IRVING – One of the reasons Tony Romo mishandled a snap on a potential 19-yard game-winning field goal try was the slickness of the football.
Normally, kicking balls have the wax rubbed off so holders and deep snappers can handle them easier.
"It looked like a new dime, a new penny. It really did," owner/general manager Jerry Jones said. "And [Romo] did not bobble the ball. He had never dropped a ball in practice. It's not an excuse there. It just slipped out. There is nobody that feels worse."
Cowboys' deep snapper L.P. Ladouceur complained to special teams coach Bruce DeHaven the ball used for the kick was the worst of the night and it appeared it was a new ball.
Romo was able to catch the snap, but he squeezed the ball too hard as he tried to plant it and it slipped out of his hands.
"I don't know, it happened pretty quick," Romo said. "Obviously the reason I dropped it was ... it was a slick ball, it doesn't matter you still have to catch it."
In late December, Philadelphia quarterback Jeff Garcia complained about the slickness of the balls this season to the Philadelphia Daily News .
"They're terrible," he told the paper. "The balls are terrible. Whatever they decided to do with them this year, it was a move in the wrong direction."
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the NFL in August decided to switch all of the footballs with former commissioner Paul Tagliabue's signature on it with new ones.
The new balls have new commissioner Roger Goodell's signature on them.
But Doug Wisner, a marketing analyst for Wilson Sporting Goods, that manufactures the footballs, said a summer heat wave in Ohio affected the production of the Goodell signed balls, creating more slickness.
Either way, Jones said it's the home team's responsibility to make sure any slickness of balls is rubbed off before a game.
"The home team can really knock that slickness off the ball," Jones said. Later he said, "I've been talking about these balls for years and years and years. The more we can hold onto the football, the better game you have. It's almost like placing a factor in the game to create a little ambiguity."
E-mail cwatkins@dallasnews.com
