Archer: Seattle K ball conspiracy theory still lingers

[Irving Cowboy]

Seattle K ball conspiracy theory still lingers
September, 14, 2012
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas – Before Tony Romo bobbled the snap that negated a potential game-winning field goal attempt by Martin Gramatica in the 2006 playoffs, L.P. Ladouceur was the last person to touch the football.

Much has been made about the shiny K ball that was inserted into the game before the kick, and it has become something of a conspiracy theory that Ladouceur doesn’t necessarily shoot down.

“Looking back, it was obvious they switched the ball,” Ladouceur said. “Back then, (teams) did that at away games. I think they did the same thing in Buffalo the year after. They had some really shiny footballs. After they did the K ball rule, you weren’t allowed to brush them as much. Now you’re able to brush them a lot better. I think they allowed five minutes back then, and they never got to ball No. 3 or 4. Now they can. It was shiny. At the same time, we’re professionals and we’re supposed to put the ball down, snap it right and do all that stuff.”

Ladouceur said the weather that night -- a little cold and damp -- could have contributed to the slippery ball as well. At the time, he was unaware what happened after the snap.

“I remember going back to the sideline asking what happened and he [a teammate] was like, ‘He dropped it.’ Was the snap all right? ‘Yeah, he just dropped it,’” Ladouceur said. “I looked at the big screen and that was so close to the first down. The ball was on the 1-yard line and then they had a challenge upstairs. I remember it being a long process, and I think that’s how that ball got put in. Something must have happened to get another ball in. But a ball is a ball and you’re supposed to get it done anyways.”

 

[Irving Cowboy]

Seattle Slip stat pack
September, 14, 2012
By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas – A stat pack to complement Todd Archer’s tearjerker about Tony Romo’s last trip to Seattle:

9: Current Cowboys who were on the roster for that game: Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Marcus Spears, DeMarcus Ware, Miles Austin, Jason Hatcher, Jay Ratliff, L.P. Ladouceur, Kenyon Coleman. Romo, Witten, Spears and Ware are the only current Cowboys who started in that game. Coleman left Dallas after that season and returned after four years.

112: Yards rushing on 22 carries by Julius Jones against the Seahawks that night, including a 35-yard run to set up the infamous botched field goal.

189: Passing yards by Tony Romo, who completed 17 of 29 passes with one touchdown and no interceptions. Coach Bill Parcells protected the first-year starting QB with a conservative game plan despite facing a Seattle secondary that was so depleted the ex-Cowboy Pete Hunter, who was working as a loan officer in Dallas, was signed that week and played in the nickel package.

93: Yards on a kickoff return for a touchdown by Miles Austin, then an undrafted, unknown rookie.

50: Yards on the field goal Martin Gramatica made in the first quarter

2: Catches by Terrell Owens for 26 yards.

2: Touchdowns for Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens

2: Points for the Seahawks on the safety that resulted from Terry Glenn’s fumble in the fourth quarter, when the ball bounced out of the end zone. It was a critical play in the game that’s largely forgotten because the Cowboys had a chance to win on the field goal with 1:19 remaining.

1: Tackle by DeMarcus Ware, who did not have a sack.

20: Yards gained by Seattle’s Shaun Alexander off left tackle on the snap after the hold slipped through Romo’s hands. That run essentially sealed the win for the Seahawks. The Cowboys otherwise did an outstanding job against Alexander, holding him to 69 yards on 24 carries.

0-2: Parcells' record in playoff games with the Cowboys, his only stop as a head coach where he failed to get a postseason win.

 

[Irving Cowboy]

If not for fumble, would Bill Parcells have coached on?
September, 14, 2012
By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- As Todd Archer reminds Cowboys fans, quarterback Tony Romo is returning to Seattle for the first time since the 2006 NFC playoffs.

In that wild-card game, Romo fumbled the snap on a potential game-winning field goal attempt, and the Cowboys lost 21-20 to Seattle.

Afterward, then-coach Bill Parcells retired.

If the Cowboys had won that game, would Parcells have continued on?

"I always had a good understanding and a good feel to where Bill was, relative to his motivation, relative to his clock if you will," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "So his decision to not coach anymore wasn’t a shock to me. I wanted him to continue if he wanted to continue. I knew a time frame that he was looking to when he took the job. I didn’t anticipate anything, but just was not shocked."

Parcells rebuilt the Cowboys after three consecutive 5-11 seasons under Dave Campo. Several players from the Parcells era remain as major contributors -- Jason Witten, Marcus Spears, DeMarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Jason Hatcher, Miles Austin and Romo.

Since the Seattle loss, the Cowboys have won the NFC East twice, earned their first playoff victory since 1996, were a No. 1 seed and have had two coaching changes.

"When you think about a team, especially all the guys coming together, you grow each year from that adversity," Ware said. "You build character from that, and it's where we are right now. We're the veterans of the team, and all those little adverse times from when we were younger has molded us to where we are right now. We're a much more mature team."

Are the Cowboys a better team after the 2006 playoff loss?

Maybe. You can look at the 2007 season, when they finished 13-3 and were the NFC top seed -- only to lose in the divisional round to the New York Giants at home -- as maybe the high-point of the Parcells era.

Yes, Wade Phillips was coaching that team. But it was mainly Parcells' players that fueled the season.

Romo, meanwhile, is still judged on that 2006 bobbled snap and, despite a Pro Bowl season (36 TDs, 4,211 yards) a 2007 loss to the Giants after a trip to Cabo during the playoff bye week. Both still upset Cowboys fans.

"I think you have some, in his case, a person and player who is continuing striving for ways to get better," Jones said of Romo. "It’s one of his best qualities. He never sits still or thinks in the now. He’s always trying to think ahead, get better in different circumstances (and) how it can help him be a better player and better for the Cowboys."

Parcells helped the Cowboys get better, but you have to wonder: If not for the fumble, what might have been?

 

[Irving Cowboy]

Tony Romo can't outrun bobbled snap
As Cowboys return to Seattle, wild-card miscue still lingers over QB's successes
Updated: September 14, 2012, 6:19 PM ET
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- The picture is forever etched into the memory of Dallas Cowboys fans everywhere.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but Al Johnson is quick to preach about Tony Romo's successes rather than his ex-teammate's costly bobble in Seattle during the 2006 wild-card round.

Tony Romo clutching his face mask, sitting on the ground, his head dejectedly down. Al Johnson leaning over -- one Wisconsin kid asking another if he was OK.

"I only ever think about that play when I see the picture," Johnson said this week from his Brussels, Wis., home. "But here's the deal. I feel bad for all the crap Tony takes about that. It was one play. That is not going to be the defining moment in an already great career. And I do feel bad. He's taken a lot of crap for that one play. That is not always just."

On Sunday, Romo returns to Seattle for the first time since the wild-card loss to the Seahawks in the 2006 season when the snap on a field goal attempt slipped through his hands with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter.

Despite all Romo has done in his career -- three Pro Bowl appearances, franchise records for touchdown passes and passing yards in a season, a 48-30 record, two NFC East titles, a victory in the 2009 playoffs -- the bobbled snap, to many, remains the defining play of his career.

“You never look back and say, 'What if?' What you do is learn and you get better.”
-- Cowboys QB Tony Romo

How many times have you seen the picture? How many times have you seen a replay? How many times will you see it this week?

Try living it, like Romo has, and being reminded about it again not only this week but countless times even as the years pass.

He made light of the situation Thursday as he read the comments he made to the Seattle media the day before from his iPhone, knowing the questions were coming.

"Football is a great game," Romo said, his thumb scrolling the touch screen of his phone. "It teaches you a lot of lessons. It's about your ability to interact with other people. From that game, it's like anything in life. From adverse situations you learn from it and get better. You can teach yourself certain things and that was part of it."

According to the official play-by-play sheet, the fourth-down play took five seconds. It seemed a lot longer with each frame dissected and analyzed.

The despair when L.P. Ladouceur's snap slid through his fingers. The frantic attempt to place the ball as Martin Gramatica approached the kick. The hope as Romo started to run toward what looked like a touchdown -- or at least a first down at the Seattle 1 -- with no defender in sight. The deflation as Jordan Babineaux tackled Romo from behind, stopping him short of the goal line and even a first down.

Johnson thought Romo was hurt as he approached him.

"He took a pretty good shot and he was on the ground," Johnson said. "My first reaction was just to go see if he was hurt. I asked him if he was OK. I don't think he responded."

Emotionally, Romo was hurt for a while. Not only because of what he lost, but there was the hurt he felt for everybody else around him: teammates, coaches, staff, ownership.

"I remember more than anything his mindset of, 'Man, I feel like I let everybody around us down,' you know?" tight end Jason Witten said. "I do think he uses that fuel. That's what kind of teammate he is. Not only for himself [and] for what he wants to achieve but he wants others to have that success. He wants it bad for them."

Sean Payton, an Eastern Illinois grad like Romo and one of the major reasons he signed with the Cowboys in 2003, was the NFC's coach at the Pro Bowl a few weeks after the Seattle loss. At a meeting to set up the week for the players, Payton ended the session with, "And Romo, you're holding."

The room broke up in laughter. Even Romo chuckled.

"I think he laughed out of respect," Witten said. "I'm not going to speak for Tony but I know I felt I wanted to punch him [Payton] at that moment. But, yeah, he probably laughed out of respect."

How much changed that night for the Cowboys?

Bill Parcells sat with the pilots on the charter flight home, like he always did, knowing he had coached his last game. Marco Rivera's back was in so much pain that he had to lie down the entire flight home and went straight to the hospital from the airport.

So many people who remain in the organization today and those who have moved on believe the Cowboys would have beaten the Chicago Bears the next week and played in the NFC Championship Game.

"That's all speculation as to what we would have done," Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said, but later added, "I think there's a good chance we would have some success, maybe a lot of success in the [2006] playoffs."
If the Cowboys had made that 19-yard field goal and stopped Seattle in the final minute, then the Romo story would be so different. You wouldn't hear so much about his lack of playoff success. The Cabo trip before the 2007 playoff game against the New York Giants would not be on his Wikipedia page. You wouldn't hear so much about the team's lack of playoff success since the franchise's last Super Bowl win.

But maybe Romo would not have become the player he is today.

"You never look back and say, 'What if?'" Romo said. "What you do is learn and you get better. Anytime we've had a loss, I've learned and used tools from those games to figure out how to get to the point where you're a better player the next time."

 

[Irving Cowboy]

Tony Romo Returns To Seattle
by Archie Barberio

When the Dallas Cowboys take on the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday, there will be a lot at stake. The Cowboys are fresh off a fantastic win on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions the New York Giants. It was the type of win that begins to give a team a lot of confidence heading into the rest of their season. But for the Cowboys and Tony Romo, there are certain memories surrounding this game.

This will be the first game the team has played in Seattle since their 2007 playoff loss. You know, the game where Romo bobbled a snap and cost the Cowboys a playoff win.

Romo has really grown since that moment. Even though he has never escaped the outcome of that snap, Romo has managed to get back up and continue on his journey of being a NFL quarterback. Since we are fans of the Dallas Cowboys, we have basically watched Romo play every game. We know the type of quarterback he can be, but unfortunately only the negative seems to be pointed out about him.

Regardless of the outcome of that game, Romo moved on and the experience made him a better person. Life is all about fighting through adversity. Unfortunately, life isn't easy and we must continue to fight through whatever comes our way. Romo has fought through a lot of adversity and he continues to grow into a better quarterback because of it.

Romo was recently asked about the game, and he reflected about the past.

"Shoot, it feels like I was 10 years old back then," said Romo, who turned 32 back in April. "Football is a great game, it teaches you a lot of lessons. Your ability to interact with other people, how to develop into a leadership role, lots of things. But you put your head down and just get better."

That game probably changed Tony Romo forever. By that point, many of us were just happy to finally have something going at the quarterback position. Remember, this was a team that was desperate to find some stability at the position after Aikman retired. They searched and searched, but continued to come up with duds.

Romo changed all of that and gave the fan base some hope that he would be the quarterback to carry them back to the promised land. For the most part, Tony really made this team relevant again.

Jason Witten talked about how the botched snap changed Romo and motivated him to stay hungry throughout his career.

"What a freak play that was," Witten said, referring to Romo serving as the holder, along with his starting quarterback duties, and dropping the snap that prevented a go-ahead field goal with a minute remaining. "I do think his mindset of taking the next step – we really saw him elevate his game the next year and put himself in a category of elite quarterback – that’s when it started. Finishing that (2006 season) that way really fueled him. I think we’ve seen how he’s handled it and pushed himself. I think he remembers those adverse situations."

Romo worked hard that offseason, and his hard work paid off. In the next season, Romo had a breakout year. In 2007, Romo carried the Cowboys to a 13-3 record and the NFC East title. He threw for 4,211 yards, 36 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. During the 2007 season, we began to really see how good Romo could be.

Romo has accomplished a lot since that game. He continues to break about every passing record in Cowboys' history, but he is also accomplishing a lot off the field. In May of 2011 Romo became a married man, and this past April he had a beautiful baby boy.

This Sunday Romo will lead the Dallas Cowboys into battle and attempt to move on to a 2-0 record. I expect this to be a close game that is low scoring. According to Dan Graziano of ESPN, this is a very important game for the Dallas Cowboys, and I have to agree with him.

The Week 1 victory over the Giants offered plenty of fuel for the continuation of those beliefs. But a bad loss to a team they should beat would force everyone to tap the brakes on the early-season excitement. If the Cowboys fly home 1-1 on Sunday night, they'll land in a cloud of the same old doubt.

But if they look as good as they did last Wednesday, and if they fly home 2-0 ... well, then you start to think they might have something. The Cowboys were one of the surprises of Week 1, and the way they beat the champs gave them and their fans a truckload of reasons to feel good and encouraged about the way this season might go after all. Their challenge now is to take what they were in that game and build it into what they are week in and week out. If they can do that, then you start to think they can hold the lead in December. If they can string together a few performances that look anything like what they did against the Giants, the Cowboys will be giving themselves reason to believe they're capable of big things.

If the Cowboys win, it builds on the win from last week and the 2012 journey continues with heads held high as a legitimate contender. If Dallas loses, then it's a big step in the wrong direction.

Whatever happens this Sunday, we should all be thankful that Tony Romo is the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. It took a lot for him to come back from that snap in Seattle and face all of the adversity, but he did it. Romo feels awful about that play costing his team a win. Hopefully one day we get to see him hoist the Lombardi Trophy, of course, as a member of the Dallas Cowboys.