CANTON, Ohio -- Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bob Lilly was a major headache for quarterbacks during his 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. We caught up with Lilly here in Canton and asked "Mr. Cowboy" himself about -- you guessed it -- Tony Romo.
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Lilly acknowledged that Romo, at 32, faces a ticking clock in his quest to win a Super Bowl.
"I think Tony is a pretty good quarterback, and if he's ever going to be totally mature, he'll be that way this year," Lilly told Around the League. "He's got a few years left, but he's getting into his early 30s. A lot of quarterbacks have matured late, but generally the ones that have won and have dynasties, started out fairly young on the team they played with."
Despite all that, Lilly said, "I think he's got it."
Lilly has a reference point for late-blooming passers. He played with Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, who started his first game at age 27, won his first Super Bowl at age 29, and went on to win a second in his mid-30s.
Romo is probably tired of being compared to old Cowboys signal-callers, especially when he's blown most of them away statistically. At the same time, the only number the people of Dallas care about is the Lombardi count, and it's been a long time since the team added one of those.
