Romo gets big part in summer planParcells ready to give backup QB a chance to show game readinessBy JEAN-JACQUES TAYLOR / The Dallas Morning News Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo hasn't thrown a regular season pass, but he should be throwing more preseason ones.OXNARD, Calif. – All Tony Romo has ever wanted is an opportunity, which can be hard to come by for an undrafted free-agent quarterback from a Division I-AA school.Apparently, that's about to change.Coach Bill Parcells said he's going to give Romo an opportunity to prove his worth to the organization this preseason."I've got to decide where he is," Parcells said. "Our plans are to play him a lot. I've been around him for three years now. I see a guy that's pretty smart. It looks like in practice, he's making fewer and fewer mistakes."Had we just thrown him to the wolves two years ago or something, it probably would have ruined his career. But now he's got enough background and enough knowledge and enough training and enough understanding that it's time to go forward."That's exciting news for Romo."I think he wants to find out whether I can be the guy of the future here. Hopefully that will happen in the preseason," Romo said. "It doesn't change much for me. I'm a pretty competitive guy, and it has never bothered me what people thought. With Bill, it's nice to hear him say those things, but I have to go out and prove it."Two seasons ago, Romo and Drew Henson were even on the depth chart. Now, Romo has clearly surpassed Henson, in part because of their respective performances last preseason.Romo was 23 of 37 for 273 yards and a touchdown in the 2005 preseason, finishing with a 93.7 passer rating. Henson was 12 of 27 for 135 yards with an interception and a rating of 44.5.Now, Parcells wants to see if Romo can take the next step in his development.The Cowboys showed confidence in Romo by signing him to a contract extension before last season that included a $300,000 signing bonus and $1.2 million in salary and bonuses for 2006. Parcells wants to see if Romo is ready to play in regular-season games.Drew Bledsoe took every snap last season, even in blowout wins or losses, because Parcells didn't trust Romo or Henson."It's just like when they put a young fighter in with the wrong guy too soon. You can damage the player, and I just don't think it would have worked," Parcells said. "He's a little bit of a renegade, gun-slinging quarterback, and I think he would have been a little error-prone."Romo has never thrown a regular-season NFL pass, but he has impressed Parcells with his intelligence and athleticism in practice. In the preseason, Romo needs to show Parcells that he can make good decisions and lead the offense to points.Romo doesn't have to be tagged as the quarterback of the future to be an important player. In a league where starting quarterbacks seemingly miss games every week, good backups are valuable commodities.Parcells said Romo reminds him of former NFL quarterbacks Matt Cavanaugh and Jeff Rutledge. They combined for 25 NFL seasons, primarily as backup quarterbacks."They couldn't put any more pressure on myself than I have in years past," Romo said. "Each year, I feel more confident. Every practice, I feel more confident, and it's showing on the field."
Goslin went on to say some don't think Bledsoe can get it done.Word is at some point, Romo is going to take over the starting position this season. Today Romo has been working with the first teamers.If your looking for a deep sleeper for your dynasty team.................here you go. There's a lot of buzz about him.
This could be true, I was wondering the same thing this morning. Romo is Bill's guy and Bill does like him. There was an interview last week that been getting a lot of air time. One in which Romo seemed pretting confident in his future as the Cowboys QB. Also remember the Romo hype has been going on since July.
