CHARLOTTE, N.C, -- You see the player standing at the podium and you know he's the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, the man at the center of a media swarm last week. Yet you'd swear he's some high-school kid relishing playing the game for the fun of it, not a tabloid quarterback named Tony Romo.
And that's just it. For all the Hollywood starlets he might squire, the latest who wore his No. 9 jersey during the Cowboys' loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last week to the chagrin of Cowboys nation and a loud-mouth receiver who goes by the initials T.O., Romo is really just a kid who loves playing the game.
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| Tony Romo ignores the media hype by playing some good ol' football. (Getty Images) |
He bunkered down and dove into the football.
It showed Saturday night, too. Despite a sore thumb on his throwing hand that limited his effectiveness last week, Romo had no problems throwing it against the Carolina Panthers in the Cowboys' 20-13 victory. Romo completed 28 of 42 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown. If there were any lingering problems from the thumb or the Simpson bashing last week, it didn't show.
"I let it roll off my back," Romo said.
As quarterback of the Cowboys, you're always in the crosshairs. They are America's Team; you are America's Quarterback.
When you bask in the trappings of it, like Romo has done with his dalliances, it will put a bull's-eye, fair or not, on your back. When Simpson spent last Sunday's game getting more camera time than some of the players, it infuriated some of the Cowboys fans. A website called "Ruinromo.com" even popped up. Receiver Terrell Owens had some not-so-nice things to say about it, even if he later said he was joking.
"Right now, Jessica Simpson is not a fan favorite -- in this locker room or in Texas Stadium," Owens said.
Was this the start of a rift between the receiver and the quarterback, another notch on his irritant post? Nobody quite knew last week because Romo went underground. He didn't talk to anybody, opting to focus on football.
So when he came to the podium late Saturday night, it was natural that he would be asked about his relationship with Owens. His reply was that it's fine.
Romo will likely be without Owens next week at Washington when the 13-2 Cowboys try and lock up the No. 1 seed in the NFC against the Redskins. Owens left the Panthers game with a sprained right ankle in the second quarter. He had already scored a touchdown and appeared on his way to a big game before the injury. Instead the Cowboys will almost certainly play next week without him.
Owens did say he expects to be back for the playoffs, which will be in three weeks since the Cowboys have a bye.
"It could have been worse," Owens said.
Moments later, he left the stadium on crutches, a Santa Claus hat on his head.
Wearing things on the head seemed to be theme on this night. We saw some Panthers fans wearing blonde wigs to mock Jessica Simpson, even if they didn't exactly come close to resembling her. There were also Jessica masks. Wonder if Nick Lachey has one?
"I know she saw all of that tonight," Romo said. "She was at the game tonight, so I don't know."
Was she?
"The camera didn't catch her?" he said.
Romo smiled coyly. She was there, someone asked?
"I don't talk about my personal life," Romo said.
He then walked away. Nobody really knows for sure if she was there, but does it really matter?
The fact Simpson was at last week's game to cheer on her man had no bearing at all on how he played. The thumb was a big reason Romo struggled against the Eagles, going 13-for-36 for 214 yards, three interceptions and a passer rating of 22.2. Plus, the Eagles played well.
The outcry was that it was Simpson's presence that made Romo struggle, that he got stage fright in front of the Hollywood girlfriend.
Not a chance. He's too good a football player, too levelheaded a kid for that to happen. So what if he likes hanging out with pretty girls who happen to be in the limelight? When Joe Namath did it years ago, he was envied. When Tom Brady does it, he's the toast of the town.
That's why it hurt Romo last week to hear all the crap. Not for him, but for those close to him.
"It hurts me when it hurts people that are close to me," Romo said. "Some of the journalistic integrity this week I thought was a little poor in some ways. But that's part of being in the public eye."
Cowboys players didn't pay the Simpson saga much attention. The handful I talked to said it wasn't an issue.
"People just blow things out of proportion when it comes to the Cowboys," linebacker Bradie James said. "That's just something we have to deal with. All that stuff, the supposed distractions, didn't bother us."
The Cowboys rolled up 405 yards of offense to 216 for the Panthers, so it didn't. Yet they found themselves in a game in the fourth quarter. When the Panthers cut it to seven with 3:01 left, the Cowboys were able to run out the clock and secure the victory.
For Romo, it had to be a relief. If the Cowboys had lost, and he struggled, the vultures would have swooped in for the kill. Jessica Simpson was a team-killer, they would have said.
Instead Romo came to meet the media with the same aw-shucks attitude he almost always seems to have. He answered the questions, even mentioning Simpson by name. Most NFL quarterbacks would have blown off any kind of talk.
Can you imagine asking Brady about Gisele?
That's why it's so easy to like Romo. He may be the quarterback of America's team and Mr. Tabloid himself, but the reality is he's basically just a kid who loves to play football.
And it shows.
Ruin Romo? Good luck with that.