I've been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys for most of my life. Growing up in Oklahoma, pro football wasn't a big part of our sports world. In fact, I was (and still am) more of a fan of another group of Cowboys...the ones that played at Oklahoma State. But when an Oklahoma kid took the reins of the pro team to the South, and they started to win, everybody took notice. Suddenly we had a reason to watch football on Sundays. They dominated, they were almost as entertaining off the field as on, and they played as hard as possible. They were epitomized by the great Michael Irvin who played as hard as he lived. After an astounding run including 3 Super Bowl Championships in 4 years, the decline started. They were still competetive for a while, but it was apparent they weren't winning another Super Bowl with this crew. As players dropped off one by one, some to injury, some to free agency, the window finally completely shut. When Troy Aikman retired in 2000 after his 10th concussion, the greatest period of sucess in Cowboy's history came to its natural conclusion.
The franchise quickly came to realize they hadn't done a very good job preparing for a Troy-less future. They drafted Quincy Carter in the 2nd round of the 2001 draft, a reach by all accounts. Everyone worried Jerry was running things into the ground...and to be honest its never clear whether he's a football genius, or a football moron. This started the era of crappy quarterbacks. In this time the Cowboys had games started by:
Quincy Carter: 31 games. Career ended by drug/personal problems.
Anthony Wright
Clint Stoerner
Ryan Leaf
Chad Hutchinson: 9 games. Everybody was desperately hopeful he would get it. He didn't
Vinny Testaverde: 15 games. Probably the most depressing point.
Drew Henson
Drew Bledsoe: 22 games. Had the best post-Aikman year before completely falling apart in 2006 .
After Bledsoe completely eradicated the faith of every single Cowboy in America (including the trademark 'Drew-game' where the Cowboys are losing, stage an improbably comeback, and then Drew crushes the hope of the fans by throwing a game ending interception), Parcells had no choice but to give 4th year pro Tony Romo a chance.
Romo's story is well-know by now, but is so interesting its worth repeating. Romo went undrafted out of Eastern Illinois. Despite never throwing a pass, he somehow stayed on the roster, the rare development quarterback who manages to stick on the team. No one knew anything about him, just that Drew Bledsoe would be murdered by TO on the sidelines if he took another sack after holding onto the ball for 20 seconds. He had to get a chance. There had been whispers from practice that he was decisive, and he had guts, but there are alwasy whispers about the talent of the backup when the starter isn't good enough.
Parcells finally put Romo in. I don't really know how describe watching Romo in that first game. He immediately threw an interception, pretty much instantly confirming the fears of Cowboy fans everywhere. But as he got a chance to play, his good qualities started to stick out. In comparison to Bledsoe, he made decisions instantly. He found the open reciever and threw. He was also played quicker, constantly moving, seemingly feeling pressure from the blind side. His arm wasn't as strong as Drew's, but he could make all the throws. Something changed that day...
Romo started the next game at Carolina (with a notoriously tough defense) played well, and won. Then he kept winning, cresting in a dominant 5 TD perfomance in a Thanksgiving day slaughter of Tampa Bay. Romo-mania was born. But soon after that, something happened. Romo wasn't quite as sharp, and the Cowboys finished the season 2-3, as Romo threw only 6 TDs against 8 interceptions. When the playoff game against Seattle ended in diaster with Romo fumbling the snap for the game-winning field goal, Romo-doubt was born. What exactly did we have here.
Clearly Cowboys management had no idea, letting Romo go half of the 2007 season without a contract extension, wanting to see how he would play before giving him a long term deal. And how he played. 8 games into the season, the Cowboys are 7-1. Aside from one nightmare game against Buffalo, Romo has been superb, throwing 19 TDs against 10 interceptions (5 of which were in the Buffalo game). His decision making has been sharp completing 64% of his passes for over 2000 yards in half a season. And the Cowboys opened up the checkbook, signing Romo to a 6-year deal worth $67 million. We have a quarterback.
So that's what this blog is about. This is an exciting time to be a Cowboy fan. Let's enjoy it.
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