Should Tony Romo Ask To Be Traded?

Tony Romo was an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois. He had a solid resume, but he had that small school label. Sean Payton the current head coach of the Saints and former assistant to Bill Parcells in Dallas, was an EIU alumnist. He was “VERY” familiar with the young quarterback. He introduced the idea of signing him to Parcells, who in turn took the idea to Jerry Jones and Romo became a Cowboy, in spite of the fact that Coach Shannahan had offered him more money. Bill Parcells has always been referred to as “Mr Fix-IT”. He has an impeccable eye for talent and an uncanny ability to develop players in to star athletes.  Parcells is the only coach in NFL history to not only take 4 different teams to the playoffs,  (NYG 2 super bowls, NEP super bowl, NYJ AFC championship,and the Cowboys the  playoffs) but the man responsible for the key players on the Cowboys roster. In his short tenure in Dallas, The drafts produced 7 pro bowl players. Since his departure, not 1 player drafted has made it to a pro Bowl.

"Oct 30, 2011; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Jesse Holley (16) during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles defeated the Cowboys 34-7. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE “Because of the pattern I have seen in Dallas of repeatedly stopping  the progress of young players, I strongly believe if Parcells hadn’t been the coach, Tony would have never gotten a shot. ” In week 5 of the 2006 season, Bill Parcells made a mid-game decision to play Tony Romo. With this decision, the fans once again had hope.  In only 10 starts, he completed 220 of 337 passes (65.3%) for 2,903 yards and finished the season with a passer rating of 95.1. That same year, Romo became the only QB in NFL history to earn a trip to the Pro Bowl with only 10 NFL starts. The sad thing is, he was sacked 21 times in those 10 starts. The signs of a deteriorating OL were already obvious."

In 2007, he threw for 4,211 yards (third in the NFL) and 36 touchdown passes during the regular season (second only to Tom Brady). His 97.4 passer rating was good enough for fifth in the NFL. On October 29th, Romo reached an agreement to a six-year, $67.5 million contract extension with the Cowboys. On November 29th against the Green Bay Packers, in a game where both teams were 10–1 , Romo threw four touchdown passes for a season total of 33, breaking Danny White’s record of 29 from 1983. On December 22nd against the Carolina Panthers, Romo became the first Cowboys’ quarterback to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season. On December 30th against the Washington Redskins, Romo broke the Cowboys’ season completions record with his 335th completion, a short pass to Jason Witten. The Cowboys finished the season with a 13-3 record and Romo went to his 2nd straight Pro Bowl. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Rather than do  a year by year break down, I am going to post an interesting tidbit of information .In a 12 yr career and 165 starts, Troy Aikman had 2,898 comp’s on 4,715 att’s 61.5%, for 32,942 yds, 165 TD’s and 141 INT’s  for a career passer rating of 81.6 currently 40th all time. Tony Romo, In only 77 starts  completed 1,672 of 2,592 passes 64.5%, for 20,834 yards, 149 TD’s and only 72 INT’s, for a career passer rating of 96.9, which is currently 2nd all time.

The difference is, Aikman had a good offensive line (probably the best in NFL history), a running game “EMMITT” and a defense that didn’t give up over 25 points a game. It is clear who the better QB is. At this rate, Romo will kill all of Aikmans’ stats if he plays as long!  Take note how many more picks to TD’s Aikman had compared to Romo! Gosh, Aikman had all day in the pocket with that line.

"In a recent interview Troy Aikman said, “I think Tony already is a better quarterback than I was,”   “I know how quarterbacks are judged, but as far as his playmaking ability and the things that he is capable of doing, he is a far more athletic quarterback, capable of making more plays than I ever was able to.”  “He has a good team around him,” Aikman added, “and, hopefully, and I believe this will happen, I believe that he will win a Super Bowl before he is done playing.”"

Now this must have made Tony feel pretty good right? I mean hey, If a hall of fame quarterback with 3 super bowl rings said that about me, I would be elated.  So…what does Jerry Jones do? (This is when enough was enough.) In a press conference in front of most of the major sports writers in the country, he comes right out and ditches his starting quarterback.

"“We all know Troy does his homework and is very contentious and doesn’t deal in lilies, but to me he’s being gratuitous and he’s being modest,” Jones said. “I’ve gotten three Super Bowl rings because of what he’s about. I would say one thing. We have many things I think that we agree on, his assessment that Romo is a Super Bowl caliber quarterback is one that we really agree on. But I have a little hard time making the same comparison that he did. I know what troy was and how much we wouldn’t be today without Troy Aikman, he’s being pretty modest.”"

Really Mr. Jones? Really? Hmm, what about Emmitt Smith? Where would Troy Aikman be without Emmitt?

During his long professional career, he became the NFL’s all-time rushing leader, breaking the record formerly held by Walter Payton, and played for three Super Bowl-winning Dallas Cowboys teams. Smith is the only running back to ever win a Super Bowl championship, the NFL Most Valuable Player award, the NFL rushing crown, and the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award all in the same season (1993). He is also one of only four running backs to lead the NFL in rushing three or more consecutive seasons, joining Steve Van Buren, Jim Brown and Earl Campbell. Smith led the league in rushing and won the Super Bowl in the same year three times (1992, 1993, and 1995) when to that point it had never been done. Smith is also one of only two non-kickers in NFL history to score more than 1,000 career points (the other being Jerry Rice). Smith was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, and is the first player from the 1990 NFL Draft to be inducted. (Courtesy of Wikipedia).

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