http://www.star-telegram.com/332/story/317577.html

Posted on Thu, Nov. 22, 2007

Compared to Favre, Romo is ... well, he’s 10-1

By RANDY GALLOWAY

rgalloway@star-telegram.com

STAR-TELEGRAM/RON T. ENNIS

Quarterback Tony Romo checks his wrapped finger on the sideline after hitting his hand on a helmet in the first half.

IRVING — Head-to-head competition is a week away, but don’t think the comparisons didn’t start Thursday afternoon.

Romo vs. his hero, Favre. Cowboys vs. Packers in a 10-and-1 NFC collision.

But for a Thanksgiving Day national TV audience that waded though turkey, dressing, sweet potato pie and two football games in seven hours, there was a clear-cut winner in the early polls. Brett Favre, come on down.

After watching some of Favre’s surgical excellence against the Lions (381 yards passing, three touchdowns, and a club-record 20 consecutive completions), a smiling Tony Romo had the right observation:

"Hopefully he had his best game of the year [Thursday]."

Romo, obviously, wasn’t close to his best against the Jets, nor did he have to be as the Cowboys totally dominated, 34-3, putting to rest for now those nagging doubts about the "little things," meaning the defensive secondary, running game and special teams.

But Romo is billed as "Favre Lite," and Tony had a tough act to follow Thursday when it comes to the comparisons, as premature as they are, between the two.

After a less than impressive first half, Romo underthrew a wide-open Jason Witten in the third quarter — Touchdown Tony doesn’t miss those — and that’s when the "what’s wrong with him" questions started to swirl at Texas Stadium. Normally, that throw to Witten would have been a quick six

"Nothing was wrong," answered Romo.

But others in the Cowboys’ locker room, who wanted to remain nameless, disagreed with the quarterback. Reportedly, Romo hurt the pinkie finger on his throwing hand in the first quarter. That ailment, combined with the mixture of snow and rain that fell in the first half, resulted in a traction problem. Romo, according to those who should know, couldn’t get a proper grip on the slippery ball due to the minor injury.

At one point in the second quarter, backup QB Brad Johnson was warming up in the bench area, but didn’t appear until fourth-quarter mop-up time.

"[Romo] hurt his finger a little bit, but it’s no problem," coach Wade Phillips said.

Romo also offered no excuses, and he was 21-of-28 while throwing two TD passes, one to Witten in the first half, and then added some scoreboard icing on a perfect toss to Eldorado Owens in the fourth quarter.

"I recognized pretty early today that our defense was going to do a good job," Romo said. "And from that point, you just kind of took what they give you and try not to hurt your team."

Nothing wrong with that answer, by the way. But it didn’t keep Witten from giving Romo some grief for the underthrow. "I let him hear it after he missed me," Witten said, laughing. "I told him I was faster than other tight ends, so throw it out there for me."

Whatever the reason, it wasn’t exactly a Favre-like performance for Romo, but he has the head-to-head duel next week to correct that. Witten, however, was also involved in a Tony mishap in the first half, one that resulted in Tony’s lone interception of the afternoon.

Trying to force an end-zone throw to Owens looked awful, but it was compounded because Romo didn’t see a wide-open Witten.

"He didn’t seem like he was in sync enough," Phillips said of Romo. "But we scored a lot of points and moved the ball."

(Wade could also have added, "when Romo is so-so, and we win by 31 points, what the hell is the question?" But Phillips stayed cool.)

Since the Packers played first on the Thanksgiving schedule, it made sense to think the Cowboys might be looking ahead to next week even before kicking off to the Jets as a 14-point favorite. The defense, however, made sure this wasn’t a factor. The Jets dipped far below the NFL’s Mendoza Line for total offense (200 yards) with a mere 180.

"It’s been the next team every game," added Phillips, meaning the Cowboys have made a habit of not looking ahead.

But once a boring afternoon, entertainment-wise, was over, Green Bay dominated the locker room conversation, starting with Favre, yet including owner Jerry Jones talking up the cable vs. dish debate since this is a game that will be shown nationally on the NFL Network, which reaches about two dozen homes, or something like that, across the country.

"I’d like to be a spectator for that one," Witten said of the matchup between Romo and his hero. "I expect we will get the best Brett has to offer next week," said Romo, who admits he hasn’t totally shed his Packers’ love from the old days growing up in Wisconsin.

"I still root them on," said Tony, who added with a smile, "but lately I’ve started to root against them."

Next week will definitely be one of those "rooting against them" moments.