Tony Romo called out by Jason Hatcher in Cowboys practice

Tony Romo called out by Jason Hatcher in Cowboys practice


By Kevin Patra
Around the League writer
Published: Sept. 22, 2013 at 11:24 a.m. Updated: Sept. 22, 2013 at 11:36 a.m.
Fans aren't the only one imploring the Dallas Cowboys to run the ball more.

On NFL Network's "NFL GameDay Morning," NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport relayed a story about Cowboys defensive lineman Jason Hatcher getting after Tony Romo in practice this week after the quarterback audibled away from a run play, only to throw a pick six.


Romo audibled to the pass three times in last week's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Rapoport reported that there is an undercurrent of frustration in the Cowboys' locker room, especially on the defensive side of the ball, due to the number of times Romo has audibled away from the run.

Later in a team meeting, Hatcher called out all his teammates -- including Romo -- according to Rapoport. Hatcher told teammates that everyone needed to do their jobs with a sense of urgency.

NFL Media Columnist Mike Silver spoke with Jason Garrett on Sunday morning and asked the Cowboys' coach about Hatcher's speech.

"You want your leaders to lead," Garrett told Silver. "Jason's been a good player here for awhile, and it's good for people like him to speak up. It was all positive. He didn't call anybody out. He just talked about a sense of urgency and what we all need to accomplish as a team."


Another Cowboys source told Silver that the frustration wasn't so much with Romo's audibles. The main concern was that Romo gets a bit "pass-heavy" when running the no-huddle offense. But that is the case with "any quarterback anywhere," the source said.

We knew the Cowboys running game would be watched closely against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. Apparently, so will Romo's audible calls.

This just means we now going to overcompensate and Tony's insecurities grow larger.

This makes me like Hatcher even more than I already do.

It's about time this team stopped treating him with the baby gloves.

Texas Ace said:

This makes me like Hatcher even more than I already do.

It's about time this team stopped treating him with the baby gloves.

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The report is wrong according to Hatcher.

It's nice sensationalism, though.

Garrett on this:

I think those reports are inaccurate. One of the things we try to do as a football team is empower the people. Get everybody invested. Get players invested, get coaches invested, and guys to take leadership roles. This is their football team. And leadership manifests itself a lot of different ways. It’s best when it’s just by performance, by what you do, by example. But sometimes you need to step up and say some things. I thought Hatcher’s words after practice were directed at our entire football team. I think it was a real good sign of leadership by him. He’s one of the most well-respected players in our locker room. Certainly our guys responded the right way. It starts with Hatch, it’s not about words with Hatch, it’s about how he plays and how he goes about it every single day. I think that’s what people respond to most.

Jason Hatcher leads by example
September, 22, 2013

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Jason Hatcher turned into the Speaker of the House.

After Wednesday’s practice, he spoke to his teammates and named names. Not in the way you would think he did, but just in general. He mentioned players such as DeMarcus Ware, Tony Romo, Jason Witten and himself as leaders.

Hatcher said everybody needs to play better.

Everybody.

Hatcher is irked his private chat with his teammates slipped through the proper channels and got to the media.

There was this report Hatcher was upset at some pick-six Romo threw in practice and he decided to call out Romo.

“That’s a complete fabrication,” Romo said to ESPN Dallas. “It’s funny how people make this stuff up.”

Hatcher said it never happened and referred to his quarterback as his brother and that he loved him.

“I think those reports are inaccurate,” coach Jason Garrett said of a beef between Hatcher and Romo. “One of the things we try to do as a football team is empower the people. Get everybody invested. Get players invested, get coaches invested and guys to take leadership roles. This is their football team.”

Oh, yeah, the Cowboys had a game to play Sunday and did so, beating the St. Louis Rams 31-7 at AT&T Stadium.

The Speaker of the House spoke to the team after the game, too, thanking them for their efforts.

Hatcher set the tone early with a tackle on the first run play of the game. When his afternoon was over, Hatcher finished with two tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and three quarterback hits.

The Cowboys seem to be playing with a chip on their shoulder these days. Maybe all of these 8-8 seasons have finally upset some stomachs.

As you get older, you look back on your life with regret sometimes. The Cowboys review the 2006 playoff loss to Seattle and Romo’s fumbled snap on a field goal try as a wasted opportunity. The next season, a No. 1 seed and first-round bye wasn’t good enough as the Cowboys were knocked out by the New York Giants in the NFC divisional round.

In 2009, the Cowboys were a better team, but not as good as Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round and lost.

In 2011 and 2012, the Cowboys could clinch a playoff berth with a victory in the regular-season finale. The Cowboys lost both times.

And now this season, after a season-opening victory against the Giants, the Cowboys lost in Kansas City, 17-16, in Week 2.

Hatcher had seen enough.

“It was supposed to be private,” Hatcher said of his chat. “I don’t do stuff for attention. I’m just a number, I’m not a name, I’m not a star player, I’m a role player. I do my job on this team, that’s what I do. I’m not trying to get in the media and be the face of the franchise. I’m serving my purpose and I’m doing what I feel I’m supposed to do. I’m doing everything from my heart. That’s me in a nutshell. I’m not out here trying to get it back to the media. I don’t know how it got back to the media -- it wasn’t supposed to -- it was for my teammates and not for anybody else’s ears.”

Hatcher felt he didn’t need to set the tone for his team. Yet, it was needed because whenever you step up in front of your family and tell them to improve, you better be out front.

“In fact, it’s inspirational with Hatcher, especially inspiring the team, and of course those guys backing it up with [their] play,” Jerry Jones said. “In order to really make that work, [you do it] with emotion and persuasion when you need to be a real player.”

One of Hatcher's closest friends on the team supported him like Romo did.

“It’s just how people should play and we played that way this week,” Ware said of Hatcher's talk. “Everybody calls us a roller-coaster team and we’re not trying to be that. We’re trying to be consistent every week.”

The Cowboys (2-1) are in first place in the NFC East. Hatcher asked reporters who the Cowboys play next week because he honestly didn’t know. (It's San Diego.) The only thing Hatcher watches on TV is "Breaking Bad," and that series is about to conclude soon. So Hatcher is taking this one-game-at-a-time approach seriously. His focus is on the Cowboys and not so much on what's happening at his alma mater, Grambling State, which fired coach Doug Williams recently.

Hatcher's focus is on ending these roller-coaster seasons. He wants sustained success.

"We look too good on paper, man, to let games like Kansas City slip through our fingers," he said. "And we came out and we played it well [Sunday]."

Cowboys deny Hatcher called out Romo; but don’t deny being inspired by speech

The Cowboys are denying reports that defensive tackle Jason Hatcher called at quarterback Tony Romo among others in a speech to the team after practice Wednesday.

But they don’t deny that Romo’s words of accountability and making the most of this opportunity helped inspire the team to victory against the Rams Sunday.

“I think those reports are inaccurate,” Garrett said. “We try to empower people. Hatcher’s words after practice was directed at our entire football team. I think it was a real good sign of leadership by him. It’s not about words with Hatcher. It’s how he plays every day. Certainly, our guys responded the right way.”

Romo denied being called out personally by Hatcher, saying he was talking to the entire team. Romo said he and other leaders such as tight end Jason Witten have spoken to the team before and Hatcher has earned the right to do so.

“He named like five people,” Romo said. “Why would he call me out? He wants guys to understand how important it is every week.

“I thought it was a great talk. Guys who have been around, you are going to listen to. Witt talks, guys listen. I talk, guys listen. Hatch talks, they listen, one because Hatch’s production has been good and because he has a great work ethic. It allows you to stand up in front of the team. He has done a great job of that.”

Not coincidentally it was Hatcher who spoke to the Cowboys in the locker room after the game, thus reinforces his words of the past week regarding them making him tired of the mediocrity of years past and stressing the importance of making the most of this opportunity this year.

The Cowboys have a 106-105 record since 2000 and 18-17 since the start of the 2011 season.

Hatcher also wanted it clear that he has no problem with Romo.

“I just want to win, man,” Hatcher said. “We are too good on paper, man, to just let games like Kansas City slip through our fingers, man. So that’s what it was.

“I love Romo to death. I wasn’t getting on Romo. He came out and balled. Did you see that? He balled out. They ran the ball. He threw the ball great. He is the best quarterback in the league. I love Romo. Romo loves me.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Hatcher’s speech and play were inspiration. He was certainly pleased with the results from Romo, who threw three touchdown passes, and Hatcher, who notched his third sack of the season.

“I know that Hatcher really expressed himself emotionally this week at practice,” Jones said. “It’s inspirational with Hatcher, especially inspiring the team and of course those guys backing it up with play. In order to really make that work, with emotion and persuasion, you need to be a real player. Those two guys are and had the game to back it up today.”

Clarence Hill

Jason Hatcher: I wasn’t getting on Tony Romo, ‘he’s the best quarterback in the league’

By Jon Machota
jmachota@dallasnews.com
6:19 pm on September 22, 2013 | Permalink

ARLINGTON – Did Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Jason Hatcher call out Tony Romo during a recent practice?

Before Sunday’s game, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reported that Hatcher got on Romo after the franchise quarterback audibled out of a run play and then threw an interception.

Hatcher spoke in front of the team this past week, but according to Hatcher, Sean Lee and Romo, the veteran defensive lineman was not pointing any fingers at the team’s franchise quarterback.

“He was just talking to our entire team to get us going after a loss, basically saying we can’t win one, lose one, win one, lose one, if we want to be great,” Lee said. “We talked about being great and we talked about working hard. We have to do it week in, week out. He addressed the whole team with his comments.”

How did Romo view the speech?

“He wants young guys to understand how important it is every week,” Romo said. “I thought it was a great talk. I thought, in general, it’s tough to win at different times. He did a great job of getting that across to some of the young guys that you have to bring it every single day.

“I talked to the team the day before, the week before. And [Jason] Witten talked to the team. Guys who have been around, you are going to listen to. Wit talk, guys listen. When I talk, they listen. When Hatch talks, they listen.”

Asked if everything was all good between him and Romo, Hatcher did his best to clear everything up.

“I love Romo to death,” Hatcher said. “I wasn’t getting on Romo. He’s the best quarterback in the league, so I love Romo to death. That’s my brother.”

Hatcher added: “Romo knows what’s at stake. Why would I get on the leader of the team?”

I must say Hatcher has really impressed me this year. It's too bad he is already 31 because he looks like he will be a terror in this defense.

Cowboysrock55 said:

I must say Hatcher has really impressed me this year. It's too bad he is already 31 because he looks like he will be a terror in this defense.

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If he would sign for a reasonable price, I'd consider keeping him. He doesn't have a lot of miles on him for being 31. If he wants to break the bank, he can go elsewhere. I think I might offer him a cap friendly deal later in the year and if he turns it down, let him try FA to see what his market value is.

NoDak said:

If he would sign for a reasonable price, I'd consider keeping him. He doesn't have a lot of miles on him for being 31. If he wants to break the bank, he can go elsewhere. I think I might offer him a cap friendly deal later in the year and if he turns it down, let him try FA to see what his market value is.

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I worry what he will cost if he posts 8-10 sacks this year which wouldn't surprise me at all at this point. Of course he may be reasonable about it since he basically was calling himself a role player today. He doesn't think of himself as a start so maybe he won't be asking for star money.

“I love Romo to death,” Hatcher said. “I wasn’t getting on Romo. He’s the best quarterback in the league, so I love Romo to death. That’s my brother.”

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Church Hatch.