FanPost

The origin of Romo

I think by now everyone on this blog knows how Tony Romo came from the ranks of the unknown to NFL superstar, however, Matt Mosley over at ESPN's Hashmarks blogs about it after interviewing the man who actually is the most responsible for "creating" the legend we know as Tony Romo, David Lee. Its a great read, here's a sampling.

After Romo's first rookie minicamp, Lee rushed over to tell Bill Parcells how much potential he had.

"Why don't you let me take you to a game first," Parcells snarled. "With that delivery, he'll have six out of every 70 passes batted down."

Romo wanted to know what Lee and Payton thought of his first minicamp. Lee told him they were both impressed.

"But what did Parcells say?" Romo said.

Lee said his inability to lie hurt his chances of putting on a strong front. After a few awkward pauses, he told Romo that Parcells didn't think his sidearm passes would work in the NFL.

"Tony said he wanted to change his motion immediately," Lee said. "I told him to worry about making the team first, and then we'd change his delivery. He had this extremely quick release, but it was coming out side-armed."

After some prodding, Romo talked Lee into making the change. He called Lee at 10 p.m., and the two would meet at Valley Ranch. In order to change his delivery from sidearm to three-quarters, Lee used an adjustable net that went as high as 10 feet. The net forced Romo to get more on top of the ball, and when he showed up for his first training camp, he had a completely different motion.

"He probably threw 5,000 to 7,000 balls that offseason," Lee said. "My wife was still living in Arkansas at the time, so I had a little time on my hands."

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