This Cowboys Fan Has Faith In Romo. Do You?

Jan 23, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) dunks the ball during the second half against the Los Angeles Lakers at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Coming off another disappointing season where the Cowboys failed to reach the playoffs, one would not be surprised if Tony Romo felt unsure about his team’s ability moving forward.

You can take your pick about what went wrong with the Cowboys last year: 32nd ranked defense, no pass rush, incompetent secondary, inconsistent offensive line play, bad coaching decisions, a lack of communication between scouts and coaches, and questionable conditioning.

It’s hard to see how this team is going to improve.

But that’s the beauty of sports, right? Their ability to prove that there is more to the story than what meets the eye. Even when all seems lost there is always the chance that failure can be turned into success.

And as a fan, all you can hope is that the players believe in their ability to do that as much as you do.

That is why I was glad to hear about Tony Romo and LeBron James’ interaction after the Heat played the Mavericks in Dallas this past Tuesday.

According to ESPN, after the game Romo pulled James aside as he was walking off the court and told him “You go get championship No. 3 for y’all, and I’ll go get No. 1 for us.”

Yes, actions speak louder than words. And I do get tired of writing over and over again about how Romo “has the right attitude”.

Sooner or later we need to see results.

But during the dog days of the off season, these are the things we have to go on when it comes to seeing what sort of mindset Romo is in as 2014 approaches. And given the fact that the organization refuses to comment on his recovery from back surgery, I’ll take this quote as a welcome sign that Romo is doing better.

Championship aspirations are nothing new for Romo. He’s said before that he expects to win a championship in Dallas.

But it’s great to see that those aspirations are not wavering.

And while James did mention to reporters that he would like to see the Cowboys draft Johhny “Football” Manziel (no surprise considering James has been a mentor to Manziel throughout a tumultuous 2013), you should look at that more as an endorsement of Manziel than a dig at Romo.

The two-time NBA champ, who knows a little bit about overcoming the “choker” label and dealing with extreme media scrutiny, had this to say about Tony:

"(He’s) at the point now in his career where he’s one of the greatest quarterbacks we have in our game because of his work ethic. Nobody woke him up in the morning to go to practice. Nobody told him to go to OTAs. Nobody told him to stay after practice and throw to his receivers. He just goes out there and does it. We all make mistakes, but at the end of the day, if you work on your game, you can live with that."

High praise from a man I, and many others, would consider the hardest training athlete in the world of sports.

Romo has a lot of work cut out for him if he want to improve on the Cowboys’ 2013 season. And it’s going to be a while before we get to see if that work pays off. But, today, we know one thing.

He believes it will.