Cowboys' Romo ready for another ride
Adam Schein / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 1 hour ago
To say Tony Romo had a wild ride in 2006 would be an understatement.
He went from seemingly innocuous backup to Cowboys starting quarterback to Pro Bowl quarterback. One second, he was largely unknown outside of Texas. The next there were rumors he was dating gorgeous female singers. And the roller coaster ride ended with his dropping a snap on a game winning field goal attempt in the playoffs.
That's a lot to take.
We caught up with Romo this week to see how he was handling it all.
Romo sounded energized and enthused about being the Cowboys starting quarterback for a long time and especially about taking Dallas deeper into the playoffs this upcoming year.
We asked the quarterback how he dealt with that emotional roller coaster in 2006.
"I just assumed that all quarterbacks go through this all the time," Romo said with a laugh. "Anyone who played this position knows you are going to have your ups and downs. And a lot of it is out of your control. Sometimes guys make great plays for you and make you look better than you actually are. Other times they make you look bad with other stuff going on. I try to never, ever look at what's going on with me. I just live in the day and the moment and try not to look back too much and get better and improve."
And you just have to know that he will take all of experiences and build on them for 2007 and be an even better quarterback. He's that type of competitor.
Romo also had to deal with Bill Parcells' retirement. He loved playing for Parcells and always will consider himself a "Parcells guy."
Was Romo surprised his mentor left?
"Surprise is probably the wrong word," Romo said. "I had a meeting with him the week before he made the announcement and at the end I had a feeling he might retire. I still felt he would come back, but it shifted from 90-10 to 60-40 after our conversation. I think he needed to figure out if he had enough energy to go at this job like his does for 12 months a year and I think he just wanted a break."
Romo continued, "I told Bill 'thank you' during the season. It really takes a lot of guts to make a move like he did and I am very grateful. I will be forever indebted to him. You never know how something like that will turn out until after the fact. And Coach had faith in me that it would turn out for the best. I loved my time with Bill. He made me a much better football player and taught me more than I could've learned with anyone else."
Romo says he can't wait for workouts to start for 2007. And he likes the direction the Cowboys are going in following the Parcells announcement.
"We are excited," Romo said. "If I don't drop the snap, who knows how far we go in the playoffs the rest of the way? We are on the cusp of something special. We have a really good squad. We are coming back excited. We can improve by two or three or four wins. We really have the team to do it. It's tough when you lose Bill, but I love what we did bringing in Jason Garrett and Wade Phillips. It means we can achieve these goals."
But what about Romo's contract? It's due to expire at the end of next season and you'd think he needs to get paid like a Pro Bowler.
"I think we are working on something this off-season," Romo said. "It's still early in the game there. I talked to Jerry Jones about it. I want to be in Dallas for a long time. That's the plan. I am playing for one of the greatest, if not the absolute greatest, franchise in all of sports. That would make anyone excited."
Romo has always maintained with me, whether he has been the starter or backup, that he genuinely likes having Terrell Owens on the team.
And Romo did just that again when we spoke.
"I tell people all the time that I can only deal with what I see," Romo said. "I cannot judge people by what they did before I met them or the media's perception of them. Obviously people are going to get on him for certain things. He is a charismatic guy who says what he thinks. That will get him in trouble every once in a while. But from a teammate's perspective, I love him. He works hard every day. He wants to get better. He wants to win. And he feels as though getting the ball helps us win. And I understand why you get on him a bit but I like the guy and I like him on our team."
Oh yeah. Romo reports that he is happily single. No Jessica Simpson or Carrie Underwood by his side.
And Cowboys fans should know that his single focus is delivering a championship to Dallas.
Romo-mania wasn't a flash in the pan.
He's going to be a really good player in this league for a long time, and will win a lot of games for the Cowboys.
It's now about making improvements and winning it all.
Posted: 1 hour ago
To say Tony Romo had a wild ride in 2006 would be an understatement.
He went from seemingly innocuous backup to Cowboys starting quarterback to Pro Bowl quarterback. One second, he was largely unknown outside of Texas. The next there were rumors he was dating gorgeous female singers. And the roller coaster ride ended with his dropping a snap on a game winning field goal attempt in the playoffs.
That's a lot to take.
We caught up with Romo this week to see how he was handling it all.
Romo sounded energized and enthused about being the Cowboys starting quarterback for a long time and especially about taking Dallas deeper into the playoffs this upcoming year.
We asked the quarterback how he dealt with that emotional roller coaster in 2006.
"I just assumed that all quarterbacks go through this all the time," Romo said with a laugh. "Anyone who played this position knows you are going to have your ups and downs. And a lot of it is out of your control. Sometimes guys make great plays for you and make you look better than you actually are. Other times they make you look bad with other stuff going on. I try to never, ever look at what's going on with me. I just live in the day and the moment and try not to look back too much and get better and improve."
And you just have to know that he will take all of experiences and build on them for 2007 and be an even better quarterback. He's that type of competitor.
Romo also had to deal with Bill Parcells' retirement. He loved playing for Parcells and always will consider himself a "Parcells guy."
Was Romo surprised his mentor left?
"Surprise is probably the wrong word," Romo said. "I had a meeting with him the week before he made the announcement and at the end I had a feeling he might retire. I still felt he would come back, but it shifted from 90-10 to 60-40 after our conversation. I think he needed to figure out if he had enough energy to go at this job like his does for 12 months a year and I think he just wanted a break."
Romo continued, "I told Bill 'thank you' during the season. It really takes a lot of guts to make a move like he did and I am very grateful. I will be forever indebted to him. You never know how something like that will turn out until after the fact. And Coach had faith in me that it would turn out for the best. I loved my time with Bill. He made me a much better football player and taught me more than I could've learned with anyone else."
Romo says he can't wait for workouts to start for 2007. And he likes the direction the Cowboys are going in following the Parcells announcement.
"We are excited," Romo said. "If I don't drop the snap, who knows how far we go in the playoffs the rest of the way? We are on the cusp of something special. We have a really good squad. We are coming back excited. We can improve by two or three or four wins. We really have the team to do it. It's tough when you lose Bill, but I love what we did bringing in Jason Garrett and Wade Phillips. It means we can achieve these goals."
But what about Romo's contract? It's due to expire at the end of next season and you'd think he needs to get paid like a Pro Bowler.
"I think we are working on something this off-season," Romo said. "It's still early in the game there. I talked to Jerry Jones about it. I want to be in Dallas for a long time. That's the plan. I am playing for one of the greatest, if not the absolute greatest, franchise in all of sports. That would make anyone excited."
Romo has always maintained with me, whether he has been the starter or backup, that he genuinely likes having Terrell Owens on the team.
And Romo did just that again when we spoke.
"I tell people all the time that I can only deal with what I see," Romo said. "I cannot judge people by what they did before I met them or the media's perception of them. Obviously people are going to get on him for certain things. He is a charismatic guy who says what he thinks. That will get him in trouble every once in a while. But from a teammate's perspective, I love him. He works hard every day. He wants to get better. He wants to win. And he feels as though getting the ball helps us win. And I understand why you get on him a bit but I like the guy and I like him on our team."
Oh yeah. Romo reports that he is happily single. No Jessica Simpson or Carrie Underwood by his side.
And Cowboys fans should know that his single focus is delivering a championship to Dallas.
Romo-mania wasn't a flash in the pan.
He's going to be a really good player in this league for a long time, and will win a lot of games for the Cowboys.
It's now about making improvements and winning it all.
posted by The Gryphon at 9:18 AM
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