A few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought it possible that I’d be expressing sympathy for a guy who spent several nights of passion with Jessica Simpson (in her prime) on a Caribbean island, but here we are.
Seriously, we’ve got to start giving some credit to Tony Romo for the Dallas Cowboys’ excellent start so I can at least go back to being ambivalent about the guy.
The Cowboys’ offense is really, really good, probably the best in the league. They’ve got the best offensive line in football, led by former Badger center Travis Frederick. They’ve got a group of excellent receivers in Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams and veteran tight end Jason Witten. They’ve got this year’s fantasy football monster with running back DeMarco Murray (who was drafted one spot ahead of me in my fantasy league, not that I’m bitter or anything… Marcus). And they’ve got Romo.
Before this year, the Cowboys didn’t have all that. They certainly had Romo, but all those other parts took time to acquire and construct. Before the offensive line came together like it has, it was among the worst in football. Until Murray broke out and showed the running game could lead the offense, the Cowboys had to have one of the most pass-heavy attacks in the NFL. Romo was capable of leading that attack, one of the few in the NFL who could, and consistently delivered around 4,000 yards while staying above-average in efficiency stats.
This success came in one of the most toxic situations a quarterback can experience in the modern NFL. He had no run game. He had no pass protection. He had no defense. Without him, we aren’t joking about the Cowboys constantly going 8-8. We’re joking about them going 3-13.
Yet people still joke about Tony Romo and all his supposed screw-ups thanks to an insanely dedicated confirmation bias towards the idea that it’s Romo letting the Cowboys down in the important games. Let’s use facts to clear up how ridiculous this is.
By itself, Romo’s career passer rating in the fourth quarter would be the second highest in the history of the NFL. His career overtime passer rating would be highest by more than 10 points. His overall career passer rating is the fifth highest in league history.
That’s all the statistical confirmation we need, right? If someone hears those facts and still thinks “It’s Romo letting the Cowboys down,” they’ve got to be basing their opinion of Romo on something outside of football knowledge.
Yes, Romo has had his screwups and fumbles late in games. He's also in the all-time Top 20 for game-winning drives led by a quarterback. That's not to mention, more often than not, Romo had something like 350 passing yards and was an incredibly large reason there was even a win to fumble away. It’s like if I write 80 percent of a paper for a group project, we miss out on an A because of a typo I made, and the teacher thinks I’m the one who let the team down.
This is obviously all in the past. I just think a team's most valuable player shouldn’t be excoriated because his team is mediocre due to things outside of his control. Not when that player is delivering the value of a Top 10 NFL quarterback.
But now, those things outside of Romo’s control are actually positives. The running game is tops in the NFL by yardage and even the defense isn’t awful, thanks to the resurrection of Rolando McClain’s career and good acquisitions in the secondary.
The problem is that the newfangled running game and improved defense now seem to be thought of as the reason for the Cowboys’ overall success, not their success relative to recent years. People are taking Tony Romo, a truly good quarterback, for granted in a league era where quality quarterbacks are more valued than any time in history (evidence: Joe Flacco’s contract).
Two weeks ago, people ogled over a play that extended what would be the game-winning drive for the Cowboys over the Seahawks. Every media outlet called it the “Terrance Williams catch,” because that receiver made about as pretty a toe drag you will ever see to haul in the ball.
Never mind that Romo had to evade Seattle’s Bruce Irvin as the star pass rusher was coming up on his blind side, dodge two more tackles while rolling out of the pocket, then throw across his body to put the ball where Williams and only Williams could catch it.
As if that lack of credit wasn’t enough, can you think of another quarterback in the league more likely to walk into Seattle, throw down a 110.2 passer rating, and have his freaking offensive tackle win the conference's offensive player of the week award?
The week after that game, I watched a Sportscenter analyst rank Romo as the No. 5 reason for the Cowboys’ success, as the host argued with a straight face that maybe Jerry Jones should get more credit. No. 1 was head coach Jason Garrett, who was stripped of his play calling duties before the year.
So much of the credit for Dallas’ success has gone to its offensive line, and a good amount should. Almost any real quarterback could succeed with that collection of twinkle-toed behemoths. Behind them, Romo is leading the league in completion percentage and is Top 5 in most of the major efficiency stats. But we shouldn’t give them all the credit for his success while so many other passers are allowed to be considered near the top despite benefiting from great pass blocking.
Behind San Francisco’s line when it was considered tops in the league, Colin Kaepernick was considered one of the best young quarterbacks in the league. Until this season, Tom Brady’s entire career has been spent with an offensive line coach, Dante Scarnecchia, considered one of the best assistant coaches in league history. When Houston’s line was elite, Matt Schaub making multiple Pro Bowls was a real thing that happened.
The difference between Romo and at least Schaub is that when Romo had a bad offensive line, he was still good. The man is the fifth-most efficient quarterback in league history by passer rating, and he’ll probably go down in history as the goat who choked the Cowboys’ chances at success during his tenure, not the star who almost singlehandedly brought them there. For that, I feel sympathy.
Will Tony Romo ever overcome his negative public perception? What type of numbers does he have to record to do that? Share your thoughts with jack.baer@dailycardinal.com.
