If there’s anything Jerry Jones loves more than talking, it might be Tony Romo.
So the Cowboys owner looked up during his postgame press conference as his soon-to-be former quarterback walked out of the locker room, knowing it was probably the last time he’d do so.
“We just won’t address any of that until later on,” Jones said, via Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “And I’m not going to quantify it in terms of days or weeks or whatever, but that will be in the future. . . .
“That’s not for here. We’ll be talking and addressing those kinds of things as we move ahead here over the next weeks and months.”
Once the Cowboys cast their lot with rookie Dak Prescott this season and kept him in place when Romo’s back fracture healed, it set the stage for an inevitable trade or release.
And even falling behind 21-3 against the Packers never made it cross Jones’ mind to go to the 36-year-old on the bench.
“No, I didn’t think about that,” Jones said.
But the moment wasn’t lost on others, who said Romo’s willingness to handle things like an adult this season was critical to their 13-3 record and top seed in the NFC playoffs.
“I haven’t had a chance to reflect on that,” tight end and Romo’s close friend Jason Witten said. “I’m sure in the next few weeks we’ll have time to talk. I Really haven’t had a time to talk about that with him. But I’m proud of him and how he handled that. Going back to when he had his press conference, and the way he was able to kind of take the lead and eliminate the distraction for our football team, that wasn’t easy to do. I think we’re all better because of that.”
And as they go into the offseason, the passing of the torch will become official, even if they don’t want to discuss it today.