20 years ago today: Romo's 2004 Audition
On a Saturday Night in Oakland, a young gunslinger put together a memorable drive.
Today is August 21, 2024 and this is the story of August 21, 2004.
A few weeks ago, we wrote an essay about the path from Troy Aikman to Tony Romo and the nine QBs who played between them.
In order, they were:
Anthony Wright
Tony Banks
Quincy Carter
Clint Stoerner
Ryan Leaf
Chad Hutchinson
Drew Henson
Vinny Testaverde
Drew Bledsoe
While navigating those ridiculous waters, we noted every twist and turn, every trial and error. And boy, there were more than a few.
Now, nobody is telling you that Tony Romo is Troy Aikman—at least not anyone who saw them both play. In a very similar fashion to how young minds have convinced themselves that LeBron James is the greatest player ever, a similar group of a similar demographic has deluded themselves into thinking Romo was just as good as, or better than, Aikman.
That is quite wrong, but it is not the focus of this essay.
I am a Tony Romo homer, even though time has made some forget my positions on the Wisconsin product. If anyone was calling 2006 Romo a Jedi Knight in real time on Dallas radio, it was me. I saw his Favre DNA and influences, and for any of us who were watching No. 4 in green while Cowboy fans were loving No. 8 in white, it was me. They are both Hall of Fame legends, but they did not see football the same way.
Aikman was a technically perfect, wise, and demanding QB. He did not suffer fools and had a very high bar for perfection. He understood risk vs. reward and also did not seem terribly worried about his role in any mission, provided the mission was done correctly and won.
Favre, on the other hand, was one of the last real gunslingers. He was Han Solo playing QB, shouting to anyone to “never tell me the odds” as he believed he could fit any throw of any distance into a bucket. If this one gets picked off, we will get the ball back, and they won’t stop it next time. He had a technique that could not be taught and was perhaps the biggest party guy on the roster early in his career (something that probably ended with his generation). He was a wild ride, but an unforgettable one.
And that is who Tony Romo grew up watching and modeling his career after.