IRVING – Tony Romo's hat was still on backward. He was still in his black pajamas and T-shirt. The same crowd surrounded his locker.
But the questions Tuesday morning were different than any Romo had been asked since becoming the Cowboys' starting quarterback.
Romo wasn't asked about Jessica Simpson or Romo-mentum or his similarities to Kurt Warner. The questions were about bouncing back from his first sub-par performance, simplifying the offense and if defenses have figured him out.
That's what happens when a quarterback completes fewer than 50 percent of his passes (16-of-33) for the first time, is intercepted in back-to-back games as a starter for the first time and generally looks uncomfortable – as Romo did Sunday against New Orleans.
It's the sort of bloody-nose moment that coach Bill Parcells talked about when measuring a quarterback's staying power.
"Anytime you go to bed after a game you lose, you're going to think about everything you could have done different," Romo said. "That's the competitor inside of you. ... All we can do now is say, 'Hey, we're going to find out what we're made of this week.' "
More specifically, the Cowboys will learn what Romo is made of Saturday at Atlanta.
The first six weeks of Romo's tenure were nothing short of spectacular. He was hyped for the Pro Bowl in leading the Cowboys to four straight wins. He tied a franchise record with five touchdown passes on Thanksgiving Day against Tampa Bay.
In the last two games, against the New York Giants and New Orleans, Romo has been intercepted four times and has thrown only one touchdown pass. His passer rating for the last two games was 58.1 and 58.8.
As opposing coaches see more of Romo, the more tendencies they will pick up – but Parcells, Romo and tight end Jason Witten don't believe the quarterback has been figured out.
"Different defensive coordinators see different things when they watch the film," Romo said. "It's not one play we run or one thing we do you're going to be able to take away."
On Monday, Parcells attempted to deflect attention away from Romo.
"I'm anxious to see how we respond," Parcells said about the team as a whole. "We are at a critical time of the season."
Drew Bledsoe remembers his first bloody-nose game. It was the ninth game of his career, Dec. 5, 1993, at Pittsburgh. The Steelers picked him off five times. He completed 37.5 percent of his passes and had a 26.4 passer rating. But the Patriots still had a chance to win the game when he was stopped at the goal line on a quarterback sneak.
Bledsoe responded by leading New England to four straight wins to close the season, throwing eight touchdown passes and only two interceptions.
"It's hard," Bledsoe said. "It's the biggest challenge a quarterback has. You've got to be able to bounce back from the bad ones."
To help Romo, Parcells said he and running game and passing game coordinators Tony Sparano and Todd Haley might simplify the Cowboys' attack – cutting down on some of the options.
As well as Romo has played, Saturday is just the eighth start of his career.
"It's, 'Hey, let's take a look at this and let's not get too far off the reservation ourselves,' " Parcells said.
If the Cowboys do that, Romo said he would execute the game plan.
"I just think we want to play fast and minimize the mental errors that we as an offense have as a whole," Romo said. "When you can do that, we have enough talent to go out there and get the job done."
Before he was named the starter, Romo had won over some of his teammates with his competitiveness. They don't expect to see anything less now.
"Practice, two-minute drills, anything that he plays, basketball, golf, PlayStation, he's competitive," Witten said. "He always wants to prove people wrong. He feels like a lot of this is on his shoulders and some of it is, but we didn't play well as a team. I'm hopeful he'll come back. ... When his back is against the wall, he plays well."
E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com
Cowboys (8-5) at Atlanta (7-6), 7 p.m. Saturday (Ch. 21, NFL)
