Earlier this month, Cowboys tight end Jason Witten acknowledged that, as it relates to his own ability to win a Super Bowl with the team as he lands on the wrong side of 30, the window is closing.
Quarterback Tony Romo, who is two years older than Witten, begs to differ.
“It’s not closing,” Romo said Wednesday, via Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. “I think there’s a sense of urgency every year that you play, whether it’s your first year in the league or your 22nd. You never know when all that stuff is going to happen, so you just play every year as if it’s an urgent day. Forget about thinking about the end of the year or two months away. You’ve got to get better today. Whether you’re a rookie or an 11-year veteran around here, you’ve got to do that same approach.
“It’s the same. If it increases, then you didn’t do what you needed to do when you were younger.”
Romo is right, in a roundabout way. Every year the window is closing on every NFL team, because every NFL team changes dramatically from year to year. So it’s always win now.
Still, with each passing year, a player is one year closer to the end, giving him one less opportunity to get his first, his second, and/or generally his next Super Bowl championship.
Romo has been in the league for nearly a decade, and he has no rings. He likely won’t be in the league for another decade, and so he’ll have to do a lot more in his remaining years than he did in his first nine -- especially since his first nine have generated only one postseason victory.
So while the window is open every year, eventually the window closes on a guy’s opportunity to have another open window.
I think I feel a nosebleed coming on.