Cowboys give Romo hefty contract
Tony Romo didn’t have to wait until the off-season to get his big payday from the Dallas Cowboys after all.
Romo has agreed to a six-year, $67 million deal that will be announced today, according to a person familiar with the deal who requested anonymity because the contract has not been announced.
The contract, which will become effective this week and provides salary cap relief for Dallas, includes $30 million in guaranteed money.
“It’s a great feeling you have when the organization and the people stand behind you, and you can be the quarterback for a long, long time,” Romo said. “It’s a neat feeling that, ‘You’re our guy, we like you.’ … It makes you feel good as a person and a player.”
Romo hoped to get a new deal this past summer. Team owner Jerry Jones opted to let the relatively unproven quarterback go into his first year in charge just to make sure he was worth a huge commitment.
The answer came quickly. Romo was the NFC’s offensive player of the month in September and Dallas finished October with the No. 1 offense in the conference.
With Jones confident he had the right man for the job, it made sense to get the deal done now because Dallas is able to apply some of the salary cap impact this season.
Romo burst onto the scene last October, with coach Bill Parcells sending him in to replace Drew Bledsoe at halftime of a Monday night game against the New York Giants. His first pass was an interception and that close game turned into a lopsided loss. Yet his career was about to take off.
Dallas won five of his first six starts in such spectacular fashion that some fans hung Romo’s name on the Ring of Honor in Texas Stadium on Thanksgiving. And that was before kickoff, which meant prior to him matching a club record with five touchdown passes.
This season, Romo already has set the club record for 300-yard games. He leads the NFC with 1,984 yards passing and 16 touchdowns.
Pretty good for a guy who wasn’t drafted coming out of Division I-AA Eastern Illinois.
Rams offense hit again
St. Louis Rams guard Richie Incognito will likely miss the rest of the season with a right kneecap injury sustained in Sunday’s loss to the Browns.
Incognito’s injury is likely to require surgery and could leave the Rams with only one opening-day starter, Alex Barron, on the offensive line when they play at New Orleans on Nov. 11.
Bills’ QB carousel
J.P. Losman lost his job as the Bills’ starting quarterback due to injury this season. Now, Trent Edwards can wonder if it’s his turn.
Coach Dick Jauron gave the quarterback revolving door another spin, a day after Edwards sprained his right wrist and watched from the sideline while Losman stepped in to lead the Bills to a 13-3 win over the New York Jets.
Jauron said it’s too early to determine whether Edwards’ throwing hand will recover in time to play this weekend when the Bills host Cincinnati.
And yet, the coach declined to say whether Edwards, the rookie third-round pick, would reclaim the job once he’s healthy.
Redskins’ Rogers out
Washington Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers is out for the year with torn ligaments in his right knee.
An MRI revealed tears in the ACL and MCL. He will have surgery in about two weeks and begin rehabilitation with the possible goal of returning for next year’s training camp.