomer's comments. But Strahan was quick to offer up an explanation as to why Manning continues to be disrespected despite his success.
“I look at Eli and I think he’s the only two-time [Super Bowl] winning quarterback in the league who gets less respect than anybody else," Strahan said. "“I think maybe it’s his demeanor, maybe it’s just the way he goes about his business. It’s not showy and it doesn’t look fancy and it’s not extravagant looking but you know what, numbers don’t lie, people do.”
As recently as January of this year, even Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones felt the biggest difference between his team and Big Blue was the quarterback. However, stating the obvious and going with the flow doesn't create shock waves, and as Toomer continues his transition into the world of media, he needs to stir the pot and garner some attention. Ultimately, it's the only legitimate explanation for his comments unless, of course, he really is on bath salts.
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I really don’t understand all this sturm und drang over Toomer and his comments.
Everyone is entitled to earn a living. Now that he can no longer earn his on the football field, Toomer now hopes to get paid nattering about the game he once played. All he’s doing is letting prospective employers know that he possesses the requisite skill set to be another generic talking head (GTH) on another generic NFL chat show.
If Toomer were aspiring to a job, say, as a secretary, he’d be asked to demonstrate that he can type a minimum 60 wpm. But seeing as how he’s aspiring to a job as an NFL GTH, he must instead demonstrate that he can fluff the Cowboys and Eagles and belittle the Giants. It’s become such an entrenched annual ritual among the NFL GTH that anyone who is unable to master this fairly simple little exercise need not apply.
Toomer was a very good Giant and I wish him all the best. If a few disparaging remarks about Eli and his former team are able to help him achieve some financial security for him and his family going forward, it’s all good. Think of this as his pension plan from the Giants – and a rather cheap one at that.
Yeah, none of that is accurate. If you heard the argument/conversation he had with Ross Tucker, he wasn’t trying to stir up controversy, he was trying to prove a point. Although I believe despite being proven wrong (as wrong as someone could be with an opinion), I believe he was just too proud to back down from his comments. He contradicted himself a couple times in the two day debate.
I think the reaction to those comments is overhyped and overblown by the media anyway. Toomer said:
“Tony Romo is probably, if you look at it statistically, he’s probably the best quarterback in the NFC East. I mean, look at Eli Manning and what he does in the fourth quarter, but you talk about consistency, you talk about 31 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions, that guy can play. And all the Cowboy fans out there that are saying he can’t play, saying they don’t like him, you’ve got to really look at what you’re getting, because you can’t replace a guy like that because he is a top, upper-echelon quarterback and I just don’t see why he is getting blamed for all these things that kind of aren’t his fault.
“For me, if I wanted a guy that is going to throw less interceptions and be more productive, higher completion percentage, I’m going to go with Tony Romo.”
Statistically speaking, he isn’t wrong. Tony Romo has terrific stats, and he said that if he was looking for a productive QB with fewer turnovers, based on the stats, he’d go for Romo. But we, and probably Amani Toomer, know that you don’t pick your guy on stats alone.
Sounded to me like he was praising Romo, not bashing Eli.
Used to be a time when the USA had only 32 GMs in charge of assembling a team of professional football players. Today, that number has swelled to the tens of millions, thanks to fantasy football.
When making the all-important choice of selecting a starting QB, the question asked by the vast majority of smart GMs nowadays is “Can he help me win my fantasy league?”
The answer to that question is a resounding “yes” when you’re talking about Rodgers, Brady, Brees, and yes, Tony Romo. Eli? According to many of my acquaintance who play FFB (I don’t) he’s just not a guy who can be relied upon to carry a team to a fantasy title.
So, yeah, Toomer’s sentiments are most likely shared by the many, many, many people who are in charge of assembling a football team these days. And, to paraphrase the title of a well-known Elvis Presley LP, “50,000,000 Fantasy GMs Can’t Be Wrong.”
Yep- I was discussing our upcoming FFB league with a buddy of mine and expressed confusion as to how Eli could be ranked so much lower than some of his peers. He pointed me to the points totals for QB’s over a season. Eli scored something like 100 points fewer than Brees.
But hey, I’m really okay with Eli getting snubbed by the fantasy crowd and fans in general. When it comes to statistics, they’ve got a pretty strong case. However, as long as Eli keeps bringing home the SB’s (And hell, even if he never does again), I’ll be more than satisfied.
Truly though, training camp cannot start soon enough.
I loathe fantasy football. All this chatter this week about making the in-stadium experience better, talking about wifi and more out of town replays. Soon, like the CBS broadcast, the stadium will be devoting significant LCD real estate to out of town individual stats, so the clown next to me who put up $50 for his league can jump up and down when Ray Rice scores a touchdown, as if he just won $100K and actual on field action notwithstanding. Then I can turn around to the guy behind me in the Manning jersey to hear how happy he is LeSean McCoy is going off for “his team”. I hate it. Die, fantasy, die.
True, but the question was who would you start a team with in the NFC East, that was the original debate on the NFL Radio Show… the problem is that stats can lie… and Eli has performances, which ultimately actually wins the games, that Romo just doesn’t. It’s the performance that matters. Take Brees’ record breaking season… what did it win him?
I’m with you, Dirt. I hate too. I can’t stand it when people say, “I’m rooting for my Giants, but if the Eagles do score I hope it’s McCoy since I’m starting him today.” Barf !
It’s here to stay though. The NFL is convinced that one of the reasons their spike in viewership is up these past 10 years is due to fantasy, and they may well be right.
I find it funny that the NFL wants nothing to do with legal wagering on it’s product in vegas. In fact, they practically wage war against vegas and they openly despise gambling on their games. But the truth is if you take away gambling on these games, the interest would go down. besides, what the hell do they think fantasy football is, if not gambling.
I think where the NFL has done a tremendous job is in their marketing to women. i live here in Chicago, and no matter what sports bar I walk into on gameday, the place is littered with women in their Cutler, Hester, and Forte jersey’s. some in Bear’s blue, some in pink, all in women’s cuts. I suspect it’s like this in most cities. That is something you just never saw 20 years ago with regard to the NFL. And this is something you really don’t see it in baseball or basketball either. The NFL has really done a great job there.
Obviously having so many women watching the games has it’s pluses and minuses. We have to spend unnecessary viewing time explaining why a punt isn’t a live ball but a kickoff is, but who cares. In total it’s a win for us, football, beer, and boobies isn’t a bad way to spend a Sunday.