Tony Romo Gets An Opportunity To Show Leadership, Doesn’t Take It
: suggested song to play while reading this article : ‘Thank you for being a friend’ by Andrew Gold :
Tony Romo wants to be a leader of the Dallas Cowboys, or at least he wants to show us he is one. Time and again, though, when Romo has an opportunity to take the reins of his team, he seems to water down his leadership or miss it altogether. The latest example is when this Dez Bryant situation arose recently.
Former Dallas Cowboys QB, Roger Staubach, a team leader in his day, said that he was supportive of Dez and we should wait and see how things shake out, but added, if he continues to be a distraction, decisions have to be made and there is no excuse to hit your mother, even if you have a bad mother. Now, unless I miss-heard Roger’s comments on the Ben and Skin radio show, he was delicate yet firm and direct. He made no judgements nor lobbed any insults, stayed supportive and still made his point.
Tony Romo chose a more enabling path, saying – Dez is my teammate, my buddy, Dez knows I got his back – that’s OK too, I guess. I’m sure Dez Bryant appreciates that, but where’s the leadership in that? Dez, at a minimum, has created a possibly long lasting and unwanted distraction that can adversely affect this Dallas Cowboys team just as training camp is set to begin. At most, Dez may be facing a suspension, either by the Cowboys or the NFL, which will send the Dallas Cowboys scrambling for this year’s version of Laurent Robinson and delay the all important QB – WR timing that’s so necessary in today’s NFL offenses. (see the missed Miles Austin – Tony Romo connection last year in the NY Giants game).
Tony Romo, a leader on the team that Dez just crapped on, avoided that aspect altogether. Tony decided to dance around what got Dez in trouble, no mention of the accusation that Dez assaulted his mother. No mention of the distraction. He sounded more like a friend or a member of Dez Bryant’s counsel than a team leader. I, for one (maybe the only one), was looking for a little more of a stern response from Romo. A rebuke of Dez Bryants possible bad behavior, and a call for Dez to snap back in line. Tony’s comments about being teammates and all that were fine, they just needed to be followed by a stern rebuke. IMO.
In Romo’s defense (I am a big fan of his and always look for the silver lining), perhaps he didn’t want to make any grand statement until his golf tournament was over and he’s had a chance to address – or re-dress – Dez Bryant and his boneheadedness directly. For all we know, maybe Romo already met with Dez and took off his own baseball cap and hit Dez with it and set him straight. You just never know, you know? So there is Romo’s benefit of the doubt.
In the mean time, when Michael Irvin (of all people) and Jason Witten and ‘the original 88’, Drew Pearson and Roger Staubach all have chimed in and sounded more like the leaders they probably were and are, I feel Tony Romo missed a great opportunity to assert that he is a leader of these Dallas Cowboys. – Artie Cappello