On Sunday, after the Dallas Cowboys eeked out a 20-17 overtime win over the visiting Houston Texans, quarterback Tony Romo seemed mostly satisfied, but he still looked as if he had a little something on his mind.
That little something turned out to be a bigger something though, as Romo told the assembled media at his post-game press conference that he was "a little bit surprised at the number of Houston fans out there."
"There," of course, being AT&T Stadium - the ostentatious mecca to Cowboys football - built by Dallas owner Jerry Jones.
Romo said there were so many Texans fans at their stadium on Sunday that he was forced to use a silent count - the cooling salve of quarterbacks across the land, employed almost exclusively when away game crowds become too noisy for the other offensive players to hear the snap count.
Of course, the Houston Texans also play in Texas. So this game of all games can simply be explained away as an aberration - in-state rivalries are always a big draw. Not to mention, no other team in the nation plays their home games as close to Dallas as the Texans, thus the sheer geographical distance from one home state and city to another is generally more prohibitive.
Nonetheless, Romo was perturbed.
"We need to do a better job as a team - a fan base and everyone - to make sure that we understand how big a difference playing at home is. I think going forward I'm just going to push that issue a little bit," he said.
Even head coach Jason Garrett admitted that home games have been, interesting, this season.
"We've had interesting home games this year," Garrett said. "One of the things we have to do as a team is we have to give our fans reason to cheer. There were a lot of Cowboys fans there yesterday. When we do things the right way and give our fans reason to cheer and be loud, typically those things work out well for us."
Romo, when asked if he would buy more tickets using his $18 million average annual salary and distribute them to fans, said he'd be willing (but he won't).
"If I need to, it would be worth it," he said.
But Romo, falling back on clichéd football interview speak, said he thinks it's up to the organization and the fans to clean things up and get the job done.
"We just need to tighten up, maybe, on selling our tickets."
Of course, the most ironic aspect to all of this is that Romo and Garrett are suffering as a direct result of their owner's decision to funnel single game tickets to secondary sellers, such as StubHub and NFL Ticket Exchange, where they're sold at a premium.
This system is beneficial for fans of every team in the league that are willing to travel - fans of teams like the Dallas Cowboys.
Plus, the Cowboys are currently out-performing expectations. Many fans, no doubt, sold their tickets ahead of time figuring that this season would be a waste.
To echo Garrett, Romo and the team need to continue to give their fans a reason to cheer - and a reason to show up to games.
