Archer: Tony Romo moves into different role - mentor

Cotton

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Tony Romo moves into different role: mentor

11:34 AM CT
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

OXNARD, Calif. -- If you’re looking for the time Tony Romo started to figure out what it took to play quarterback in the NFL, go to 2004.

When he was a rookie in 2003, the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback room was filled with inexperienced quarterbacks. Quincy Carter was the starter and helped the Cowboys to the playoffs, but he was far from a finished product. Chad Hutchinson was just in his second year in pro football after a baseball career and was the backup.

Romo made the team as an undrafted free agent.

By the early part of training camp in 2004, Carter was released, Hutchinson was gone and Vinny Testaverde was the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. Romo and Drew Henson, fresh off his baseball career, were the backups.

Testaverde was entering his 18th season and was one of Bill Parcells’ favorites from their time together with the New York Jets.

Romo became a sponge, soaking up the wisdom Testaverde, who turned 41 during the 2004 season, delivered.

“He was a guy who needed to develop a little more and learn the game, but you could see the ability and the talent was there," Testaverde said. "[He was] a smart kid, always asking questions. We’d sit in the film room together after practice and he’d pick my brain. He’d ask a lot of great questions and you could see that he was interested and willing to do what he could to get on the field.”

Twelve years later, Romo finds himself in the Testaverde role in the Cowboys’ quarterback room. The sponges are Dak Prescott, the Cowboys’ fourth-round pick, and Jameill Showers.

For most of Romo’s time as the full-time starter, he had been paired with a veteran backup quarterback -- from Brad Johnson to Jon Kitna to Kyle Orton. It wasn’t until 2014 that the Cowboys went with an inexperienced quarterback with Brandon Weeden.

Now they are as inexperienced at the position as they were in 2004.

"There is so much to the day that you can't possibly learn it all,” Romo said. “Their job is to ask questions, watch tape, learn, get out there and throw the football and work on their technique and fundamentals, work on their thought process. Also, through osmosis, just learn from being around it. These guys really do a great job of that. They are both hard-working guys. They set themselves up for being successful.”

As Romo watched the preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams, Prescott was impressive in his debut, completing 10 of 12 passes for 139 yards with two touchdown passes. Showers was not as fortunate to play with some starters, completing eight of 15 passes for 99 yards, but he had a scramble that led to a 47-yard completion to Vince Mayle.

Romo spent the game on the headsets.

“He was into it,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. “I said, ‘Tony, a big part of this is we’ve got these young guys and they’re going to need your presence.’ He was into it, looking through the photos and the video and kind of talking through some of the things that came up and kind of talking about some of the plays that we’re going run and how to look at them. He did a great job of being a leader with those guys in between series.”

The Cowboys’ plan entering training camp was to have Kellen Moore as Romo’s backup, but he broke his fibula in the second padded practice and is likely out until November. The Cowboys flirted with the possibility of signing Nick Foles and had discussions with the Cleveland Browns about Josh McCown.

They could re-visit the position before the season starts, but they are committed to giving Prescott and Showers snaps.

“I couldn’t ask for a better mentor, better leader of the quarterback room,” Prescott said. “He’s an offensive coordinator behind the center basically. The things he talks about in the meetings and he comes out here and puts them on the field each and every day. It’s just great to see.”

Prescott said Romo will quiz the quarterbacks in the film room as they watch the practice film. He seeks their advice and opinions as well. Testaverde did the same thing to him.

Romo is 36. He is in his 14th season and is signed through 2019. He has constantly changed how much longer he is going to play, anywhere from four years to eight years, but he knows his time is closing.

“I mean any time you can pass on your knowledge and help especially good people, guys you see a little bit of yourself in with the work ethic, I think it’s exciting to see them succeed and compete,” Romo said. “I want them to be successful. The hope and goal is for one day to pass that one and let these guys run off and play, Kellen included. Hopefully they can carry on the level of play we want at the quarterback position.”
 

kidd

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A lot different attitude than Drew Bledsoe.

Favre too for that matter.
 

Joe Fan

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Here's hoping that Prescott can soak it up like a sponge.
 

dallen

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A lot different attitude than Drew Bledsoe.

Favre too for that matter.
I don't think the situations are all that comparable. Romo isn't afraid Dak is going to steal his job.
 

townsend

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I don't think the situations are all that comparable. Romo isn't afraid Dak is going to steal his job.
Hell, even if a time comes where Dak is the clearly superior QB, Jason isn't going to ever bench Romo. Unlike Parcells, Garrett doesn't have the stones.
 

Smitty

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Hell, even if a time comes where Dak is the clearly superior QB, Jason isn't going to ever bench Romo. Unlike Parcells, Garrett doesn't have the stones.
1) No one has stones like Parcells.

2) Parcells kept better younger players on the bench in favor of trusted vets all the time.
 

townsend

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1) No one has stones like Parcells.

2) Parcells kept better younger players on the bench in favor of trusted vets all the time.
True, but he benched his guy Bledsoe for Romo. I don't think Jason would ever have the chutzpah to make that kind of move.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Hell, even if a time comes where Dak is the clearly superior QB, Jason isn't going to ever bench Romo. Unlike Parcells, Garrett doesn't have the stones.
Yeah, although the only way that really will come up is if Romo gets hurt and Dak really thrives. If that happens there may be too much pressure on Garrett to stick with the young guy who is succeeding. Sort of a Bledsoe and Tom Brady dynamic. Lets not forget Tom Brady wasn't a starter until Bledsoe got hurt and then Brady stepped in and played amazingly well.
 

ravidubey

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True, but he benched his guy Bledsoe for Romo. I don't think Jason would ever have the chutzpah to make that kind of move.
Turnovers, which Parcells had no tolerance for, did Bledsoe in.

If Bledsoe put up pedestrian stats with no picks or fumbles I think Parcells would have stuck with him come Hell or high water.
 

townsend

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Yeah, although the only way that really will come up is if Romo gets hurt and Dak really thrives. If that happens there may be too much pressure on Garrett to stick with the young guy who is succeeding. Sort of a Bledsoe and Tom Brady dynamic. Lets not forget Tom Brady wasn't a starter until Bledsoe got hurt and then Brady stepped in and played amazingly well.
Poor Bledsoe, he could never find a team that he didn't end up replaced on. If I had to guess, and it's based on a one decent preseason performance so take it with a salt lick, we'd probably see some controversy stirring by next offseason. In 06 Romo only had preseason and camp performances to go off of, and the controversy was in full swing before Bledose threw his 1st interception.

If we have another predictably mediocre 2016 season with Romo flinging the ball 400 times to keep up with whichever team is torching our garbage defense, I'd expect him to look bad, and the team to start looking toward the future.
 

Simpleton

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Poor Bledsoe, he could never find a team that he didn't end up replaced on. If I had to guess, and it's based on a one decent preseason performance so take it with a salt lick, we'd probably see some controversy stirring by next offseason. In 06 Romo only had preseason and camp performances to go off of, and the controversy was in full swing before Bledose threw his 1st interception.

If we have another predictably mediocre 2016 season with Romo flinging the ball 400 times to keep up with whichever team is torching our garbage defense, I'd expect him to look bad, and the team to start looking toward the future.
Doubtful unless Romo again misses 8+ games and/or really regresses for whatever reason.

Bledsoe had a 60% completion % and 23 TD's/17 INT's in 2005, then a 53.3% completion % and 7 TD's/8 INT's before Romo took over in 2006. He was declining and in 2006 he was pretty horrific before Romo took over, combine that with the fact that Parcells started Romo for an entire preseason game in order to get a look at him and there is a reason everybody was in an uproar.

If we simply win 8 or 9 games with Romo throwing somewhere around 28 TD's to 14 INT's I don't think we'll see too much of a movement for Prescott unless he absolutely slays the rest of this preseason and the next.
 

townsend

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Doubtful unless Romo again misses 8+ games and/or really regresses for whatever reason.

Bledsoe had a 60% completion % and 23 TD's/17 INT's in 2005, then a 53.3% completion % and 7 TD's/8 INT's before Romo took over in 2006. He was declining and in 2006 he was pretty horrific before Romo took over, combine that with the fact that Parcells started Romo for an entire preseason game in order to get a look at him and there is a reason everybody was in an uproar.

If we simply win 8 or 9 games with Romo throwing somewhere around 28 TD's to 14 INT's I don't think we'll see too much of a movement for Prescott unless he absolutely slays the rest of this preseason and the next.
I think Romo's performance will be the question. In his 4 games last year he was not great. 5 TDs, 7 Ints. I think 3 pick sixes. Last we saw of Romo was at Thanksgiving and him getting his collarbone broken almost seemed like a mercy, compared to having to stay in for the rest of that game.

I sincerely hope Romo can return to 2014 form, but it's an optimistic, if not unrealistic expectation. Not that Dak would be an improvement this year or ever for all we know, but I think the Cowboys showed their hand when they tried so hard to trade up for Lynch, Romo's time playing at a high level is close to an end.
 

Simpleton

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I think Romo's performance will be the question. In his 4 games last year he was not great. 5 TDs, 7 Ints. I think 3 pick sixes. Last we saw of Romo was at Thanksgiving and him getting his collarbone broken almost seemed like a mercy, compared to having to stay in for the rest of that game.

I sincerely hope Romo can return to 2014 form, but it's an optimistic, if not unrealistic expectation. Not that Dak would be an improvement this year or ever for all we know, but I think the Cowboys showed their hand when they tried so hard to trade up for Lynch, Romo's time playing at a high level is close to an end.
Romo clearly was nowhere near 100% against Miami and Carolina, I wouldn't hold those performances against him. As for the Giants game, if I remember correctly the INT's weren't his fault at all as they were perfectly fine passes that bounced off the hands of the WR/TE and ended up getting intercepted.

If he's generally healthy this year and plays, let's say, 13 games, I think the worst case scenario is something like 26 TD's and 14 INT's.
 

townsend

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Romo clearly was nowhere near 100% against Miami and Carolina, I wouldn't hold those performances against him. As for the Giants game, if I remember correctly the INT's weren't his fault at all as they were perfectly fine passes that bounced off the hands of the WR/TE and ended up getting intercepted.

If he's generally healthy this year and plays, let's say, 13 games, I think the worst case scenario is something like 26 TD's and 14 INT's.
That seems about right. I think one of the most important things to watch will be Romo's arm. I feel like the velocity he gets on the ball has tapered off every year. Now allegedly his back is supposed to be even healthier now, so maybe that'll help. But last year, even if you disregard the INTs Romo had a lot of trouble moving the ball. Apart from an amazing, seriously fucking amazing, last couple of minutes against the Giants last year, this offense seemed to consistently stall.

The first 3 quarters against New York, and all his time in the Philly game looked fucking futile.
 

Simpleton

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That seems about right. I think one of the most important things to watch will be Romo's arm. I feel like the velocity he gets on the ball has tapered off every year. Now allegedly his back is supposed to be even healthier now, so maybe that'll help. But last year, even if you disregard the INTs Romo had a lot of trouble moving the ball. Apart from an amazing, seriously fucking amazing, last couple of minutes against the Giants last year, this offense seemed to consistently stall.

The first 3 quarters against New York, and all his time in the Philly game looked fucking futile.
I agree that the offense generally didn't look right or in rhythm in the first 2 games but I'm willing to basically write that off and give Romo a clean slate, primarily because of the small sample size but also because at that point our running game was built around dunce Randle and Bryant was just totally off from the jump, and then obviously he had the injury.

We'll see what happens, although I think at the end of the day it's either going to take a serious regression or another major injury for there to be any kind of serious discussion about going with Prescott next year, not to mention it'd also take Prescott continuing to impress.
 

Joe Fan

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Personally I'm just happy that it's beginning to look as we may possibly have our QB of the future, or at the very least hopefully a capable backup.

All I'm hoping for is that Dak continues to soak up whatever Romo shares like a sponge and builds upon his first preseason performance.

I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't entirely on board with bringing him in especially considering how close we were to Wentz or Lynch but I'm at least hopeful now towards post-Romo.

Yes, it's still way too damn early to say one thing or another but he's at least flashed an "it" factor that I haven't seen on this team since Romo's early days.

Here's to hoping that he keeps improving. It's just a shame that Wade came back because I honestly feel he's a progress stopper.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I agree that the offense generally didn't look right or in rhythm in the first 2 games but I'm willing to basically write that off and give Romo a clean slate, primarily because of the small sample size but also because at that point our running game was built around dunce Randle and Bryant was just totally off from the jump, and then obviously he had the injury..
We have seen Romo get off to slow starts in seasons past. A lot of it I think has to do with him no playing much in preseason or in training camp really and he sort of has rust to shake off. For the long term sake of our season I don't mind but I don't think Romo's abilities have really regressed. But he is still very likely to get hurt.
 
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