Cowboys’ fans should just say “no” to Romo

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, September 27, 2006  |  Comments( 5 )

Dallas Cowboys
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Despite head coach Bill Parcells' repeated, well-publicized statements to the contrary, most students of the NFL have now taken for granted the "fact" that a quarterback controversy is ablaze in Dallas Cowboys land. The line goes that Tony Romo is in reality The Tuna's preferred choice at QB and that the coach grows increasingly impatient with current starter Drew Bledsoe's mobility problems, i.e. he has none.

Please, a little sobriety before we go believing whatever innuendo is handed out. After all, this a guy of whom, while being tested in preseason games, Parcells said, "I'd like to kill him.... I like him because he's spunky. He's smart. He's charismatic. He's got a lot of the things that I like [in a quarterback], but he will just do some things that drive me nuts."

The reason Romo wasn't being more seriously considered for the starting job, quoth the Tuna, was that he had a number of bad habits attained while playing college ball at Eastern Illinois. Parcells has reportedly told Romo that his career itself could well be cut short due to a lack of discipline.

These comments were made in the preseason. Preseason 2004. Since then, Romo has taken exactly two snaps at quarterback under Parcells, on both instances for kneel-downs.

In 2003, Romo scratched out a place on the roster as an undrafted free agent; he saw no action behind Quincy Carter and Chad Hutchinson. When a revolving door was installed for Cowboy quarterbacks following the season, Dallas dealt for Vinny Testaverde and Drew Henson. Somehow, Romo managed to hang on to again occupy the position of No. 3 QB when Carter was cut instead; regardless, Romo saw no action. In 2005, Testaverde was out, Bledsoe was in, and Romo played well enough in the preseason to work his way up to No. 2; he saw seconds of "action," kneeling the ball in Week 5.

And this is the guy whom Parcells truly wants to hand over his offense to? After three seasons of passing on the opportunity? Back in '04, Parcells described Romo's troubles to excise the bad habits with "He's fighting a little demon he's got." That demon has become Romo's own reputation, one increasingly difficult to shed and increasingly heavy.

On the other hand, if Romo manages to wrest the starting job out of Bledsoe's hands before season's end (or, to put it more appropriately, should Bledsoe turn it over), this cannot bode well for the Cowboys' short-term future. Barring injury, a replacement at quarterback would imply a marginal playoff squad and it seems highly unlikely that, extended contract or no, the short-attention spanned coach would stick around in Dallas to coach a bubble team for another season.

Where would this leave Romo? After four years of collecting splinters on Parcells' bench while practicing The Ways Of The Tuna, Romo would be forced into leading a team under a brand new system; after finally fighting to top, imagine Tony having to battle from the other side of a QB controversy in 2007.

As exciting and gossipy as a quarterback tug-of-war is, and as frustratingly clunky as Leadfoot Bledsoe looks out there at times, Cowboy fans should pray to all they find holy that Romo occupies the position he always has on the bench.

More on the Dallas Cowboys' issues at RealFootball365.com.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 5  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Bill Robers		02:37 AM
09/28/2006
You're insane. Tony Romo was not ready in the past. THAT's why he didn't play. It had nothing to do with his talent. The...
No.2
M3		11:05 AM
09/28/2006
Actually, this makes a lot of sense. This team is built for the playoffs, and as much upside as Tony has, it's still not enough...
No.3
Jake Giesbrecht		04:18 PM
09/28/2006
You are insane. I remember in 2001 when another backup to Drew Bledsoe got the opportunity to take his "bubble team" into the...
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