Romo has the tabloids and paparazzi; which superstar is he dating these days? And do you think she’s ruining the team? Rodgers, meanwhile, was ruthlessly heckled by little kids during the Favre saga. But he still says Romo has it worse.

“His life has been scrutinized, I think, as much as anybody’s, and I think he does a great job balancing his personal life and his professional life,” Rodgers said. “And he’s a hell of a football player.”

Dealing with scrutiny is something the two discussed at a golf tournament in the offseason.

“Tony’s a very good guy,” Rodgers said. “It was a lot of fun being with him, to dialog with him about being a first-year player and the opportunities. We had similar situations: He waited for years before his opportunity, and I waited three for mine. So he’s done a great job, and I hope to be able to be mentioned in the same sentence more frequently.”

Rodgers and Romo agree that sitting on the bench for a while is beneficial to a young quarterback’s development, even if both had the itch to play earlier.

“I was more raw,” said Romo, who signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois in 2003. “I think Aaron probably came in the league probably at a higher level than I did. I wouldn’t have been very good my first year. He might have been good, I don’t know.”

Rodgers, a first-round pick in 2005, wanted to play right away. But in hindsight, he’s glad he didn’t.

“Would I have played well in the first year? Probably not, to be honest,” Rodgers said. “I really felt like the second year, I started to get it, but the third year, I had it down.”

Now Rodgers’ hard work in the obscurity of practices and offseason workouts is paying off. But McCarthy wants to make sure outside expectations don’t get out of hand.

“He’s off to a good start,” McCarthy said. “We’re only two weeks into it. There’s a ton of football ahead of us. Obviously he’s put together two good games from a performance standpoint, but handling the everyday No. 1 spot, it’s different. It’s a bigger responsibility.”

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