The Dawning of a New Era

It's official folks, Tony Romo will be a long-term Cowboy. He signed a 6-year, $67 million dollar contract. As a huge Cowboys' fan I could not be more ecstatic about this news. I've been on the Romo bandwagon since the first time I saw him play in the preseason. The Cowboys seemed to always want to give the job to someone else as Dallas' fans were subjected to the Quincy Carter (talented, but a crackhead), Vinny Testeverde (mediocre and old), Drew Henson (very talented, but couldn't put it together), and Drew Bledsoe (post-prime) eras. There are many people who are still not convinced that Mr. Romo can lead this team to a super bowl victory. However, I have no doubts. It probably won't happen this year due to the ridiculousness of the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, but the Cowboys are definitely the favorite to get to the big game from the National League-like NFC. I would be very happy with just getting to the Super Bowl after watching how good the Patriots are this year. Many people, including at least one contributor on this blog, will tell me to tempor my enthusiasm because of Romo's six turnover game at Buffalo on a Monday night. However, even the great quarterbacks have off-nights. Tom Brady, who has 30 TD's and 2 INT's this year, has had at least one game of four interceptions in each of his first six years. Peyton Manning has thrown 3 int's or more 10 times in his career during the regular season. Hall of Famer Troy Aikman registered 3 or more int's 5 times over his last five years at the helm of the Cowboys. Lastly, let's talk about the immortal Brett Favre. For those who aren't aware, Favre is one of Thor's Hammer's favorite quarterbacks. Favre has thrown at least 3 int's in a regular season game 33 times in his career in Green Bay. My point is this. Even the best QB's have bad games. People shouldn't judge Romo based on one game they saw him play on a Monday night in October 2007. He has played very well ever since taking over for Drew Bledsoe last year. He may have tailed off near the end of the 2006 season, but he was still playing well enough to win. People forget that prior to his botched snap in the playoff game, he had led the Cowboy's down the field during the waning minutes without the benefit of a timeout and put them in position to win the game. All of the quarterbacks I've mentioned have something special. Although they may occasionally have played a bad game, you always got the impression that they could lead their team to victory even on the toughest of days. That's what I see in Mr. Romo, and I just wanted to congratulate Jerry Jones on locking up his franchise quarterback through 2013. I see good times ahead for the Cowboys.