Since the NFL lockout has ended a lot of the normal offseason activity that should be occurring this time of year, there’s little else to do but make predictions, moan about the general state of affairs and try to create controversy. Admittedly, these are pursuits that sportswriters everywhere engage in anyway but with the lack of other more important subjects, the above activities have come to the fore.
So let’s wrap all three of the above topics into one and explore the fascinating case of one Tony Romo, Dallas’ enigmatic quarterback. He’s enigmatic because no one can really figure out what’s going on with this guy and everyone wants to know. That’s the way it is when you’re the QB of the ‘Boys, especially when the ‘Boys haven’t won anything meaningful in the last decade-and-a-half.
Last season was supposed to be the year it all came together for both the team and Romo personally. In his previous four seasons, he tantalized fans with his talent but fell short when crunch time arrived. His win-loss record in December was abysmal and what Dallas fan can forget playoff games in Seattle and Philadelphia?
But 2010 was going to be the Cowboys’ year and they were going to be the first team to play in a Super Bowl as a home team—at least in the gospel according to Jerry Jones. We all know how that turned out. The year of redemption became the year of agony and Romo's broken collarbone put an exclamation point on the worst season for the Cowboys in recent memory.
Looking at why last year was so bad may prove instructive, however, in trying to figure out Romo. Sure, he got hurt midway through the season but by that point all was pretty much lost anyway. What happened during the first half of the year? What went so terribly wrong?
Will Tony Romo ever lead the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl?
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Two things spring to mind: no leadership and no toughness.
When things get tough, in sports or elsewhere in life, someone has to step up and take charge. No one did that last year for the Cowboys. Wade Philips was as hapless a head coach as I think I've ever seen and why he was even hired in the first place is a subject for another article entirely.
It's no surprise the players all loved him. He never made them do the hard things that are required to be champions and never kicked butt even when it was glaringly obvious that it was needed so badly.
So in the absence of any real leadership from the coach, it should have been Romo who stepped into the void. And maybe he tried. It's hard to say exactly what goes on in a locker room but suffice it to say that we never saw any media reports about Romo doing just that. And it sure didn't seem like it was happening in a much more important place than the locker room—on the field.
Romo has to come to the realization at some point that he is the guy that has to set the tone for the rest of the team. Sure, he doesn't play defense but, except in rare cases, the quarterback—like it or not—is the de facto leader of the whole team. There's no way around it and Romo has to step up and be that guy because if he doesn't, then the Cowboys are going nowhere. They’ll be a team with lots of talent but with no direction, and even with a new head coach, the end result will be the same: no ring.
How do you be a leader? By being tough, first of all. That's why the two are intertwined. I'm not talking about on-field toughness. None of these guys got this far without having that. It's mental toughness that is needed and it's also the hardest to possess. It's the toughness that all great athletes have; the ability to put all else aside and focus on one thing until you succeed.
That's what has made every champion a champion and right now I just don't see it in Romo. You can't date Jessica Simpson and have her in the stands while you play and turn the whole thing into a media circus. You can't take a vacation in the middle of the playoffs. You cannot do these things. Period.
Can you imagine Johnny Unitas or Bart Starr or Roger Staubach pulling this stuff? These were tough guys. They were mentally tough and they didn't take crap from anyone. If you were on their team and you weren't 100 percent into winning, then you weren't there long.
Yeah, I know, it was a different era, a different culture, blah bah blah. So let's look around today.
Can you imagine Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers pulling this stuff? Wouldn't happen, even though Brady has a super-model wife, admittedly. It's never become an in-season distraction, however, and that's the point. For about six months a year, there has to be one focus and Romo doesn't seem to have that yet.
He's like a big kid out there having fun playing football and that's good in a way but he's got to be that kid that wants to win more than anyone else and will do anything to be on top. He's got to be the leader and command respect from his teammates but how can you do that when you're off sitting in the sun before a playoff game? Ain't gonna happen.
Romo has all the talent in the world but until he becomes a real leader, all that potential will never be realized because it's a TEAM that wins games, not a talented quarterback.
There's one thing that should bother any Cowboy fan, though: Why hasn't he done it yet? I think that guys like Unitas and Staubach and the rest were always like this. No one told them to do it or explained to them what they had to do. They just did it and maybe that's the only way it can happen. Maybe you don't learn to be a leader on that kind of level or grow into it. Maybe you just are or you aren't.
If you're in the Cowboys camp, you have to wonder who's going to show up to play quarterback for the team this year. Will Romo still be an enigma or will he finally step up and do what needs to be done every week, every day, every practice, every minute?
Will we finally find out exactly who he is and will we like what we find?
I don't read from the bleacherreport.
Ok, you can read it here.
