Will Romo bounce back, or will Pats bounce him?
A liberal dose
October 12, 2007
IRVING -- Monday night was when Tony Romo's nose was bloodied, just as former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells wanted to see.
Actually, it was more like a bloody nose plus a couple of black eyes. Maybe even a punch to the stomach. Romo's super-sized dose of adversity was the most he has faced as an NFL quarterback. The Cowboys saw the first stage of how he dealt with it as he rescued himself and brought the team back for a 25-24 victory at Buffalo.
Parcells said he would find out what kind of quarterback Romo was after he was smacked with a significant personal setback. Now, stage two of examining Romo's bounce-back ability comes in a Sunday showdown with undefeated New England.
'You ask yourself why you did certain things,' Romo said of his Buffalo performance. 'These are lessons that I am going through and learning along the way. It's another part of the process. I think I won't make some of those mistakes I made in the game again.'
On Sunday, Romo goes against defensive mastermind Bill Belichick, the Patriots' head coach who is one of the best at ruining a quarterback's day. Romo will try to learn quickly from the five-interceptions, one-fumble nightmare he had against the Bills.
'I think we're not worried about him bouncing back,' Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. 'He doesn't let things rattle him. He doesn't allow that to happen. A lot of quarterbacks, they do, and it affects them. That's why I think he's going to be able to move on and play well this week.'
Romo will have to.
The Cowboys can't afford many mistakes from Romo in this matchup against the Patriots and top-rated passer Tom Brady. Romo enters the game with 13 touchdown passes, eight interceptions and 1,508 yards. The Patriots capitalize on mistakes, and mix, match and disguise coverages. In what is expected to be a playoff-like atmosphere, Romo has to find his magic again.
Recovery time from his first major adversity was an entire off-season. And that playoff slip-up in Seattle was as a holder on a potential game-winning field goal, not as a quarterback. Still, Romo shook off the despair by leading the Cowboys to their first 5-0 start since Danny White was running the team in 1983.
Part of his ability to shake off errors is his idol Brett Favre's gunslinger style and fearless mentality.
'He has this playground mentality about the game, and he's so confident that nothing really bothers him,' said former Cowboys center Al Johnson, now in Arizona. 'You saw it in that Buffalo game on Monday night. He just kept playing. He threw a couple of interceptions, so what? He was still thinking he could win, and he didn't stop throwing the ball.'
After three of Romo's worst performances last season, he bounced back effectively. The former undrafted rookie-turned-Pro Bowler won his first start at Carolina (completing 24 of 36 passes) after a three-interception second half when he replaced Drew Bledsoe in a 36-22 loss to the New York Giants.
Following the Dec. 10 home loss to New Orleans, Romo led the Cowboys to a win at Atlanta, completing 22 of 29 passes with two touchdowns. He had a career-worst rating of 45.5 in a Dec. 25 loss to Philadelphia, then threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns in a 39-31 loss to Detroit.
Romo completed 11 of 14 passes on the Cowboys' final two drives against Buffalo and led the team to nine points. The Cowboys could find out a lot more about their quarterback of the future against the Patriots as he makes his 17th start (including the Seattle playoff game).
'I think we found out a lot about Tony Romo already,' Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. 'I think we'll find out more in the rest of the season. I expect him to do well because he's done well all year.'
October 12, 2007
IRVING -- Monday night was when Tony Romo's nose was bloodied, just as former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells wanted to see.
Actually, it was more like a bloody nose plus a couple of black eyes. Maybe even a punch to the stomach. Romo's super-sized dose of adversity was the most he has faced as an NFL quarterback. The Cowboys saw the first stage of how he dealt with it as he rescued himself and brought the team back for a 25-24 victory at Buffalo.
Parcells said he would find out what kind of quarterback Romo was after he was smacked with a significant personal setback. Now, stage two of examining Romo's bounce-back ability comes in a Sunday showdown with undefeated New England.
'You ask yourself why you did certain things,' Romo said of his Buffalo performance. 'These are lessons that I am going through and learning along the way. It's another part of the process. I think I won't make some of those mistakes I made in the game again.'
On Sunday, Romo goes against defensive mastermind Bill Belichick, the Patriots' head coach who is one of the best at ruining a quarterback's day. Romo will try to learn quickly from the five-interceptions, one-fumble nightmare he had against the Bills.
'I think we're not worried about him bouncing back,' Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. 'He doesn't let things rattle him. He doesn't allow that to happen. A lot of quarterbacks, they do, and it affects them. That's why I think he's going to be able to move on and play well this week.'
Romo will have to.
The Cowboys can't afford many mistakes from Romo in this matchup against the Patriots and top-rated passer Tom Brady. Romo enters the game with 13 touchdown passes, eight interceptions and 1,508 yards. The Patriots capitalize on mistakes, and mix, match and disguise coverages. In what is expected to be a playoff-like atmosphere, Romo has to find his magic again.
Recovery time from his first major adversity was an entire off-season. And that playoff slip-up in Seattle was as a holder on a potential game-winning field goal, not as a quarterback. Still, Romo shook off the despair by leading the Cowboys to their first 5-0 start since Danny White was running the team in 1983.
Part of his ability to shake off errors is his idol Brett Favre's gunslinger style and fearless mentality.
'He has this playground mentality about the game, and he's so confident that nothing really bothers him,' said former Cowboys center Al Johnson, now in Arizona. 'You saw it in that Buffalo game on Monday night. He just kept playing. He threw a couple of interceptions, so what? He was still thinking he could win, and he didn't stop throwing the ball.'
After three of Romo's worst performances last season, he bounced back effectively. The former undrafted rookie-turned-Pro Bowler won his first start at Carolina (completing 24 of 36 passes) after a three-interception second half when he replaced Drew Bledsoe in a 36-22 loss to the New York Giants.
Following the Dec. 10 home loss to New Orleans, Romo led the Cowboys to a win at Atlanta, completing 22 of 29 passes with two touchdowns. He had a career-worst rating of 45.5 in a Dec. 25 loss to Philadelphia, then threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns in a 39-31 loss to Detroit.
Romo completed 11 of 14 passes on the Cowboys' final two drives against Buffalo and led the team to nine points. The Cowboys could find out a lot more about their quarterback of the future against the Patriots as he makes his 17th start (including the Seattle playoff game).
'I think we found out a lot about Tony Romo already,' Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. 'I think we'll find out more in the rest of the season. I expect him to do well because he's done well all year.'
posted by The Gryphon at 7:50 AM
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