Sneaky Tony Romo Tried to Fool Refs and Get the Cowboys a 1st Down

Nobody overestimates the Tony Romo sneakiness, because it’s not even close to sneaky.

Viewers watching the Dallas Cowboys matchup against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday witnessed a bit of gamesmanship by Romo, who tried to push a ball forward with his foot prior to a chain gang measurement.

The sneaky Romo moment was spotted by Tony Manfred and Cork Gaines of BusinessInsider.com (h/t Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News), and let's be clear here—Romo was fooling no one.

The moment occurred after a 3rd-and-1 run by DeMarco Murray in the third quarter. Murray appeared to have been tackled short of the first. Officials had just finished spotting the ball when Romo stabbed his right foot into the mix and scooted the ball forward.

Was he playing around and just having a bit of fun with the officials? Or did Romo really think the ploy might pan out and earn the Cowboys a first down?

Regardless of his intentions, Vikings players and officials noticed the less-than-subtle tap, and the ball was placed in its (more or less) original position. Romo might’ve bought them an inch.

Vikings defensive end Jared Allen wasn’t laughing at Romo’s gamesmanship and appeared to be calling for a penalty on the quarterback as referees repositioned the ball. Some guys just cannot take a joke—or something that was kind of like a joke.

The Cowboys beat Minnesota 27-23, and Romo answered postgame questions about the incident with a grin on his face.

“I was playing around,” Romo said, via Machota. “I was hoping they missed it. Actually, I slipped.”

Oh, I see. You slipped. Gotcha, Tony (winks, shoots the finger-guns).

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