Above all others, Tony Romo is the reason why the Dallas Cowboys were able to have a shot to win the NFC East in the last week of the regular season. In the end, the Giants handled the Cowboys 31-14, and America’s Team completed another late season collapse. Despite this, it would be ignorant to place the blame on the Cowboys’ woes this season on its quarterback.
A simple look at Romo’s numbers this season tell part of the story: he finished 2011 with a 31-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a 102.5 quarterback rating, good for fourth in the NFL. But if you think quarterback rating is not an appropriate barometer of a signal caller’s effectiveness, Romo was also fourth in the NFL in QBR rating (ESPN’s newly hyped ratings system created with clutch-play in mind), with a number of 70.1.
Statistics aren’t enough to satisfy the Romo detractors, however. Most will point to his below .500 December/January record, and his infamous ways for losing games, such as the botched snap against the Seahawks in 2006, or more recently this year, the turnover debacles against the Jets and the Lions.
So, Romo puts up gaudy numbers, but often fails in the clutch when it matters most. Well, not exactly. If you take out both of the Cowboys’ games against the Eagles, the first a complete blowout, and the second when Romo left the game in the first quarter because of the bruised throwing hand, Romo has put Dallas in position to win all of their games this year.
Then why did the Cowboys finish 8-8 and not 14-2? Some of the criticism of Romo is rightfully deserved. The interceptions against the Jets in Week 1, and the Lions in Week 4 were unacceptable. However, those two losses as a whole can be more appropriately blamed on the play calling and coaching of first-year head coach Jason Garrett, and the collapse of first-year defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s defense.
In spite of these losses, Romo jump-started the haggard Cowboys early in the season with comeback victories against the 49ers in Week 2, and the Redskins in Week 3. Later in the season, he led the Cowboys to game-winning drives against the Dolphins and the Redskins a second time. In the first week of December, he drove the Cowboys into field goal range against the Cardinals before placekicker Dan Bailey was iced by his own coach.
While all this was happening, the Cowboys defense was making Rex Grossman, Matt Moore, and Kevin Kolb look like Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. The Cowboys defense, erratic all year, had become consistent. Consistently atrocious.
After all this, the Cowboys still had a chance to make the playoffs going into the Week 17 showdown against the Giants. When the first half ended, the Cowboys were down 21-0. What happened? The Cowboys defense had virtually no pass rush, the tackling was abysmal, and the coverage in the secondary was lackluster. Once effective players like Terence Newman and Bradie James simply have nothing left in the tank to offer. Others, such as Anthony Spencer and Orlando Scandrick, were never very good to begin with. With the defense putting the team in a huge hole, it was asking too much for the offense to bring the Cowboys all the way back in the second half.
So how did Romo play in the most critical game of the season? He was average. Romo got the Cowboys to within seven points of the Giants with two touchdown passes in the second half , but he should have been more decisive in the pocket instead of taking sacks. That can be somewhat attributed to the Cowboys’ porous offensive line (a problem often overlooked given the plight of the defense) and the vaunted Giants front seven. But he did what he could in an extremely difficult situation, all with a bruised throwing hand. Because the Dallas pass rush was non-existent, it allowed Eli Manning an infinite amount of time to pick apart a miserable Cowboys secondary. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Romo needed to play a perfect game to give the Cowboys any shot of overcoming the inept defense. It was too much to ask.
Nevertheless, there is hope. If Romo plays in 2012 like he did in 2011, and the front office adds young talent to the defense, the Cowboys will continue to be contenders.
“Stats: Tony Romo”, ESPN.
“NFL Total QBR – 2011 Season Leaders”, ESPN.
Tim MacMahon, “Jason Garrett Burns Cowboys’ Clutch”, ESPN Dallas.
Tom Canavan, “Giants Win NFC East, Beat Cowboys 31-14″ , AP Sports.