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Romo makes sweet music in return
By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports 12 hours, 16 minutes ago
LANDOVER, Md. – The savior came skipping off FedEx Field, headed briskly for the tunnel that would lead him to the sanctity of the visitors’ locker room and the iPod boom box that needed to be blared.
“I missed the game,” Tony Romo said Sunday night as he ran toward the giddy Dallas Cowboys fans cheering in the section atop the tunnel, speaking of his month-long sabbatical that nearly destroyed a team. When one enthusiastic spectator handed him a Dallas cap and Sharpie, he managed to seize both objects, sign the hat and return them to the autograph-seeker while executing a 360-degree spin, never once breaking stride.
That’s what a triumphant return – in the form of a season-saving, come-from-behind, 14-10 road victory over the archrival Washington Commanders – will do for a kid from Wisconsin with a bum finger. Romo missed the game, all right, almost as much as his team missed him during the month he spent on the sidelines.
Tony Romo led the Cowboys on a game-winning, eight-play, fourth quarter drive resulting in a touchdown pass to Martellus Bennett.
“When you get your quarterback back, your whole mentality changes,” tight end Jason Witten explained afterward. “Your confidence, your swagger – everything from the snap count to where you’re supposed to be before the play. Tony does it all for us. Nothing against our backup, but he’s the franchise.”
As Witten spoke, AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” was blaring out of Romo’s boombox at earsplitting volumes, a development that had been the cause of much tension a couple of minutes earlier. Romo, sporting that Bart Simpson smirk of his, at one point held up the speakers to Witten’s ear as his good friend tried to answer some questions from TV reporters.
Dallas public relations director Rich Dalrymple, an old pro mindful of the tight Sunday night deadline, told Romo to turn down the music. Romo ignored him, placing the box back in his own locker, next to Witten’s.
“Turn it down,” Dalrymple insisted.
“You turn it down,” Romo said, smiling.
“Tony, turn it down.”
Romo paused for a couple of seconds to make his point, then slowly reached for the volume control.
“I’m turning it down,” he moaned, resisting the temptation to finish the sentence with “Dad.”
Romo could’ve gotten away with it. He knew that, at least on Sunday, all was well in the world of his real surrogate dad, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who stood about 15 feet away surrounded by an even larger group of cameras and notebook-wielding reporters.
Suddenly Dallas (6-4), the star-studded and trendy preseason Super Bowl favorite, had fought through a potentially calamitous stretch of three defeats in four games (two without Romo) and moved into a tie with Washington for second place in the NFC East. Perhaps more significant given the Giants’ three-game lead in the division, the Cowboys and ‘Skins are now tied with the Falcons for the conference’s second wild-card spot with six games to play.
“When you’ve got a quarterback who has his unique skills, it makes a big difference,” Jones said of his $69-million investment. “There’s no doubt we’re under tremendous pressure to win, from the outside expectations and from the inside as well, and Tony gives you so much. The defense knows that when we get the ball we’ve got a chance to make it happen, and that takes pressure off of them. If we’re not in good field position, everybody (on the offense) has the confidence that he can make some plays and get us out of trouble.”
Left unsaid is the fact that the Cowboys’ backup quarterback, Brad Johnson, is no longer capable of instilling even a shred of confidence among his peers. Once a highly efficient and ultra-tough if immobile passer who helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title six season ago, Johnson, at 40, performed like a human statue with an Electric Football quarterback’s touch during his dubious three-game stint. Though Dallas managed to beat the Bucs 13-9 between lopsided defeats to the St. Louis Rams and New York Giants, it was clear that without Romo this team was going the way of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens’ political career.
Romo’s pinkie still doesn’t have enough strength for him to grip a football tightly, so doctors fitted him with a splint and the quarterback learned to throw with only four fingers, strengthening the appropriate hand muscles. It’s not a perfect system, but it’ll have to do for the time being.
“Every once in a while, with that thing on, you’re just not gonna grab the ball in a way that allows you to throw it properly,” Romo said. “There were about three or four times tonight where I couldn’t do something I wanted to do, and I just had to let it fly and hope for the best.”
The first time that happened Romo wasn’t so fortunate. Trailing 7-0 after Jason Campbell led a 10-play, 49-yard touchdown drive on the Commanders’ first possession, Romo drove Dallas to the Washington 27-yard line and tried to thread a pass over the middle to Terrell Owens on third-and-three. The splint let him down, and Romo immediately knew the pass was a disaster. The throw was intercepted by cornerback DeAngelo Hall, playing his first game for the ‘Skins after a disastrous eight-game, $8 million flameout (OK, so maybe it wasn’t so disastrous for Hall) with the Oakland Raiders.
Early in the second quarter from almost the same part of the field (second-and-four on Washington’s 25), Romo simply made a bad decision, misfiring on a short throw to Owens that caromed off his hands and was snatched out of the air by linebacker Rocky McIntosh. While the two picks might have suggested the would-be messiah was trying to do too much in his return, Romo (19 of 27, 198 yards) deserves credit for resisting the urge to take more chances than necessary in a taut, defensive-driven game.
“You get in situations like this and it’s easy to feel like you have to be the savior,” Witten said. “But Tony did a great job of not trying to do too much, not forcing passes and keeping his composure.”
With halfback Marion Barber (24 carries, 114 yards; six receptions, 39 yards) doing his best to impose his considerable will on the Washington defense, Romo put together three pivotal drives that were enough to win the game. The first one began at his own 20 with 4:41 left in the first half and ended with Barber’s two-yard touchdown run, which immediately followed consecutive completions of 28 yards to Witten and 25 to Owens.
Later, trailing 10-7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Romo led Dallas from its own 33 into Washington territory. On third-and-seven from the ‘Skins’ 33, he did that improv thing that he does so well, scooting away from pressure to deliver a Favre-like shovel pass to wideout Miles Austin for an eight-yard gain.
“Everybody analyzes Romo and tries to figure him out, but the bottom line is he finds a way to make plays,” Commanders defensive end Andre Carter said afterward, shaking his head. “You think you have him, and he does something unorthodox and he somehow gets away with it. You say, ‘How the hell did he do that?’ He’s out there freestyling. I give him credit, though. He makes it happen.”
On the play after the shovel pass, Romo gave the Cowboys their winning points, looking off the safety and finding rookie tight end Martellus Bennettt in the left side of the end zone with a sweet floater for a 14-10 lead.
When Dallas stopped the ‘Skins on fourth down and got the ball back at its own 37 with 6:40 remaining, Barber and the team’s big offensive line got physical and killed the rest of the clock. Romo threw just one more pass, and it was a beautiful one: On third-and-eight from the Washington 26 with 2:49 to go, Romo zipped a short bullet to Barber in traffic that the bruising back converted for a 10-yard gain.
Four Barber runs (the last on fourth-and-one) and two Romo kneel-downs later and the Cowboys were back in the playoff hunt, swagger intact. You might say, as AC/DC’s Brian Johnson loudly suggested afterward, that they were once again thunderstruck.
“You never know how you’re going to come back,” Romo said as the boombox blasted Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” while the locker room began to empty. “Tonight was about passion. That’s a darn good football team we played, and to beat them up here in this (cold, windy) weather, that’s huge. Whatever happens to this team, regardless of what everyone says, it’ll all be played out on the field.”
And it’ll play out with Romo running the show, which is music to the Cowboys’ ears.
By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports 12 hours, 16 minutes ago
- Buzz Up
LANDOVER, Md. – The savior came skipping off FedEx Field, headed briskly for the tunnel that would lead him to the sanctity of the visitors’ locker room and the iPod boom box that needed to be blared.
“I missed the game,” Tony Romo said Sunday night as he ran toward the giddy Dallas Cowboys fans cheering in the section atop the tunnel, speaking of his month-long sabbatical that nearly destroyed a team. When one enthusiastic spectator handed him a Dallas cap and Sharpie, he managed to seize both objects, sign the hat and return them to the autograph-seeker while executing a 360-degree spin, never once breaking stride.
That’s what a triumphant return – in the form of a season-saving, come-from-behind, 14-10 road victory over the archrival Washington Commanders – will do for a kid from Wisconsin with a bum finger. Romo missed the game, all right, almost as much as his team missed him during the month he spent on the sidelines.
(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
“When you get your quarterback back, your whole mentality changes,” tight end Jason Witten explained afterward. “Your confidence, your swagger – everything from the snap count to where you’re supposed to be before the play. Tony does it all for us. Nothing against our backup, but he’s the franchise.”
As Witten spoke, AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” was blaring out of Romo’s boombox at earsplitting volumes, a development that had been the cause of much tension a couple of minutes earlier. Romo, sporting that Bart Simpson smirk of his, at one point held up the speakers to Witten’s ear as his good friend tried to answer some questions from TV reporters.
Dallas public relations director Rich Dalrymple, an old pro mindful of the tight Sunday night deadline, told Romo to turn down the music. Romo ignored him, placing the box back in his own locker, next to Witten’s.
“Turn it down,” Dalrymple insisted.
“You turn it down,” Romo said, smiling.
“Tony, turn it down.”
Romo paused for a couple of seconds to make his point, then slowly reached for the volume control.
“I’m turning it down,” he moaned, resisting the temptation to finish the sentence with “Dad.”
Romo could’ve gotten away with it. He knew that, at least on Sunday, all was well in the world of his real surrogate dad, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who stood about 15 feet away surrounded by an even larger group of cameras and notebook-wielding reporters.
Suddenly Dallas (6-4), the star-studded and trendy preseason Super Bowl favorite, had fought through a potentially calamitous stretch of three defeats in four games (two without Romo) and moved into a tie with Washington for second place in the NFC East. Perhaps more significant given the Giants’ three-game lead in the division, the Cowboys and ‘Skins are now tied with the Falcons for the conference’s second wild-card spot with six games to play.
“When you’ve got a quarterback who has his unique skills, it makes a big difference,” Jones said of his $69-million investment. “There’s no doubt we’re under tremendous pressure to win, from the outside expectations and from the inside as well, and Tony gives you so much. The defense knows that when we get the ball we’ve got a chance to make it happen, and that takes pressure off of them. If we’re not in good field position, everybody (on the offense) has the confidence that he can make some plays and get us out of trouble.”
Left unsaid is the fact that the Cowboys’ backup quarterback, Brad Johnson, is no longer capable of instilling even a shred of confidence among his peers. Once a highly efficient and ultra-tough if immobile passer who helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title six season ago, Johnson, at 40, performed like a human statue with an Electric Football quarterback’s touch during his dubious three-game stint. Though Dallas managed to beat the Bucs 13-9 between lopsided defeats to the St. Louis Rams and New York Giants, it was clear that without Romo this team was going the way of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens’ political career.
Romo’s pinkie still doesn’t have enough strength for him to grip a football tightly, so doctors fitted him with a splint and the quarterback learned to throw with only four fingers, strengthening the appropriate hand muscles. It’s not a perfect system, but it’ll have to do for the time being.
“Every once in a while, with that thing on, you’re just not gonna grab the ball in a way that allows you to throw it properly,” Romo said. “There were about three or four times tonight where I couldn’t do something I wanted to do, and I just had to let it fly and hope for the best.”
The first time that happened Romo wasn’t so fortunate. Trailing 7-0 after Jason Campbell led a 10-play, 49-yard touchdown drive on the Commanders’ first possession, Romo drove Dallas to the Washington 27-yard line and tried to thread a pass over the middle to Terrell Owens on third-and-three. The splint let him down, and Romo immediately knew the pass was a disaster. The throw was intercepted by cornerback DeAngelo Hall, playing his first game for the ‘Skins after a disastrous eight-game, $8 million flameout (OK, so maybe it wasn’t so disastrous for Hall) with the Oakland Raiders.
Early in the second quarter from almost the same part of the field (second-and-four on Washington’s 25), Romo simply made a bad decision, misfiring on a short throw to Owens that caromed off his hands and was snatched out of the air by linebacker Rocky McIntosh. While the two picks might have suggested the would-be messiah was trying to do too much in his return, Romo (19 of 27, 198 yards) deserves credit for resisting the urge to take more chances than necessary in a taut, defensive-driven game.
“You get in situations like this and it’s easy to feel like you have to be the savior,” Witten said. “But Tony did a great job of not trying to do too much, not forcing passes and keeping his composure.”
With halfback Marion Barber (24 carries, 114 yards; six receptions, 39 yards) doing his best to impose his considerable will on the Washington defense, Romo put together three pivotal drives that were enough to win the game. The first one began at his own 20 with 4:41 left in the first half and ended with Barber’s two-yard touchdown run, which immediately followed consecutive completions of 28 yards to Witten and 25 to Owens.
Later, trailing 10-7 at the start of the fourth quarter, Romo led Dallas from its own 33 into Washington territory. On third-and-seven from the ‘Skins’ 33, he did that improv thing that he does so well, scooting away from pressure to deliver a Favre-like shovel pass to wideout Miles Austin for an eight-yard gain.
“Everybody analyzes Romo and tries to figure him out, but the bottom line is he finds a way to make plays,” Commanders defensive end Andre Carter said afterward, shaking his head. “You think you have him, and he does something unorthodox and he somehow gets away with it. You say, ‘How the hell did he do that?’ He’s out there freestyling. I give him credit, though. He makes it happen.”
On the play after the shovel pass, Romo gave the Cowboys their winning points, looking off the safety and finding rookie tight end Martellus Bennettt in the left side of the end zone with a sweet floater for a 14-10 lead.
When Dallas stopped the ‘Skins on fourth down and got the ball back at its own 37 with 6:40 remaining, Barber and the team’s big offensive line got physical and killed the rest of the clock. Romo threw just one more pass, and it was a beautiful one: On third-and-eight from the Washington 26 with 2:49 to go, Romo zipped a short bullet to Barber in traffic that the bruising back converted for a 10-yard gain.
Four Barber runs (the last on fourth-and-one) and two Romo kneel-downs later and the Cowboys were back in the playoff hunt, swagger intact. You might say, as AC/DC’s Brian Johnson loudly suggested afterward, that they were once again thunderstruck.
“You never know how you’re going to come back,” Romo said as the boombox blasted Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” while the locker room began to empty. “Tonight was about passion. That’s a darn good football team we played, and to beat them up here in this (cold, windy) weather, that’s huge. Whatever happens to this team, regardless of what everyone says, it’ll all be played out on the field.”
And it’ll play out with Romo running the show, which is music to the Cowboys’ ears.
