Chris Cooley vs. Tony Romo: Who'd win cagefight?

Tony Romo is used to having a target on his back - and this week the Dallas quarterback has taken a lot of heat (most recently from Deion Sanders) for his miscues as the Cowboys squandered a big lead against the Lions.

For all his talent, the Cowboys quarterback has come up short in big games - and he's 3-7 in his last 10 starts. So it's predictable (and boring) when sports analysts and fans pile on the critiques.

But now an opposing player, Redskins' tight end Chris Cooley, has joined the fray - and he isn't holding back.

So Chris, what did you think of Romo's struggles on Sunday?

"It's so good," Cooley said on the LaVar Arrignton and Chad 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 added. "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."

Tell us how you really feel, Chris. But the talkative tight end didn't stop there. He actually followed up on with a strange proposition that he had floated a week before on the radio show: a cagefight.

"For me to beat Tony? I'm gonna be honest, I don't know what kind of cagefighting skills he has," Cooley said. "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."

Cooley is a funny guy so perhaps he's joking. But he is also an eccentric dude so maybe he's not joking.

It got us to thinking: Who would win?

Cooley is 6'3" and 255 pounds. He's a got a rare combination of power and agility for a tight end - and he apparently wrestled in high school so that's a plus. On the downside, he's prone to injury and has not produced much on the field this year so his confidence may be lacking.

Romo is listed at 6'2" and 228 pounds, What he may lack in clutch performances he makes up for in toughness - as evidenced by his leading the Cowboys to a victory in San Francisco with a fractured rib and punctured lung. Romo probably has the motivational edge too, given Cooley's public display of schadenfreude.

What do you think?