How Tony Romo Became the Cowboys Quarterback

Texas Ace

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Sean Payton: "We were playing a game in D.C., and it was freezing. It was rainy, wet, icy conditions -- about as cold as you could imagine without snow. Quincy was starting and it's early in the game, and Chad and Romo had whole ski masks on with just a little area for your eyes. We're getting ready to kick off, and Bill turns and looks, and he sees Chad. He says, 'I'll never put a quarterback in the game dressed like that.' As he's saying that to Chad, Tony's ripping his hat off his head, and the only evidence Tony was wearing one was the static cling that had his hair going straight up and down."

:lol

That's great.
 

Texas Ace

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Quincy Carter, Cowboys quarterback, 2001-04: "To be honest with you, I thought he was gonna get cut. He was terrible. He couldn't even get the snap. He was horrible; he was absolutely horrible. He did bring breakfast sandwiches on time on Fridays, but he was terrible on the field."

There are so many lulz in that quote coming from a guy like Quinthy.
 

Texas Ace

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Larry Lacewell: "Parcells wanted to bring in one of his old guys: Testaverde. That was my falling-out. I met Parcells in a scouting room, and I said, 'We don't see it.' Parcells said, 'Well, don't say anything to Jerry [Jones] about it,' which is just about the time Jerry walked in the room and said, 'What do you think?' Parcells said, 'God damn, I can coach him. I can bring him in here, and I know how to get the most out of him,' blah, blah, blah. About that time, I said, 'If you're such a great quarterbacks coach, take one of these young guys and make him a great young quarterback.' That about wrapped my deal up."

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Stuff like this is great.

I miss how interesting the inner-workings of the club were when Parcells was here.
 

Cotton

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About to jump on a conference call. Give me about an hour and I will see what I can do.
 

Texas Ace

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Romo's career changed on Aug. 12, 2006, when Parcells started him in the first preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks and played him every snap. For an undrafted free agent -- now in his fourth season in the league -- it was like the Super Bowl. It was Romo's opportunity to show what he had learned while sitting on the bench and whether he could handle a bigger role with the Cowboys. He completed 19 of 25 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown. He finished the preseason 64-of-92 for 833 yards with three touchdowns, three interceptions and a 95.1 passer rating.

Sean Payton, meanwhile, had become the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. He made a call to his former team to try to trade for Romo. "When the topic came up, Bill told me to have a warm glass of milk and take a nap on the couch. It was never seriously discussed."


:lol
 

Texas Ace

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Bill Parcells: "I think he'll tell you [the Seattle game] was the key game for him building his confidence and the confidence of coaches. Anyone who would tell you they knew conclusively about Romo before that is full of s---."

:lol

Parcells really is a great in PCs, interviews, and things like that. He knows so much about the game and that coupled with his personality really makes for insightful reading/watching.
 

Texas Ace

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Tony Sparano: "Prior to the Giants game, we had just finished practice, a two-minute drill and a heck of a period -- and Tony did what he always did, and I remember talking to Bill about it. 'I know you don't want my opinion, but my opinion is this: I just think this guy moves the football team, I think a lot of people believe in this guy and I think this is a lot closer than we think.'"

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This is a very interesting quote because it really could apply to Dak Prescott who ironically is replacing the guy that this story is about.

You can just kind of see how the team is moved by Dak and how they believe in him.

It's funny how life just moves in circles like that.
 

Chocolate Lab

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That was amazing. Not sure who really wrote that, but it was 100000x better than anything JJT's ever written before.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Stuff like this is great.

I miss how interesting the inner-workings of the club were when Parcells was here.
Not to turn this back around to Jerry, but I thought the part from Stephen was interesting:
Stephen said:
"Jerry and I, truth be known, would've pushed to have him in there sooner, but we kind of had our deal with Bill on how things would work."
I assume that means it was in the contract that Bill made all the decisions and we stayed out of it. No wonder those years were better.

I also call BS on Jerry wanting Romo. I think that's Jerry revisionism to make himself look better. I remember at the time, Jerry was the one who supposedly was against the move.
 

Texas Ace

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Not to turn this back around to Jerry, but I thought the part from Stephen was interesting: I assume that means it was in the contract that Bill made all the decisions and we stayed out of it. No wonder those years were better.

I also call BS on Jerry wanting Romo. I think that's Jerry revisionism to make himself look better. I remember at the time, Jerry was the one who supposedly was against the move.
Yea, I found that quote from Stephen very interesting as well.

Whether it was in his contract or not, it's clear by that statement that there was an agreement with Parcells that he would decide the on-the-field football matters.

It's a shame they don't operate that way now.
 

Jiggyfly

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Larry Lacewell: "Parcells wanted to bring in one of his old guys: Testaverde. That was my falling-out. I met Parcells in a scouting room, and I said, 'We don't see it.' Parcells said, 'Well, don't say anything to Jerry [Jones] about it,' which is just about the time Jerry walked in the room and said, 'What do you think?' Parcells said, 'God damn, I can coach him. I can bring him in here, and I know how to get the most out of him,' blah, blah, blah. About that time, I said, 'If you're such a great quarterbacks coach, take one of these young guys and make him a great young quarterback.' That about wrapped my deal up."

----------------------------

Stuff like this is great.

I miss how interesting the inner-workings of the club were when Parcells was here.
Lacewell was not wrong here, Romo should have been in there much earlier especially considering how that team was in rebuild mode.
 

Texas Ace

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Drew Bledsoe, Cowboys quarterback, 2005-06: "Just no benefit to me in talking about it. If I told the truth ..." [Bledsoe declined to comment further.]

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Poor Bledsoe.

The guy was in denial then and he still has trouble accepting that he just didn't have it anymore.

"If I told the truth......" -- what is that supposed to mean? That there were other factors that put Romo in the game? The decision to put Romo in was absolutely justified because of how awful Bledsoe was in that half and in that season up to that point. Even if there were other factors, they weren't needed because his very poor play was reason enough to warrant the move.

I get the feeling at times that Bledsoe is a bitter guy when it comes to his career because he was replaced twice in the middle of a season. Of course, you don't expect a guy to like that, but most guys are ok with it and are truthful about where they were at certain points in their career once they've been retired for a while.

Bledsoe is clearly not one of those guys.
 

Texas Ace

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Lacewell was not wrong here, Romo should have been in there much earlier especially considering how that team was in rebuild mode.
No way was Romo ready to go in 2004.

Bringing in Testaverde was certainly a personal move for Parcells, but there was no damn way Romo was ready to go in 2004 and not even 2005 for that matter.
 

Rev

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Yea, I found that quote from Stephen very interesting as well.

Whether it was in his contract or not, it's clear by that statement that there was an agreement with Parcells that he would decide the on-the-field football matters.

It's a shame they don't operate that way now.
I'm not sure I want Garrett making those decisions. This is the guy that decides to pass the ball with a huge lead against Green Bay with Murray in beastmode was a good idea.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Side note, I don't know why they say Romo was so horrible from the beginning. I was there at camp in San Antonio for a couple days the second week, I guess, of practice (couple days before the scrimmage vs Houston) and Romo wasn't any worse than Quincy or Hutch, I didn't think. And I remember thinking that his best passes were better than either of the other guys'. One pass to Witten about 25 yards downfield -- Witten could run then -- was perfectly accurate. I remember thinking that was a better pass than I saw Quincy or Hutch throw in two days.

Or maybe that was just Quincy saying how awful he was. We know all too well about Quincy's IQ.
 

Jiggyfly

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Not to turn this back around to Jerry, but I thought the part from Stephen was interesting: I assume that means it was in the contract that Bill made all the decisions and we stayed out of it. No wonder those years were better.

I also call BS on Jerry wanting Romo. I think that's Jerry revisionism to make himself look better. I remember at the time, Jerry was the one who supposedly was against the move.
Where they really better?

Those teams were as mediocre as these teams and also collapsed down the stretch.

Garret gets a lot of shit but the records are pretty comparable.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Where they really better?

Those teams were as mediocre as these teams and also collapsed down the stretch.

Garret gets a lot of shit but the records are pretty comparable.
You cannot be serious. Comparable records?

Parcells: Four years, three winning records, two playoff appearances
Garrett: Five years, one winning record, one playoff appearance

And Garrett had a franchise QB from the start.
 

Jiggyfly

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No way was Romo ready to go in 2004.

Bringing in Testaverde was certainly a personal move for Parcells, but there was no damn way Romo was ready to go in 2004 and not even 2005 for that matter.
Why was he not ready in 2005?

It was a rebuilding team and Romo could have had a couple of years under his belt while the team was getting better, what exactly did we get from Testeverde?

He most definitely should have started the season in 2006 that team would have probably played a home playoff game.
 

Genghis Khan

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No way was Romo ready to go in 2004.

Bringing in Testaverde was certainly a personal move for Parcells, but there was no damn way Romo was ready to go in 2004 and not even 2005 for that matter.
Correct about 2004. Judging in retrospect by how I remember him in the preseasons, I think he may have been ready in 2005. But on the other hand, Bledsoe was pretty decent in 2005.

But I'm glad we brought in Vinny; I think he was instrumental to romo's development.
 
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