Trust in Romo ... Dallas Cowboys will end playoff drought
by Jean-Jacques TAYLOR
OXNARD, Calif. – NFL quarterbacks live a life few of us can comprehend.
They get the girls, the money and the fame. They drive fast cars, live in mansions and play the finest golf courses.
We envy their lifestyle.
But you know as well as I do they receive more than their fair share of the blame when their team loses. We choose not to shed any tears for them because they get more than enough perks to compensate for having the toughest job in professional sports.
That's why – fair or not – Tony Romo will be considered overrated and over-hyped, if he can't lead the Cowboys to a playoff win for the first time since 1996.
Especially with all of the scrutiny revolving around his private life and the ill-fated trip to Cabo San Lucas before the playoff loss to the Giants last season. And that's before we discuss his average performances in December or his 0-2 playoff record.
No worries, Romo will end all of that chatter this season.
He'll win his first playoff game. Actually, he should win multiple playoff games this year since Dallas has the NFC's most talented team.
"He hasn't missed an off-season workout in the two years I've been here," Wade Phillips said. "He's committed to getting better and better and I think he will."
Don't get so caught up in the drama – real or imagined – swirling around Romo that you lose sight of his talent level.
He can make every throw you want a quarterback to make, and he's already learned when to zip the ball into a tight spot or loft it over a defender.
He's elusive in the pocket and his creativity allows him to consistently birth big plays from chaos. Yes, he occasionally makes poor decisions, but you destroy the player if you stifle his creativity.
Romo's the real deal. And he's only going to get better.
He hasn't even played two full seasons yet, but he's 19-7 with 55 touchdowns and 32 interceptions as a starter.
Have you forgotten the mostly pathetic quarterback play we saw after Troy Aikman retired following the 2000 season? Do you need to check YouTube for highlights of players like aging Randall Cunningham, Anthony Wright, Clint Stoerner, Quincy Carter, Ryan Leaf, Chad Hutchinson, Drew Henson, Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe to see the difference between Romo and them?
When Romo arrived in Oxnard two summers ago, only the most knowledgeable fans knew his name, even though the Cowboys were debating internally whether to start him over Bledsoe.
Fans certainly didn't scream his name when he stepped onto the practice field. Or chant it after practice like they did Friday afternoon while he signed autographs at a rapid-fire pace.
"You have to put your hands under the center," said spokesman Rich Dalrymple, "to get that kind of love."
There's a reason the Cowboys were one of pro football's worst teams in the early part of this decade. This game has always been about the quarterback, which will never change.
Romo should give the Cowboys a chance to compete for a championship each of the next five years just like Aikman did in his prime. Think about the progress Romo has made since Bill Parcells turned the team over to him and benched Bledsoe.
"He's not the same player he was the last time we were here," Jerry Jones said. "He's had the benefit of these games and these pressure situations and how he's perceived by his teammates. It's a different world for him, and that's how it should be.
"If we had a little better feel or a little better read on that – at every step of the way in those three years he was here – I would've said hello to him walking down the hall."
OXNARD, Calif. – NFL quarterbacks live a life few of us can comprehend.
They get the girls, the money and the fame. They drive fast cars, live in mansions and play the finest golf courses.
We envy their lifestyle.
But you know as well as I do they receive more than their fair share of the blame when their team loses. We choose not to shed any tears for them because they get more than enough perks to compensate for having the toughest job in professional sports.
That's why – fair or not – Tony Romo will be considered overrated and over-hyped, if he can't lead the Cowboys to a playoff win for the first time since 1996.
Especially with all of the scrutiny revolving around his private life and the ill-fated trip to Cabo San Lucas before the playoff loss to the Giants last season. And that's before we discuss his average performances in December or his 0-2 playoff record.
No worries, Romo will end all of that chatter this season.
He'll win his first playoff game. Actually, he should win multiple playoff games this year since Dallas has the NFC's most talented team.
"He hasn't missed an off-season workout in the two years I've been here," Wade Phillips said. "He's committed to getting better and better and I think he will."
Don't get so caught up in the drama – real or imagined – swirling around Romo that you lose sight of his talent level.
He can make every throw you want a quarterback to make, and he's already learned when to zip the ball into a tight spot or loft it over a defender.
He's elusive in the pocket and his creativity allows him to consistently birth big plays from chaos. Yes, he occasionally makes poor decisions, but you destroy the player if you stifle his creativity.
Romo's the real deal. And he's only going to get better.
He hasn't even played two full seasons yet, but he's 19-7 with 55 touchdowns and 32 interceptions as a starter.
Have you forgotten the mostly pathetic quarterback play we saw after Troy Aikman retired following the 2000 season? Do you need to check YouTube for highlights of players like aging Randall Cunningham, Anthony Wright, Clint Stoerner, Quincy Carter, Ryan Leaf, Chad Hutchinson, Drew Henson, Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe to see the difference between Romo and them?
When Romo arrived in Oxnard two summers ago, only the most knowledgeable fans knew his name, even though the Cowboys were debating internally whether to start him over Bledsoe.
Fans certainly didn't scream his name when he stepped onto the practice field. Or chant it after practice like they did Friday afternoon while he signed autographs at a rapid-fire pace.
"You have to put your hands under the center," said spokesman Rich Dalrymple, "to get that kind of love."
There's a reason the Cowboys were one of pro football's worst teams in the early part of this decade. This game has always been about the quarterback, which will never change.
Romo should give the Cowboys a chance to compete for a championship each of the next five years just like Aikman did in his prime. Think about the progress Romo has made since Bill Parcells turned the team over to him and benched Bledsoe.
"He's not the same player he was the last time we were here," Jerry Jones said. "He's had the benefit of these games and these pressure situations and how he's perceived by his teammates. It's a different world for him, and that's how it should be.
"If we had a little better feel or a little better read on that – at every step of the way in those three years he was here – I would've said hello to him walking down the hall."
posted by The Gryphon at 8:05 AM
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