USA Today has a long article on Tony Romo, Bill Parcells and their relationship. This excerpt was interesting:
Tuesday, Parcells had a postpractice task for his 26-year-old quarterback.
"I told him to Google up the name of a guy whose star burned real brightly for a short time in this league," says Parcells, declining to specify the flash in the pan. "I give him a homework assignment, then he has to come back and tell me about the guy, who it was, what happened."
Given that Parcells proudly describes himself as a Neanderthal, Romo says his reaction was, "You've worked on a computer before?"
"Me and him have got a really good relationship," says Romo, adding the needling "happens so many times, it's like water on the back of a duck. It just rolls off. It happens weekly."
And for four years while Parcells groomed Romo. The quarterback remembers one of the early barbs, when Parcells likened him to a ball in high grass.
"He waits for you to say, 'What's that mean?' " Romo says. Then, doing a Parcells imitation, Romo shouts, " 'Lost!' "
You know, that was my first thought after Parcells said he told Romo to use Google. You mean the self-described Neanderthal can use the Internet? And what about all those times he says I haven't heard that or I haven't read that quote. One suspects that Parcells has a much better idea about a lot of things than what he lets on in the press conferences.
The DMN has an article up about the improvement on defense over since Romo took over. Some of that has to do with the offense not turning the ball over and giving the opposition a short field and more opportunities to score against our defense. Also, the offense is eating up more clock because they're getting leads and are able to run the ball in the second half of games. Don't forget this little nugget, too; the Cowboys are shortening the games because Romo connects on nearly 70% of his passes while Bledsoe was only hitting around 50%. That's a lot of extra caught-balls that don't stop the clock and shorten up the games.
This comment from Terence Newman is pretty funny. Taken out-of-context, it sounds like a rip on Parcells. But what it actually says is that the defense has stopped worrying about things and is just going out and making plays.
Bradie James makes a more direct point.
Miles Austin gets some love in this article. Parcells talked yesterday about young players earning playing time and doing things they weren't asked to do in college. Witness Austin on returning kickoffs:
He's been running ever since.
In three games as a regular on the kickoff return team, Austin is averaging a solid 24.9 yards. He averaged nearly 30 yards on two returns a week after his debut when the Cowboys handed the Colts their first loss of the season, before breaking off a 34-yard return on Thanksgiving Day as the Cowboys extended their winning streak to three straight.
"It's a different situation than the roles I've had in the past, but I'm going to fill them to the best of my abilities,'' he added. "If I get a chance to do some other things, that's great. But this is my chance to contribute, and I'm trying to make the most of it.''
Sounds like Austin is getting Parcells' message loud and clear.
I've broken down and actually linked to Randy Galloway, who I normally think couldn't write for the Bazooka Joe comics that come with bubble-gum. But this article about Quincy Carter leading us to Tony Romo was interesting.
Romo is the Offensive Player of the Week in the NFL.
Mickey Spags loves Romo, who in turn loves the movie The Natural.