Tony Romo is a retired American football player who used to play for the Dallas Cowboys on the National Football League. Romo began his football career playing for Eastern Illinois University. His performance, while he was on the team, was fantastic, which is why he was tasked to lead the team to an Ohio Valley Conference Championship. Romo’s career at the NFL began when he was signed as an undrafted free agent with the Dallas Cowboys, where he soon became the starting quarterback of the team. Tony Romo is known to be one of NFL’s most successful and popular players because of his undeniable talent in American Football. In this article, we are going to know more about this iconic NFL player.
Early Life and Childhood
Born as Antonio Ramiro Romo on 21 April 1980 in San Diego, California, Tony Romo is the son of a retired US Navy, Ramiro Romo Jr., and Joan Romo. They worked as a clerk in a store.
Most of Romo’s childhood was spent in Southern Wisconsin, and since then, he was involved in sports. In an interview, he said he looked up to Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers, and his playing technique very much inspired him. In 1998, Romo graduated from high school, and when he entered college, he decided to attend the Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.
Romo started playing for the university’s football team, where he proved that he has the talent to reckon. At the end of his years in the university, Romo was honored as an All-Ohio Valley Conference member, an All-American honorable mention, as well as the OVC Player of the Year.
In December 2002, Romo became the first player ever from his Eastern Illinois University to win the Walter Payton Award after he passed 34 touchdowns and a total of 3,165 yards during his senior year. Despite his amazing playing skills and several achievements, Romo went undrafted during the 2003 NFL draft.
Career
Not long after the NFL Draft in 2003, Tony Romo was contracted to be an undrafted rookie free agent by the Dallas Cowboys. Even if Romo was given short playing time during his first three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, he still managed to become the team’s starting quarterback in 2006.
Romo helped the Dallas Cowboys boost their overall performance, and earned much appreciation from the team. At the end of the 2006 regular season, Romo passed a total of 19 touchdowns, with 2,903 yards. Aside from this, Romo also became the second-ever quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys to be selected for the ProBowl.
After a year, Romo successfully led the Dallas Cowboys to win their first-ever National Football Conference East Division title in nine years. Romo ended the 2007 regular season with a total of 4,211 passing yards and 36 touchdowns.
The following season Romo continued playing fabulously and led the Dallas Cowboys to a 28-10 win against the Cleveland Browns during the season-opening in 2008. However, Romo received several criticisms after the Dallas Cowboy’s final game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles, where the Cowboys ached a 44-6 loss. The following year, Romo silenced his critics when he achieved a career-high of 4,483 yards and led the Cowboys to their first postseason victory after 13 years.
During the 2010 season, Romo was limited to only six games because he had a fracture. But, he still managed to continue playing for the team over the next few seasons with undoubtedly excellent performances. His performance during the 2014 season is by far the best in his career because he led the NFL with a 113.2 passer rating while hurling 34 touchdowns as well as nine interceptions. The Dallas Cowboys also managed to win a division title during that season.
Because of several injuries, Romo appeared in very few games during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. In 2017, Romo made an announcement of his retirement from the NFL. After that, CBS Sports decided to hire him as a commentator for NFL TV broadcasts.