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Tony Romo

After another mythic 4th quarter choke this past Sunday, Romo has been getting ripped in the media. Is he unfairly targeted? Eli Manning of the under-acheiving Giants threw 5 picks last week, Matthew Stafford threw a horrible interception when his team needed him to guide them into field goal position to win the game, Matt Ryan has been bad all season, etc. Is Romo a target because he's a Cowboy and if you don't like the team you hate it, because people outside the organization think Jerry Jones is a buffoon of an owner (I refuse to think of him as a GM), or is he really just that bad in clutch situations?
 
After another mythic 4th quarter choke this past Sunday, Romo has been getting ripped in the media. Is he unfairly targeted? Eli Manning of the under-acheiving Giants threw 5 picks last week, Matthew Stafford threw a horrible interception when his team needed him to guide them into field goal position to win the game, Matt Ryan has been bad all season, etc. Is Romo a target because he's a Cowboy and if you don't like the team you hate it, because people outside the organization think Jerry Jones is a buffoon of an owner (I refuse to think of him as a GM), or is he really just that bad in clutch situations?

Yes!
Romo is a good QB. But to be great, you have to be clutch. Elway, Montana, Brady, and even Aikman were all clutch when the game was on the line. Romo? Be honest, is he the QB you want leading your team down by 4 points with 90 seconds left in the game?
I didn't think so.
 
There are 32 NFL teams. How many great QB's are there? Not good, but great.

Manning, Brady, Brees.

How many are so much better than the rest (not counting the above 3) and may be seen as great in the near future:

Rodgers, Roethlisberger.

Romo doesn't quite make the list. But, he's better, or at least as good as, most of the rest (long term anyhow. Jury is still out on RG3, Kaepernick, Wilson, as they're young and we'll have to see if they can maintain it for a few years). Is Romo as good as Rivers and Ryan? Probably. Is he better than anyone not already listed above? Probably. So you don't dump him, Dallas, you roll with your best option, Romo. Dallas has a lot of Problems and honestly, with better coaching they'd probably be a 12 win team, they have the talent. Their biggest problem is the same problem that shackled the Raiders to misery for years, an owner who can't be smart enough to hire a very good football coach and let him do his job. Owners don't make good coaches. The last great Cowboys team came when Jimmy Johnson didn't have Jerry coaching from the back seat.
 

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Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
No question Eli Manning has been stinking up the joint, but the Giants were getting blown out and his offensive line gave one of the worst performances in recent memory. The Cowboys, on the other hand, blew a huge lead, in large part due to Romo's late game antics. Of the two, he was more responsible for the loss and should shoulder more of the blame.
 
Bill Barnwell, formerly of Football Outsiders, wrote a good piece about Romo:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10145592/bill-barnwell-week-15-nfl

He's been exposing the lie of "Romo isn't clutch" for a long time now. You can read the whole thing, or you can answer Romo's latest "collapse" with "Dallas' defense allowed 34 second half points to a Packers team led by Matt Flynn." Also, of his two late INTs, one was the receiver's fault, and the other was a good decision, but a bad throw. Bad throws happen; you want your QB to be making the right decisions.

Romo gets this exposure because, for one its a ready-made theme, just like how Peyton Manning can't win when it counts. So in 2006, he wins it all. I'm a Pats' fan and I was always a believer in "Brady wins when it counts" until Super Bowls 42 and 46 where suddenly he hasn't been.

Also, Romo plays for Dallas and they are the Yankees of the NFL, with the same outsized attention and the same outsized expectations. Dallas really hasn't been a great team since 2007, but it seems like they get the attention of a team better than they are.
 
I would agree with the top tier quarterbacks being Brees, Brady, and Manning. I think Romo fits in the lower run of the second tier or perhaps the upper rung of the third tier. He tends to choke in big games but he's also put up some decent numbers over the years. For half of the teams in the league he'd probably be an upgrade for them.
 
I would agree with the top tier quarterbacks being Brees, Brady, and Manning. I think Romo fits in the lower run of the second tier or perhaps the upper rung of the third tier. He tends to choke in big games but he's also put up some decent numbers over the years. For half of the teams in the league he'd probably be an upgrade for them.

You could make the argument, just on the final result alone, that Brady is "not clutch." Just this season, in 3 of their 4 losses, he's had the ball in his hands on the final drive and within 25 yards of the end zone. He's thrown game ending INTs in all three (CIN, CAR, and now MIA). And that also ignores his late INT to NO that they were able to miraculously come back from. Of course this completely ignores the fact that in those three the defense allowed a late score and that he's moved the ball with no time left and no timeouts.

I think Romo "not being clutch" is a media-created myth, just like how Peyton Manning "doesn't like the cold." He had that bad game against NE a few weeks ago in the cold and then lit up KC in the cold.
 
You could make the argument, just on the final result alone, that Brady is "not clutch." Just this season, in 3 of their 4 losses, he's had the ball in his hands on the final drive and within 25 yards of the end zone. He's thrown game ending INTs in all three (CIN, CAR, and now MIA). And that also ignores his late INT to NO that they were able to miraculously come back from. Of course this completely ignores the fact that in those three the defense allowed a late score and that he's moved the ball with no time left and no timeouts.

I think Romo "not being clutch" is a media-created myth, just like how Peyton Manning "doesn't like the cold." He had that bad game against NE a few weeks ago in the cold and then lit up KC in the cold.
I think Romo's label stems from chokes during high profile or televised games. Also, I think the media generally likes to find something to pick on him about. Every off season there are stories about his golfing, woman chasing, or this or that. I think people generally love to hate Romo. Combine that with the fact that Dallas has been underachieving and this is what you get. I wonder how many Cowboys fans would rather have Cutler for example?
 
I think Romo's label stems from chokes during high profile or televised games. Also, I think the media generally likes to find something to pick on him about. Every off season there are stories about his golfing, woman chasing, or this or that. I think people generally love to hate Romo. Combine that with the fact that Dallas has been underachieving and this is what you get. I wonder how many Cowboys fans would rather have Cutler for example?

I agree with this. And I think a lot of it comes down to that highly-publicized trip he took with Jessica Simpson during the bye week of the playoffs in '07-'08 when they were the first seed. Of course no one mentions he also went with Jason Witten but no one ever looks at Witten with the same jaundiced eye.

I think Dallas would be wise to "fire" Jerry Jones as GM, as if that would ever happen. They spend tons on their stars but when they get injured, especially on D, they have sub-replacement talent on the back end of their roster. Its almost as if they never realize that injuries reliably and inevitably occur.
 
I'm a Cowboys fan and I used to think Romo was unfairly targeted and blamed for too many losses. The Cowboys usually had a horrible offensive line, poor running, too many penalties and lousy defense and you wonder how well even a great QB like Peyton would have done with them. I also think there was poor play calling from the sidelines too of course. This last game was on Romo IMO though. Yes the defense still sucked, but it was a game that could have been won and he was in charge of winning it at the end. Unfortunately the only way he'll get the target off his back is to win a Super Bowl. It's the Cowboys and nothing less will ever be good enough.
 
he is a disappointment, an overpaid disappointment.

I wouldn't want Cutler but I think if PM had joined Dallas we would have won a few of the close ones we lost this year and be in the playoffs.
 
I agree with this. And I think a lot of it comes down to that highly-publicized trip he took with Jessica Simpson during the bye week of the playoffs in '07-'08 when they were the first seed. Of course no one mentions he also went with Jason Witten but no one ever looks at Witten with the same jaundiced eye.

I think Dallas would be wise to "fire" Jerry Jones as GM, as if that would ever happen. They spend tons on their stars but when they get injured, especially on D, they have sub-replacement talent on the back end of their roster. Its almost as if they never realize that injuries reliably and inevitably occur.
I'm not a Dallas fan but I'm a football fan and I agree with JP's take on Jones. Yes, he's spend a gazillion dollars improving the Cowboys facilities but he needs to hire a GM and let them run the team along with the coach. As long as he continues playing GM I think the cowboys will suffer. He writes the checks so he has every right to do what he wants but he'd be better served if he handed over the GM keys.
 
I wouldn't want Cutler but I think if PM had joined Dallas we would have won a few of the close ones we lost this year and be in the playoffs.

Heh, the interesting thing about Peyton Manning is that he was always saddled with the "can't win when it counts" tag, so then of course he wins it all in '06, where he was great (that team was probably the worst of his Colts teams from that time). Then of course he goes back to the "can't win when it counts" and threw the game-sealing INT in the '09 Super Bowl (although everyone states that Wayne ran the wrong route). And now he's back to the "one and deal" tag, especially last year.

I guess what I've been trying to say is that these "is clutch"/"is not clutch" tags are essentially meaningless and that the player is who he is. Romo may make bone-headed decisions sometimes, but probably no more so than any other QB and that the team is responsible for these losses. When Detroit came storming back earlier this year, they scored 24 points in the 4th quarter, a ridiculous total. But the Cowboys, led by Romo, scored 17 points, which is also great. And included in that was a 60 yard TD pass from Romo and a 50 yard TD pass from Romo. He was 2-2 for 110 yards with 2 TDs. But Dallas' defense was terrible.
 
I think what we have to ask is who is better than Romo in his class? Is Rivers, Cutler, Ryan better? They haven't done any more than he has realistically. He's on par with those guys and perhaps better.
 
As a Packer fan that was one of the best games I've seen in a long time :laugh:.

This loss isnt just Romo's fault. Its the Cowboys defense and Jason Garret abandoning the run game. Murray carried the ball 18 times averaging 7.4 ypc. In the second half they ran the ball just 6 times. It really was an epic meltdown by the Cowboys.

Believe it or not Tony Romo has the highest fourth quarter passing rating(102.9) of any quarterback ever.

Romo also has a career passer rating of 93.1 in the final two minutes of a game. Thats the best of all active quarterbacks and 4th best since 1991.



 
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Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
This loss isnt just Romo's fault. Its the Cowboys defense and Jason Garret abandoning the run game. Murray carried the ball 18 times averaging 7.4 ypc. In the second half they ran the ball just 6 times.

This.
 
The problem with the Cowboys is Jerry Jones. Until he gets out of his own way and hires people that can and are able to do their jobs, without being controlled by Jerry, the team will be mediocre. A record of 135 and 135 with one playoff win since 97 tells you everything you need to know about them.
 
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