T.O. says it (half-jokingly) and it becomes a firestorm. Terence Newman says it (a week ago) and not much attention is paid. Newman had an interview with WFAA in which he talked all things Cowboys. I thought he had a great take on team captains, saying that it should be the guys who played the best the week before because they’ve earned the right to speak. After that, maybe a few guys are needed to step up and say something when it’s appropriate, but in general, leadership is earned. He was also asked about everyone’s favorite Cowboys subject (now that The Player is gone), Tony Romo. Here were Newman’s thoughts on whether or not Romo’s grasped what being the Cowboys quarterback is all about:
“I think that with the situation Tony was in, I think that kind of maybe hurt him a little bit, being a first-year starter. Then you have the limelight with his girlfriend and situations of that nature — it’s going to take away from him being a quarterback, being a successful quarterback. He won 13 games and everything was perfect, but now, after this past season, it was, ‘Is he doing enough for the team? Is he working hard enough? You know, he’s got this girlfriend, so …’ I think that once he inherited the starting quarterback job and his relationship got into the national media attention, I think that that was something that definitely hurt and took away from Tony Romo being a great quarterback.”
I’ve defended Tony Romo in the past saying people are too quick to criticize him, forgetting how young he is in his NFL career and how good he’s already been. I’ve said it before and I truly believe that winning cures all. Because the team lost and didn’t make the playoffs, people look for reasons to explain what went wrong. I don’t condone going to Mexico the week before a playoff game, but I don’t think anyone would be saying this stuff had they won a few more games last season. And losing was more a factor of a bad secondary, a brutal schedule, and an unfortunate pinkie injury to Romo, rather than his flakiness because of a girlfriend. It’s too bad that Newman fell into the trap along with so many others.
UPDATE: Newman has since tried to “clarify” his comments
Video of the entire interview below in case you want to check it out (Romo comments at the 6:45 mark or so):
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That drives me up the wall. Most other players who can, and have permission to get away for a few days and relax, do it. But nobody follows them with a camera to somehow blame a loss on. Jimmy Johnson did the opposite and had his team practice hard and they lost 62-7. But back with the Cowboys he let them have more freedom and they won big.
thought I’d look em up…
vs seattle: 17-29 189yds 1td 0int 89 rating
not bad, hasselbeck was 18-36 2td 2int
dallas was winning in the 4th quarter and took a late td to win
against the giants
18-36 201yds 1td 1int and he was running for his life, throwing a lot of balls away.
eli manning: 12-18 163yds 2td
dallas was winning in the 4th quarter and took a late td to win
these games were right down to the wire and could have gone either way and all I hear is that
tony romo can’t win a playoff game. same crap we heard about brett favre, peyton manning, etc
This whole thing is ridiculous. Tom Brady has been part of a circus with his love life, including breakup, child and then marriage. He seems to have performed just fine. Peyton Manning spends an awful amount of his spare time doing every TV commercial under the sun and he performs just fine.
Kurt Warner has dedicated his life to God and family, and yet his career has been checkered with ups and downs.
The Cowboy players should look elsewhere for the cause of their problems. Tony Romo is a very good, upper echelon NFL quarterback. Maybe he is not Brady or Manning, but then again, who else is?