Last year, Romo's life—and that of his team—was an embarrassing and not very entertaining soap opera. He was dating an incredibly untalented tabloid star, fighting with his wide receivers (while secretly holding late-night trysts with his tight end) and the Cowboys missed the playoffs after he folded like a cheap suit during the stretch run. (Plus, there was Hard Knocks, Pacman Jones, Roy Williams, etc...) After a promising start to his career, it was looking like he might become the answer to a bar trivia question 10 years from now that would make people say, "Tony Romo? Whatever happened to that guy?"

Since then he dumped Jessica, Terrell Owens got run out of town and the Cowboys have returned to first place. Romo has found a new, less complain-y target and the giant video board is too distracting for anyone to notice his shaky footwork. Without all that drama in his life, Romo is a pretty solid quarterback. Solid enough to outsmart Andy Reid and the Eagles anyway. (Seriously, between the failed challenges and sissy field goal in the final minutes, I don't think there's any big game the Eagles can't find a way to screw up.)

Oh, there's still plenty of time for that late season collapse (despite two games against Washington and Oakland at home) and he still has a grumpy and terrible Roy Williams to deal with. Plus, you know ... Wade Phillips. But right now no one really cares about what Tony Romo is up to anymore and that should be just the way he likes it if he wants to keep winning.

Tony Romo, minus the flash, has pushed Cowboys atop of NFC East [USA Today]
Tony Romo delivers another complete performance in win over Eagles [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

* * * * *

Here are some other big winners, who did not win quite as big:

Marmalard: That'll show those Giants for trading you for that pretty boy. Now let's get fucking druuuuunk. [Newsday]

The Indianapolis Colts: All they do is win! (*Regular Season Only) They'll be undefeated when the Patriots come to town next week. Then we'll see what's what. [Yahoo, Toronto Star]

SEC Championship Game Ticket Brokers: Another SEC game, another poor officiating job in favor of the undefeated team. They will get their Alabama vs. Florida, but not without another bit of generosity from the referees. [Mobile Press-Register, Wetzel]

Big Ten Haters: The conference's last best hope for respectability lost their quarterback and their undefeated season and now Ohio State will get yet another chance to lose the Rose Bowl. At least all our games are out of the way before Thanksgiving! (Sigh.) [Chicago Tribune, The Lantern]

Vince Young: 2-0 since taking over the reigns of the Titans. So everything's cool now, right? [Tennessean]

Finally, the Weekend Loser?: Matt Leinart: Seriously, the guy came into a no pressure, can't lose blowout and still got pulled from the game for being worse than ineffective. (One attempt, one interception.) Have you considered a career in the exciting field of electronics repair? The brochure is free!

To get the obvious ones out of the way: How is Philip Rivers left out? He has the league's highest passer rating and is tied for the most touchdown passes. So the Chargers are having a bad year; all the more reason to pick him. Isn't that what the game is for? And Matt Ryan is also left out, but Brett Favre is in? Who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?

More snubs here, in a pretty good article by the Boston Sports Examiner. Rivers is showing up on most snub lists, as is Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby (pictured).

Second in popularity to the Pro Bowl snub conversation is the it's-time-to-abolish-the-Pro-Bowl conversation. It's foolish to risk injury in this game, and half these guys don't show up; you're going to end up with Chad Pennington on the AFC roster anyway. Discuss.

Who Are The Biggest Pro Bowl Snubs? [Boston Sports Examiner]
Forget T.O., Bradie's The One With A Legit Gripe [Ft. Worth Star-Telegram]
Getting It Wrong: Top 10 Pro Bowl Snubs [The Sporting News]
Biggest Pro Bowl Snubs [SI.com]

Rivers played the entirety of the Chargers' 21-12 loss to the New England Patriots with a right knee with no ACL. He revealed Monday he had arthroscopic surgery last Monday to clean out loose cartilage and enable him to play. "If I don't do that Monday, I had no chance of playing," Rivers said. The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported Friday that Rivers had injured his ACL, but the extent of the injury was not known until today. "The ACL is gone," Rivers said.

Meanwhile, LaDainian Tomlinson now has himself the opposite reputation — funny how things work out sometimes, eh? — defending himself for sitting out the majority of the game with the Patriots. The NFL Network's Deion Sanders, for one, called LT out for not playing, saying, "Big-time players are supposed to play in big-time games." Said LT in response:

"He's never been a running back and had a sprained MCL. You tell me what running back has played with a sprained MCL and been effective. You might go out there and try to limp around and play, but it's not going to happen. I don't know how information gets passed on, but until you talk to the source of the problem, what's going on with me, I think it's ridiculous when people make comments like that."

Also, Bill Belichick maintained that Patriots DE Richard Seymour isn't a dirty player, but no one was listening to his bull####.

Philip Rivers Is One Tough Mofo [Larry Brown Sports]
Rivers Played On Knee With ACL 'Totally Gone' [San Diego Union-Tribune]
L.T. Fires Back At Neon Deion's Criticisms [MSNBC]
Seymour Stands Ground [Boston Globe]

It's all about "building up momentum," kids. In this video, Rivers is promoting the San Diego Pacific Surge conference, which invites a bunch of teenagers to come together and not have sex. Man, we wish they would have these when we were young; great place to meet girls.

Patriots fans, as if you needed something else to razz Rivers about on Sunday ... here is a gift.

Well This Explains Why Philip Rivers Is A Jackass [FanIQ]

Not only would it bring back all those flashbacks to the 2004 NFL Draft, but it would be essentially break down everything we think we know about quarterbacks in the Super Bowl. Trent Dilfer winning is one thing; Rex Grossman starting the most important game in the NFL is one thing. But Philip Rivers vs. Eli Manning? In the Super Bowl? And it could happen!

That couldn't be a happy day for FOX, we wouldn't think. But it would be fun for people who like to see people slip on banana peels and be hit in the groin with whiffleball bats. And Rivers, man, he'd be a trip on Media Day, wouldn't he?

Probably not gonna happen. Hopefully won't happen. But could happen.