Cowboys need a leader, and that has to be Romo’s role
By JIM REEVES
If I’m Tony Romo, I’m somewhere today, reading Tom Callahan’s great book, Johnny U.: The Life and Times of Johnny Unitas.
Or I’m on the phone to Troy Aikman or Roger Staubach, asking them how they became such great leaders.
I’m talking to Terry Bradshaw and Peyton Manning, to Joe Montana and Tom Brady.
There’s a football team here in need of a leader. The position opened up this week when Terrell Owens received his walking papers.
It’s way past time for Romo to grab the Dallas Cowboys by the throat and make it his team, once and for all.
In some ways it’s a credit to T.O. and his charismatic persona that he assumed the role that most quarterbacks hold on their football teams. But Owens inevitably victimizes himself as much as he does his team. He can’t help it. He self-destructs and eventually takes everything and everyone around down with him.
Romo allowed T.O. to become the most influential player in the Cowboys’ locker room in order to keep Owens happy, because he didn’t want to rock the ship and because, frankly, it was easier than bucking him for that role.
That was a mistake. The quarterback has to lead this team. All the great ones do.
This is not to say that Romo is by any means another Unitas, or Aikman, or Staubach, or Bradshaw, or Montana. But that’s what he needs to aspire to, and if he’s not doing that, he’s failing himself, he’s failing the Dallas Cowboys, and he’s failing his fans.
As Callahan, the longtime sports columnist, tells the story in his book on Unitas, the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback once recruited his cousin, Joe, to come back with him to college and play for the University of Louisville.
The two cousins became even closer that season, but that didn’t keep Unitas from getting in Joe’s face when it was required, and Johnny confronted Joe in the huddle during one particularly tough game.
"If you can’t block this guy, there’s someone on the bench who can," Unitas told him.
There’s a lesson there for Romo. There are no "cousins" in an NFL huddle, no friends, just teammates, united in one purpose: to win a football game. And it’s up to the quarterback to weed out those who aren’t committed to that goal.
Romo’s job isn’t to be best friends with everyone on the team. It isn’t to make everyone like him. What he must have, though, is their respect, and whether he knows it or not, Romo is in danger of losing that, if he hasn’t already.
When the starting quarterback’s practice habits are being challenged (and it doesn’t matter who’s doing the challenging), when he’s making bad decisions on and off the field (Cabo before a playoff game), when he’s implying that losing football games isn’t all that bad in the big picture, then there’s a problem.
The Cowboys have had all kinds of quarterbacks, from the goodtime guy, Don Meredith, to the family man and dedicated Christian, Staubach, to the almost robotic and deadly serious (on the field) Aikman. What those three and all the good ones, no matter their personality, had in common was an unquenchable desire not to just win, but to never lose.
Longtime Eagles and Redskins quarterback Sonny Jurgensen once joked that Staubach would play into his 40s because "he doesn’t know what a hangover is."
What no one joked about was Staubach’s desire and drive to win football games.
"He never knew when it was over," tight end Billy Joe Dupree once said of Staubach. "At the end of the game, even if we’re down by 20 points, he’ll be standing there by himself trying to figure out a way we can win it."
That’s the kind of leader Romo must become.
That’s not to say that he needs to be the only leader in the Cowboys’ locker room. A football team needs multiple leaders. It needs a Terence Newman and a Bradie James. It needs a Jason Witten and an Andre Gurode. It needs a DeMarcus Ware and a Patrick Crayton.
Each of these players needs to step forward and make sure that whatever division there may be in the Cowboys’ locker room, whatever factions may have developed, it all ends now.
But in the end, the quarterback has to have control of this football team. He has to be The Man.
Romo has another chance now. Owens was an intimidating presence in that locker room and Romo may have conceded authority to avoid an unpleasant confrontation, but now the opportunity is here for a fresh start.
New stadium. New attitude. New No. 1 receiver. Now we need a new Romo.
The Cowboys need a confident, self-assured quarterback who can’t stand to lose, someone who can impose his will and impart his desire to his teammates and make them better. Someone who will lead by example. They need a leader.
College teammates still remember Unitas voluntarily taking part in what the players called the "hamburger drill" at Louisville. One particular defensive player chewed everyone up, but Unitas, all 176-pounds of him, would either move up in line or drop back so that he’d be the one to face the meanest, toughest player on the team.
During his eulogy for Unitas, the great Raymond Berry summed up what every team is looking for in a quarterback:
"You didn’t care who did what. Just do our jobs when called on, and we all win together. The Colts were a team, and your example and leadership set the tone."
It’s there for Romo to take. No excuses. No alibis. No one else to blame.
Now we find out if he’s man enough for the job.
If I’m Tony Romo, I’m somewhere today, reading Tom Callahan’s great book, Johnny U.: The Life and Times of Johnny Unitas.
Or I’m on the phone to Troy Aikman or Roger Staubach, asking them how they became such great leaders.
I’m talking to Terry Bradshaw and Peyton Manning, to Joe Montana and Tom Brady.
There’s a football team here in need of a leader. The position opened up this week when Terrell Owens received his walking papers.
It’s way past time for Romo to grab the Dallas Cowboys by the throat and make it his team, once and for all.
In some ways it’s a credit to T.O. and his charismatic persona that he assumed the role that most quarterbacks hold on their football teams. But Owens inevitably victimizes himself as much as he does his team. He can’t help it. He self-destructs and eventually takes everything and everyone around down with him.
Romo allowed T.O. to become the most influential player in the Cowboys’ locker room in order to keep Owens happy, because he didn’t want to rock the ship and because, frankly, it was easier than bucking him for that role.
That was a mistake. The quarterback has to lead this team. All the great ones do.
This is not to say that Romo is by any means another Unitas, or Aikman, or Staubach, or Bradshaw, or Montana. But that’s what he needs to aspire to, and if he’s not doing that, he’s failing himself, he’s failing the Dallas Cowboys, and he’s failing his fans.
As Callahan, the longtime sports columnist, tells the story in his book on Unitas, the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback once recruited his cousin, Joe, to come back with him to college and play for the University of Louisville.
The two cousins became even closer that season, but that didn’t keep Unitas from getting in Joe’s face when it was required, and Johnny confronted Joe in the huddle during one particularly tough game.
"If you can’t block this guy, there’s someone on the bench who can," Unitas told him.
There’s a lesson there for Romo. There are no "cousins" in an NFL huddle, no friends, just teammates, united in one purpose: to win a football game. And it’s up to the quarterback to weed out those who aren’t committed to that goal.
Romo’s job isn’t to be best friends with everyone on the team. It isn’t to make everyone like him. What he must have, though, is their respect, and whether he knows it or not, Romo is in danger of losing that, if he hasn’t already.
When the starting quarterback’s practice habits are being challenged (and it doesn’t matter who’s doing the challenging), when he’s making bad decisions on and off the field (Cabo before a playoff game), when he’s implying that losing football games isn’t all that bad in the big picture, then there’s a problem.
The Cowboys have had all kinds of quarterbacks, from the goodtime guy, Don Meredith, to the family man and dedicated Christian, Staubach, to the almost robotic and deadly serious (on the field) Aikman. What those three and all the good ones, no matter their personality, had in common was an unquenchable desire not to just win, but to never lose.
Longtime Eagles and Redskins quarterback Sonny Jurgensen once joked that Staubach would play into his 40s because "he doesn’t know what a hangover is."
What no one joked about was Staubach’s desire and drive to win football games.
"He never knew when it was over," tight end Billy Joe Dupree once said of Staubach. "At the end of the game, even if we’re down by 20 points, he’ll be standing there by himself trying to figure out a way we can win it."
That’s the kind of leader Romo must become.
That’s not to say that he needs to be the only leader in the Cowboys’ locker room. A football team needs multiple leaders. It needs a Terence Newman and a Bradie James. It needs a Jason Witten and an Andre Gurode. It needs a DeMarcus Ware and a Patrick Crayton.
Each of these players needs to step forward and make sure that whatever division there may be in the Cowboys’ locker room, whatever factions may have developed, it all ends now.
But in the end, the quarterback has to have control of this football team. He has to be The Man.
Romo has another chance now. Owens was an intimidating presence in that locker room and Romo may have conceded authority to avoid an unpleasant confrontation, but now the opportunity is here for a fresh start.
New stadium. New attitude. New No. 1 receiver. Now we need a new Romo.
The Cowboys need a confident, self-assured quarterback who can’t stand to lose, someone who can impose his will and impart his desire to his teammates and make them better. Someone who will lead by example. They need a leader.
College teammates still remember Unitas voluntarily taking part in what the players called the "hamburger drill" at Louisville. One particular defensive player chewed everyone up, but Unitas, all 176-pounds of him, would either move up in line or drop back so that he’d be the one to face the meanest, toughest player on the team.
During his eulogy for Unitas, the great Raymond Berry summed up what every team is looking for in a quarterback:
"You didn’t care who did what. Just do our jobs when called on, and we all win together. The Colts were a team, and your example and leadership set the tone."
It’s there for Romo to take. No excuses. No alibis. No one else to blame.
Now we find out if he’s man enough for the job.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:34 PM
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