Leave Romo something to shoot for: next year's contract
Leave Romo something to shoot for: next year's contract
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
Star-Telegram staff writer
MINNEAPOLIS -- The end is here. Finally.
The Faux Cowboys played their last faux game of 2007 Thursday and defeated the only opponent who mattered: injury. They did not have any, or at least not to anybody who is irreplaceable.
None of those types played anyway, as Coach Wade proved he is not in fact an idiot.
His competence was in semi-question after his brush with stupidity against the Texans, where he sent QB Tony Romo in for another series. Late in the third quarter. Very late.
He is lucky Romo did not get hurt.
Or his boots may have been back in Texas, but his butt would have been on the unemployment line.
The reality is as Romo goes so does this Cowboys season, which is probably why the only thing Coach Wade had him doing in Minny was wearing a ballcap and trying not to look as bored as everybody else.
Forget all of this defense talk and certainly this idea that Phillips 3-4 Special alone transforms them into a Super Bowl lock, and repeat after me: It is all about Romo.
If he is the QB the Cowboys think he is, they have a good chance at being the title contender everybody believes they are.
That and he are still question marks.
The question is not whether he belongs. He is in the NFL QB club. What is left to be determined is whether he is one of the elite ones, the ones who win championships.
Oh, I know what I think. I think this kid already has shown us that he possesses the "it" factor necessary to be one of the special quarterbacks in this league. I know Romo definitely thinks this. As do the Cowboys.
But what you think you have, and what you get, are not always the same in the NFL. Just ask Seattle about Jon Kitna.
Before Thursday's exercise in futility in which, not that it matters, Vikings Light defeated the Cowboy Depth Chart 23-14, Owner Jones talked about what he hopes is his franchise QB.
Most notably how it is unlikely they re-sign him before the season.
This had been the big question of the off-season with Owner Jones vacillating between admitting a man crush to hinting that he needed to see more.
He did not hint Thursday. He believes he has his guy. It is just a matter of when to dot i's, cross t's and agree on how many zeros.
"Obviously, you'd like to see a year but I'm ready to go now," Owner Jones said. "I've taken more risk than this, sometimes three or four times a day."
Of course, he has.
If anything, knowing Jerry, he had to be talked out of money-whipping Romo. He loves him, believes in him and most important, desperately wants to be right about him.
He wants to write that check.
He has longed for a day when he had a QB good enough to break his bank.
You are doing the right thing by waiting, Jerry.
Do not re-sign Romo. Not yet.
He has affirmed his faith in Romo on many occasions -- by not trading for Drew Brees, by not drafting Brady Quinn, by bringing in a clipboard holder rather than a challenger to be his backup QB.
There is no earthly reason to go even more all in than he already has.
OK, there are two semi-reasons for re-signing him now 1) Save Owner Jones money and; 2) Prevent cash considerations from distracting Romo from the task at hand this season.
I do not buy either, namely because Owner Jones has proven himself to be immune to sticker shock, and Romo has proven distractions do not distract him.
His US Weekly off-season certainly had plenty, and he barely blinked.
"The only thing that is nice about a contract is the organization is telling you that you are our guy and we like you a lot," Romo said Thursday. "Now I feel like they like me a lot right now ... and the money, if I get paid a million or $10 million, it is a lot more money than I ever thought I'd make. It is more the gesture, the we-believe-in-you-this-much kind of thing."
What Owner Jones needs to do right now is sit Romo down and be perfectly honest with him.
Tell him: I want you to make me pay you ugly money, filthy-disgusting cash at the end of this season, so much that Matt Schaub calls his agent crying, so much that I have to put Gene on an allowance for a while.
Tell him: All you have to do is go kick butt this season.
What Romo has shown us in his time in Dallas is that is when he is at his best. Let's not forget this is a kid who used to play in meaningless fourth quarters like Thursday, fighting to be one of the 53.
"It's a little nostalgic in some ways to remember where I was," Romo said. "It's kind of neat, the journey, too."
The beginning of the next leg of that journey is here.
Finally.
Real games start in 10 days and what Owner Jones is hoping is when all is said and done he is out a lot of cash to Romo.
"That would be a problem I would relish," he said.
If so, the Real Cowboys will have done very well indeed.
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
Star-Telegram staff writer
MINNEAPOLIS -- The end is here. Finally.
The Faux Cowboys played their last faux game of 2007 Thursday and defeated the only opponent who mattered: injury. They did not have any, or at least not to anybody who is irreplaceable.
None of those types played anyway, as Coach Wade proved he is not in fact an idiot.
His competence was in semi-question after his brush with stupidity against the Texans, where he sent QB Tony Romo in for another series. Late in the third quarter. Very late.
He is lucky Romo did not get hurt.
Or his boots may have been back in Texas, but his butt would have been on the unemployment line.
The reality is as Romo goes so does this Cowboys season, which is probably why the only thing Coach Wade had him doing in Minny was wearing a ballcap and trying not to look as bored as everybody else.
Forget all of this defense talk and certainly this idea that Phillips 3-4 Special alone transforms them into a Super Bowl lock, and repeat after me: It is all about Romo.
If he is the QB the Cowboys think he is, they have a good chance at being the title contender everybody believes they are.
That and he are still question marks.
The question is not whether he belongs. He is in the NFL QB club. What is left to be determined is whether he is one of the elite ones, the ones who win championships.
Oh, I know what I think. I think this kid already has shown us that he possesses the "it" factor necessary to be one of the special quarterbacks in this league. I know Romo definitely thinks this. As do the Cowboys.
But what you think you have, and what you get, are not always the same in the NFL. Just ask Seattle about Jon Kitna.
Before Thursday's exercise in futility in which, not that it matters, Vikings Light defeated the Cowboy Depth Chart 23-14, Owner Jones talked about what he hopes is his franchise QB.
Most notably how it is unlikely they re-sign him before the season.
This had been the big question of the off-season with Owner Jones vacillating between admitting a man crush to hinting that he needed to see more.
He did not hint Thursday. He believes he has his guy. It is just a matter of when to dot i's, cross t's and agree on how many zeros.
"Obviously, you'd like to see a year but I'm ready to go now," Owner Jones said. "I've taken more risk than this, sometimes three or four times a day."
Of course, he has.
If anything, knowing Jerry, he had to be talked out of money-whipping Romo. He loves him, believes in him and most important, desperately wants to be right about him.
He wants to write that check.
He has longed for a day when he had a QB good enough to break his bank.
You are doing the right thing by waiting, Jerry.
Do not re-sign Romo. Not yet.
He has affirmed his faith in Romo on many occasions -- by not trading for Drew Brees, by not drafting Brady Quinn, by bringing in a clipboard holder rather than a challenger to be his backup QB.
There is no earthly reason to go even more all in than he already has.
OK, there are two semi-reasons for re-signing him now 1) Save Owner Jones money and; 2) Prevent cash considerations from distracting Romo from the task at hand this season.
I do not buy either, namely because Owner Jones has proven himself to be immune to sticker shock, and Romo has proven distractions do not distract him.
His US Weekly off-season certainly had plenty, and he barely blinked.
"The only thing that is nice about a contract is the organization is telling you that you are our guy and we like you a lot," Romo said Thursday. "Now I feel like they like me a lot right now ... and the money, if I get paid a million or $10 million, it is a lot more money than I ever thought I'd make. It is more the gesture, the we-believe-in-you-this-much kind of thing."
What Owner Jones needs to do right now is sit Romo down and be perfectly honest with him.
Tell him: I want you to make me pay you ugly money, filthy-disgusting cash at the end of this season, so much that Matt Schaub calls his agent crying, so much that I have to put Gene on an allowance for a while.
Tell him: All you have to do is go kick butt this season.
What Romo has shown us in his time in Dallas is that is when he is at his best. Let's not forget this is a kid who used to play in meaningless fourth quarters like Thursday, fighting to be one of the 53.
"It's a little nostalgic in some ways to remember where I was," Romo said. "It's kind of neat, the journey, too."
The beginning of the next leg of that journey is here.
Finally.
Real games start in 10 days and what Owner Jones is hoping is when all is said and done he is out a lot of cash to Romo.
"That would be a problem I would relish," he said.
If so, the Real Cowboys will have done very well indeed.
posted by The Gryphon at 10:35 AM
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