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by: Ken Moll
posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 | Print Entry
Even since Troy Aikman retired, many players have tried to fill his shoes as the leader of America's Team. It's been a frustrating experience with many dismal decisions by coaches and personnel experts to take over one of the highest profile positions in all of sports, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. But highly-regarded owner Jerry Jones finally got his man in a fifth-year free agent from I-AA Eastern Illinois University -- Tony Romo.
It's hard to fathom the enormity of what this small town athlete with the slightly big ears and average stature has done. I have walked the streets of Charelston, Ill., (where Eastern Illinois is located) as my son attended college as a football player for two seasons and there is nothing overwhelming about it. The small stadium was often just half full -- and that's if the weather was nice. For Romo to come out of nowhere to lead this pressure packed Cowboys team to a 12-1 record with seemingly no hitch in his stride is nothing short of amazing. With all the evaluating, testing and probing done by personnel people from when a player enters his junior season, this quarterback prospect was somehow overlooked.
Romo is one of the most intriguing stories in all of sports. He's gone from a virtually unknown player at a college that never enabled him to play on a "big stage" to now performing for one of the marquee franchise in all of sports. Love them or hate them, the Dallas Cowboys are arguably the highest profile team of any American professional franchise. His drive to succeed is amazing. Romo was not just another free agent who would fall by the wayside despite coming out of a small college. He signed with the Cowboys because he saw it as his best chance to succeed. He would learn the offense and show enough ability to move the ball in practice and preseason opportunities to impress the coaches enough to at least have him hold a clipboard. From there, he worked his way up to a backup roll and when an opening occurred in 2006, he took advantage of it.
Many experts questioned how good he really was with a couple of subpar performances and his mishandling of a snap on the game-winning field goal attempt in last year's opening round playoff game. But Romo proved that he was not just another in the line trying to replace Aikman. He has instead emerged as the unquestioned successor to Aikman, taken the league by storm in the process and is likely to ride this talented team right to the Super Bowl.
posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 | Print Entry
Even since Troy Aikman retired, many players have tried to fill his shoes as the leader of America's Team. It's been a frustrating experience with many dismal decisions by coaches and personnel experts to take over one of the highest profile positions in all of sports, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. But highly-regarded owner Jerry Jones finally got his man in a fifth-year free agent from I-AA Eastern Illinois University -- Tony Romo.
It's hard to fathom the enormity of what this small town athlete with the slightly big ears and average stature has done. I have walked the streets of Charelston, Ill., (where Eastern Illinois is located) as my son attended college as a football player for two seasons and there is nothing overwhelming about it. The small stadium was often just half full -- and that's if the weather was nice. For Romo to come out of nowhere to lead this pressure packed Cowboys team to a 12-1 record with seemingly no hitch in his stride is nothing short of amazing. With all the evaluating, testing and probing done by personnel people from when a player enters his junior season, this quarterback prospect was somehow overlooked.
Romo is one of the most intriguing stories in all of sports. He's gone from a virtually unknown player at a college that never enabled him to play on a "big stage" to now performing for one of the marquee franchise in all of sports. Love them or hate them, the Dallas Cowboys are arguably the highest profile team of any American professional franchise. His drive to succeed is amazing. Romo was not just another free agent who would fall by the wayside despite coming out of a small college. He signed with the Cowboys because he saw it as his best chance to succeed. He would learn the offense and show enough ability to move the ball in practice and preseason opportunities to impress the coaches enough to at least have him hold a clipboard. From there, he worked his way up to a backup roll and when an opening occurred in 2006, he took advantage of it.
Many experts questioned how good he really was with a couple of subpar performances and his mishandling of a snap on the game-winning field goal attempt in last year's opening round playoff game. But Romo proved that he was not just another in the line trying to replace Aikman. He has instead emerged as the unquestioned successor to Aikman, taken the league by storm in the process and is likely to ride this talented team right to the Super Bowl.
