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Romo knows he needs next step to be considered great
Posted Saturday, Jul. 24, 2010
By Charean Williams
cjwilliams@star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- Tony Romo's words had a familiar ring to them.
"We'll see you at the Super Bowl in Dallas!" Romo proclaimed at the Dallas Cowboys' Kickoff Spectacular on Friday night.
If it had come from anyone else, his words might have been taken as a prediction. But Romo isn't Joe Namath, the Hall of Fame quarterback who famously predicted a victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
Romo chuckled Saturday when asked, in so many words, if he had accidentally pulled a Namath.
"I told them I'd see them [one way or the other because the Super Bowl is at Cowboys Stadium]," Romo said. "I think everybody who lines up and plays this game envisions every season where they'd like to be at the end of the year. You wouldn't be a competitor if you didn't think your team had a chance, or individually you would have a chance to play in a Super Bowl one day. That's the way we line up every time we go out to work in the 100-degree heat. That's why we do all those things in the off-season, so that one day you can play in that."
The Cowboys know, just like every team in the NFL this season, they will go as far as their quarterback leads them. They not only are counting on Romo, who passed for a career-high 4,483 yards last season, but they also have confidence in him.
"He's a man of respect in the huddle," Cowboys receiver Roy Williams said. "Great leader, and hopefully he'll take the team where it needs to be."
Cowboys coach Wade Phillips was asked what Romo has to do to become an "elite" quarterback. Phillips answered by saying, "I think Tony is there."
He is statistically.
Romo, 30, finally has the 1,500 career attempts to qualify for the NFL career passer list. His 95.6 career passer rating ranks him third all time behind Steve Young (96.8) and Philip Rivers (95.8), and ahead of Peyton Manning (95.2), Kurt Warner (93.7), Tom Brady (93.3) and Joe Montana (92.3), among others.
But Romo knows that, in the end, it is a meaningless number.
"You're judged at the quarterback position by wins and Super Bowls and things of that nature," Romo said. "I love the tradition and the history of the game, so for me, you set out to accomplish certain goals and right at the top the only way to be included in any talk of anything is to go out and win championships. Step one is to go out here and get better today and improve, and the only way I know how to do is to keep working hard and keep improving."
Romo has proved he knows how to win.
His .691 winning percentage in regular-season games (38-17) ranks fourth among the NFL's active quarterbacks. He has taken the Cowboys to the playoffs three times in 31/2 years as the Cowboys' starter, and he has delivered a playoff victory.
The only thing Romo hasn't won is a ring.
"As far as just stepping out there and having some good experience and athletic ability and a release and accuracy, all of those things I put him up there with the best," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "... So I think what he needs is the victory. The victory. He needs the victory, and then he's right there with them."
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/07...#ixzz0uhZqOctZ
Posted Saturday, Jul. 24, 2010
By Charean Williams
cjwilliams@star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- Tony Romo's words had a familiar ring to them.
"We'll see you at the Super Bowl in Dallas!" Romo proclaimed at the Dallas Cowboys' Kickoff Spectacular on Friday night.
If it had come from anyone else, his words might have been taken as a prediction. But Romo isn't Joe Namath, the Hall of Fame quarterback who famously predicted a victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
Romo chuckled Saturday when asked, in so many words, if he had accidentally pulled a Namath.
"I told them I'd see them [one way or the other because the Super Bowl is at Cowboys Stadium]," Romo said. "I think everybody who lines up and plays this game envisions every season where they'd like to be at the end of the year. You wouldn't be a competitor if you didn't think your team had a chance, or individually you would have a chance to play in a Super Bowl one day. That's the way we line up every time we go out to work in the 100-degree heat. That's why we do all those things in the off-season, so that one day you can play in that."
The Cowboys know, just like every team in the NFL this season, they will go as far as their quarterback leads them. They not only are counting on Romo, who passed for a career-high 4,483 yards last season, but they also have confidence in him.
"He's a man of respect in the huddle," Cowboys receiver Roy Williams said. "Great leader, and hopefully he'll take the team where it needs to be."
Cowboys coach Wade Phillips was asked what Romo has to do to become an "elite" quarterback. Phillips answered by saying, "I think Tony is there."
He is statistically.
Romo, 30, finally has the 1,500 career attempts to qualify for the NFL career passer list. His 95.6 career passer rating ranks him third all time behind Steve Young (96.8) and Philip Rivers (95.8), and ahead of Peyton Manning (95.2), Kurt Warner (93.7), Tom Brady (93.3) and Joe Montana (92.3), among others.
But Romo knows that, in the end, it is a meaningless number.
"You're judged at the quarterback position by wins and Super Bowls and things of that nature," Romo said. "I love the tradition and the history of the game, so for me, you set out to accomplish certain goals and right at the top the only way to be included in any talk of anything is to go out and win championships. Step one is to go out here and get better today and improve, and the only way I know how to do is to keep working hard and keep improving."
Romo has proved he knows how to win.
His .691 winning percentage in regular-season games (38-17) ranks fourth among the NFL's active quarterbacks. He has taken the Cowboys to the playoffs three times in 31/2 years as the Cowboys' starter, and he has delivered a playoff victory.
The only thing Romo hasn't won is a ring.
"As far as just stepping out there and having some good experience and athletic ability and a release and accuracy, all of those things I put him up there with the best," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "... So I think what he needs is the victory. The victory. He needs the victory, and then he's right there with them."
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/07...#ixzz0uhZqOctZ