VALLEY RANCH -- Back when his hair looked darker and shorter, Mister Bill Parcells served as Texas Tech's defensive coordinator... out there near the office of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

  Oh Lord, what a name for a newspaper... Parcells always had a nickname for everyone. When a scribe named Halliburton visited Red Raiders' practices with more lengthy and blond locks, Parcells used to call the writer "Hairgod" back in the mid 70s.

  Mister Bill virtually always could defend the accuracy of his calculations and personnel decisions. He never tended to insert a Tech defender into games unless a guy appeared ready in every way. Thirty years later, hairstyles have changed but Mister Bill is still accounting for his yucky timing...

  Therefore on Monday morning after Tony Romo auditioned for some of Peyton Manning's future commercials, Mister Bill tried to explain what took him so long... not what took Romo so long, but what took Parcells so long to insert Romo as the Cowboys' starting quarterback in 2006.

  Some of Valley Ranch's younger scribblers even calculated that the 6-4 Cowboys might be 8-2 or better if Romo had started all of his team's first 10 games. That's in part a presumptuous conclusion based on Tony's ability to show a poise and a cool beyond his years through four NFL starts. Yet Cowboys lovers do not have to be reminded that their heroes have rallied from behind in three of those of four Romo success stories.

  It's true the Cowboys have patched together the quarterback position ever since Troy Aikman's final snap in 2000. It's also factual that they fully intended to ride Drew Bledsoe's right arm this year.... so much so that club owner Jerry Jones said he would have to lower his 2006 expectations after Romo replaced Bledsoe a month ago.

  Now we have to evaluate things differently, of course. That's just the way these instant conclusions are reached. If he were playing for Baylor, we would swear that Romo could walk on water. Since he's behaving as the NFC's top-rated passer for the real Dallas Cowboys, we say that he can float on air.

  When this fourth-year pro from Eastern Illinois tried to describe his sudden ascension into Cowboys glory, Romo struggled a bit more on Monday than he did against the Colts on Sunday.

  "You try to work hard and you try to get better," he said, looking at shoes and shrugging his shoulders. "I guarantee you that I enjoy the game."

  Romo does not strike the pose of a tall, dark and handsome Cowboys star who attracts the public like a magnet when he enters the interview room. He's modest, especially when he lines his stature next to Peyton Manning's.

  Yet it's absolutely incredible how this group of young men have rallied around this guy. Going into NFL 2006 Week 12, Manning predictably is the league's top-rated passer with a performance-rating of 100.5, followed unexplainably by Romo at 100.0.

  Late Sunday evening, Cowboys analyst and former quarterback Babe Laufenberg asked Tony if this last month seemed like a fairy tale to him?

  "I don't know if it's really a fairy tale," Romo smirked.

  "But you're the Cowboys quarterback?" Laufenberg responded.

  "So were you," Romo sharply replied.

  Truth be known, Mister Bill has been careful with this 26-year-old quarterback. If you noticed, the Cowboys coach remained very protective of Romo on Sunday in his play calls. Parcells did not want Romo to make "the mistake" that could cost Dallas the game yet Mister Bill had developed a decent trust in Terry Glenn's ability to catch the short slant routes from Romo.

  One time early in the fourth quarter, Parcells elected to run Julius Jones on the dive for no gain on second-and-goal at Indy's 10. Mister Bill's decision was greeted by a resounding chorus of boos... On the very next third-down snap, Romo tried to reach Glenn and the Colts received a defensive holding call. Marion Barber slipped outside the defense for a score on the next play.

  "If the Colts were stacking up against the run, Tony was going out to Terry," Parcells said. "I think that loosened him up a little bit."

  But why did Mister Bill need so long to switch from Bledsoe to Romo? Now that subject tended to irk Mister Bill a bit.

  "You know... uh, there are a lot of people now who can say 'You should have done it sooner'  but that's the advantage of a retrospective view," he said. "I did when I thought it was time.

  "I don't know that 'surprised' would be the right word. I've been looking at the guy for four years so I don't really look at him like a rookie player. I look at him as an inexperienced game player but I think it's been a pretty long process to get him ready."

  By being around Bledsoe and Vinny Testaverde, Romo was exposed to a pair of very meticulous veterans in the area of game preparation. Mister Bill insisted that those guys have provided Tony excellent role models.

  "Vinny was a very meticulous preparation guy and Romo was surprised by that," Parcells continued. "He mentioned that to me many times. I know Vinny still talks to him about that."

  Mister Bill is careful to keep Romo's feet on the ground. He doesn't anticipate Tony is going to become full of himself over his recent prosperity. He says Tony is still quite capable of making major bonehead blunders.

  "There are some people here who are going to keep his feet on the ground," Parcells said. "When you know what I know, you have a lot of ammunition."

  When it comes to ammunition, Mister Bill stays loaded 24-7.

  Tom Halliburton is a Port Arthur News sports columnist