If NFL is all about QB, Romo may be 'it'By RANDY GALLOWAYStar-Telegram Staff WriterYes, the game of football is still about the quarterback.
And just because there's no Brady or no Manning in action today, nothing has changed.
What's not to like about Ben R.?
You got a problem with Mr. Hasselbeck in Seattle?
Myself, never been much of a Jake Plummer fan. But he changed his game this season, otherwise the Broncos wouldn't be playing today.
And then there's the real Jake. The Great Jake.
Del-looooooooooom.
Or, if you're picky about correct spelling, it's Delhomme, the quarterbacking gumbo man from Cajun land.
It's still about the quarterback, and these four prove it as much as Brady or Manning ever did.
Well, OK, maybe not Tom Brady, the best big-game QB of this NFL era.
But Ben R.'s new NFL label is "franchise."
Hasselbeck is the most improved QB in football, and still growing.
Plummer is, well, talented and interesting.
And Jake Delhomme is suddenly the one QB beyond Brady who defines postseason success.
A guy gave me this fact:
The Great Jake is one of only three quarterbacks to win four road playoff games. The other two: Roger Staubach and Len Dawson, both Hall of Famers.
Delhomme is 5-1, with 10 TD passes and two picks in the playoffs.
That lone loss was when he was a Super Bowl star going up against Brady and New England.
I have certainly offered enough reminders about how Big Bill blew it at Valley Ranch three years ago.
Parcells wanted Delhomme here. Delhomme wanted to sign with the Cowboys.
A free-agent contract offer was made. But the money was on the low side.
Big Bill's good friend, Dan Henning (the offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers), talked his team into upping the ante. Jake signed there.
Big Bill got snookered by his buddy.
It's a blunder that shouldn't happen to a guy like Parcells.
But give credit that he did see what the Saints never could. Delhomme rode the bench for six long years in New Orleans, making two starts during that time.
Parcells, however, knew enough about Jake to really like him.
Don't buy, however, the current Valley Ranch story that Parcells was hesitant to pay Delhomme because Jerry Jones had asked for a favor on The Q and Hutch.
It's true that Jerry wanted to find out what he had in those two, and when Big Bill arrived, he asked Parcells to give it awhile and judge for himself.
That answer should have come in one day of film study.
Delhomme was on the practice squad in 1997, then played five seasons in N.O. But Parcells had the film. And he thought he had spotted a player.
There was much, much, much more film evidence available on The Q and Hutch. Negative evidence.
Big Bill arrived here in the month of January. He should have given Jerry a thumbs down on those two by February.
But speaking of evidence ...
As the NFL playoffs move into the championship round, there are voices being heard at Valley Ranch, voices suggesting the Cowboys might have a Delhomme of their own on the grounds.
His name would be Tony Romo.
Even as some of us yelped for Drew Henson in the dismal '04 season, I had people telling me I had the wrong guy.
That Romo was the future.
More than a year later, and those voices are either growing louder or I'm just hearing what I want to hear.
But Romo comparisons are now being made to Delhomme, as Jake is making another playoff run.
Both went undrafted out of college.
Both have magnetic, fiery, good-guy personalities.
Neither is exactly blessed with Manning-family super skills in any area, but they make up for it in moxie and mentality.
That mentality is mainly "gunslinger."
Gunslinger is good, if it can be controlled. At times, Delhomme is his own worst enemy, forcing passes, trying to do too much. But under playoff pressure he's suddenly Cool Hand Jake.
Back in October, Big Bill was on a conference call with the Seattle media during the week of that game.
He was bragging on Hasselbeck, whom Parcells has known since Matt was in grade school. Out of nowhere, Parcells suddenly said something along the lines of he's got a quarterback in Irving that people would be hearing from in the future.
Tony Romo.
Funny, but Parcells has never gushed to the local media like that on Romo.
Sean Payton loves Romo. As the new coach of the Saints you can bet he'd like to arrange a trade.
"Tony just needs the opportunity to play," a guy said this week. "We don't know anything about him in a game, but he's got the 'it' factor working. You watch him, and think, this kid has got 'it.'"
But we also know Parcells will not allow himself to groom a young QB by giving him ample playing time. Or any playing time, even in mop-up situations.
In three years, Romo has taken two quarterback snaps in the regular season.
Who knows what the Cowboys have here? But they don't have The Great Jake.
I just thought I'd mention that some people at Valley Ranch think they might have something similar waiting in the wings.
Randy Galloway's Galloway & Co. can be heard weekdays 3-6 p.m. on ESPN/103.3 FM.
