IRVING, Texas (AP) -Tony Romo grew up in Wisconsin rooting for Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Yet, the Cowboys quarterback has been to Lambeau Field only twice in his life.
The only time he went to watch the Packers play was as a teenager, when he and his father made the 150-mile trip from Burlington for a preseason game. Four years ago, Romo was in the game, then the No. 3 quarterback who was holding kicks for the Dallas Cowboys.
So going home this weekend as a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback to start a game at Lambeau Field, with family and friends in the stands, certainly has to be the fulfillment of a childhood dream. Right?
Well, not exactly.
o a Bronco fan, I liked John Elway. I liked Joe Montana. That wasn’t the pinnacle.”
Instead, Romo looks at Sunday night’s matchup between the Cowboys and Packers – two of the NFC’s five 2-0 teams – as “another game” that is going to be fun to play. Like they all are for him.
“It will be an enjoyable experience to go out to dinner with my parents the night before the game, stuff I might have done when I was younger,” Romo said. “But they’ve seen me play. They’ve seen me play against the Packers in a pretty big game. A lot of people have been down here, so I don’t know that it will be a big difference.”
Except that it will be in Wisconsin and close to home, where Romo hasn’t started a game at quarterback since his senior season at Burlington High 10 years ago.
“I’m sure he’s a guy that’s not going to allow distractions, or going back home, disrupt his game plan or his mental frame of mind,” said Terrell Owens, who has caught three of Romo’s four TD passes this season. “He’s going to go in there and obviously want to play well. We are going to go in there and help him make that happen.”
Romo got to start against Favre and the Packers last November, at Texas Stadium in another prime-time game.
10-1 teams that wound up as the top two seeds in the NFC playoffs. Favre didn’t finish that game after getting hurt in the second quarter, and isn’t with the Packers anymore. Instead, it was Aaron Rodgers who finished that game – and is now the starter.
“It was fun to go against a good football team, it was fun to go against the Packers, a team you watched growing up, and fun to go against Favre,” Romo said. “But I’m getting a little older now, so you’ve been around certain different situations.”
Vinny Testaverde was the Cowboys’ starter when the Cowboys went to Green Bay in 2004, and lost 41-20. Romo was on the field for four plays, holding on two field goals and two extra points, in one of six games he appeared during his second NFL season.
When Romo went to Lambeau Field as a Packers fan as a teen, he doesn’t even remember who they played, or exactly what season it was. But he said he didn’t put a Cheesehead on his head, and never has.
“It was a neat atmosphere,” Romo said. “It was enjoyable to get up there.”
Still, it’s going to be a lot more fun for Romo to be playing and throwing passes on the legendary field.
“I’m a nostalgic person in a sense that I enjoy traditional things. I enjoy watching great players or great sporting events at a great atmosphere,” Romo said. “Lambeau Field obviously has great history and it’s going to fun to go up there and be part of that a little bit. At the same point, it’s another game and it’s just going to be fun to go out there and play.”
Asked how much demand he’s had for tickets, Romo said his phone was off and that he’d probably wait until after the game to check it. But he’s not sure how his childhood friends, all die-hard Packers fans, will react when he’s trying to beat them.
“If anything, they probably don’t want me to go play,” Romo said. “Because they don’t know who to root for, or they’ll just root for them.”
Notes: FB Deon Anderson will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and is out at least a couple of weeks. Anderson is the only fullback on the roster. … WR Sam Hurd (left ankle) and RG Kyle Kosier (sprained right foot), both hurt in the preseason, took part Wednesday in practice, a light workout without pads. It is possible both could play on Sunday.
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