ATLANTA—Admitting that relying on the skill set was fairly obvious in hindsight, CBS commentator Tony Romo realized Friday that he probably should have used his ability to read defenses back when he was still playing. “Aw, jeez, you know, being able to determine whether the secondary was staying in man or dropping into zone would have been super helpful back when I was under center,” said Romo, who acknowledged for the first time that his aptitude for identifying blitz packages and dissecting coverage schemes would likely have improved his play at quarterback. “Honestly, it’s kind of a shame I didn’t take the things I learned from watching all those hours of tape and apply them to the actual games—because it turns out, knowing exactly what the other team is going to do is a pretty big advantage. Gosh, I probably could have even avoided a bunch of those sacks and injuries that forced me into early retirement.” Romo added that in retrospect, it easily could have been him catching Patriots cornerback Jason McCourty without safety help over-the-top on the second play from scrimmage next week.

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