While Tony Romo has achieved rock star fame as quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, he hasn’t yet been able to achieve elite quarterback status in spite of his numbers.
Romo has a career QB efficiency of 95.6, ranking him fourth all time, just behind Hall of Fame 49er Steve Young and just ahead of two guys named Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Romo shows flashes of brilliance, interspersed with costly, head-slap-inducing errors. Sunday night’s game was a microcosm of the best and worst of Romo, as he continues to be a human Rorschach test – people see what they want to see.
The Good was certainly on display, particularly for the first three quarters. Romo finished the game 23 of 36 for 342 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. He had a quarterback rating of over 100 for the game, and built the Cowboys to a 14 point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The Cowboys had never lost a game when leading by 14 points in the fourth quarter in the history of the franchise. They were an amazing 241-0-1. But in the fourth, the Bad and the Ugly made appearances as well.
Midway through the quarter, when the Jets had cut the lead to seven points, Romo fumbled the ball on the Jets 3-yard line on third down. Throwing the ball away to avoid a sack would have virtually guaranteed a field goal, which was ultimately the difference in the game.
Later in the quarter, when the Jets had tied the game, Romo threw an ugly interception to Darrelle Revis which set up the game-winning field goal for the Jets.
The Romo believers say he’s a gunslinger. He takes chances. He’s a young Brett Favre. Fortunately for Romo, Dallas owner Jerry Jones is one of those believers.
“One of the best games I’ve ever seen him play,” Jones told ESPN.
“You can make a big case that the way he played for three quarters was how we got there at the end and looked like for sure we were going to get the win. But he played outstanding.”
Jones also seems committed to Romo long term, saying, “We are going to rise and fall based on what Tony Romo’s about over the next several years, and I’m excited about that.”
The doubters see the bad decisions at crunch time, particularly in the fourth quarter and in the playoffs.
Ultimately, what happens on the field will determine whether Romo can earn the right to be considered with Brady, Rodgers, Brees and the other elite quarterbacks in the league. He certainly has the talent, the potential and has put up the numbers, but he has to prove he can eliminate the errors and carry the Cowboys deep into the playoffs to earn that elite level.
