He Does It Again: Romo the Bozo

When I left the Dallas-Green Bay game yesterday, the game was well in hand for the Cowboys. It was halftime, and America’s Team had just gone up 26-3 with a 1 yard DeMarco Murray touchdown plunge just before halftime. The game was all but over, and it looked like the hated Cowboys would prove their overrated-ness once again, beating up on yet another hapless foe at home after being rag-dolled the week before on the road against another playoff contender. As I was heading back to the TV set from where I had previously ventured off to, I got word from the magic of a mobile device that Green Bay had somehow taken the lead! Minutes later, I found out the game was over: Green Bay 37, Dallas 36. My one singular thought in that moment: how did Tony Romo f*** it up this time?

Ahh, the familiar Tony Romo walk-o-shame.

Romo’s plight is part his own doing and partly the result of being the face of the most overhyped, overpraised, and overrated team in American professional sports of the last 10-15 years. (As a lifelong Redskins’ fan, I can at least take some solace in this as Washington lost again yesterday. I’ve decided to go mute about the Skins until season’s end, when I can properly rant and vent away my frustrations.) Playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is probably the most glamorous position in all of sports, and an idea that Romo is smart enough to understand the ramifications of. So, when he fumbles, intercepts, or foibles away another meaningful game somehow, someway, one more time, he knows his head is going to wind up on a stick that week no matter how gaudy his numbers look.

Romo’s main problem continues to be his miserable record in December. But the counterargument to that is always made that his numbers stack up with just about any quarterback in the league over the last 5 to 10 seasons, and others (bad coaches, a bad defense, etc.) are always more to blame. But much like the Cowboys themselves, those numbers are inflated to a large degree. Again yesterday, some of Romo’s numbers looked very nice on their own: 60% completion rate, 358 yards throwing, and 2 touchdowns. But those numbers don’t include 2 critical late game interceptions, and the decision to audible to a throw instead of turn around and hand the ball off to Murray on 1 of those plays…however, personally I wonder how many times Romo audibles to a pass throughout the course of a game.

You see, not only is Romo overrated by all of us, he also seems like (nice of a guy as he seems) to overrate himself. His numbers might be nearly as good as Tom Brady’s, Peyton Manning’s, or Drew Brees’, but he’s not any of those guys…but Romo believes the hype, and thinks he is. If you’ve read anything coming out of Dallas this year, you know that Romo is extremely involved in the Cowboys’ offensive gameplanning, and he seems to have full authority to change the play at any time based on what he sees. More often than not (and DeMarco Murray fantasy owners, like myself, will nod their heads silently to this), it seems like he’s audibling to a pass play. He simply gets too cute with his audibling at times. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady he is not, who both check to different plays at the line all the time, but who also have no problem changing the play to a run…and doing so over and over again if they see it's working.

Hence the true issue to yesterday’s game: word is that on the game-changing interception, Romo changed the call from a pass to a run at the line. But that play was indicative of the whole 2nd half, as the Cowboys only rushed the ball a whopping 7 times as a team after intermission. That is all while holding 2nd half leads at various times of 26-10, 29-10, 29-17, 29-24, 36-24, and 36-31. Now, you can spread some blame to Dallas’ pitiful defense and seemingly inept coaching staff if you want, but to me much of the blame rests on Romo and his ego. It’s hard for me to fathom that an offensive coordinator with that lead at that point in the game would call for so few runs.

What’s worse about the whole thing is that Murray ran for 134 yards on only 18 carries…he basically averaged an absurd 2 1st downs every 3 touches…and yet Dallas is still chucking it around nearly 50 times a game. This has become a familiar pattern, as Murray had a similar line of 146 yards on 18 totes the week before in Chicago. Their defense showed to be abysmal in that game also, but one wonders why not ride your stud running back a little more with a bad defense, especially when he’s producing like that. (This has been true for Romo’s entire Dallas tenure, as I always fear the Cowboys just deciding to run the ball 50 times – whether it’s Murray or Felix Jones or Marion Barber or whoever – when playing Washington. What I don’t fear is Tony Romo, as I know he’s probably going to try to give away the game at some point somehow.)

Cowboy fans and DeMarco Murray fantasy owners alike had similar reactions yesterday.

Instead, Romo will probably get a pass for his performance once again. His numbers are just so good otherwise, and he seems like such a nice fella, and he looks like he’s trying oh-so-hard. And yet he really has no one to blame but himself for his failures to this point. The aww shucks attitude isn’t fooling me anymore…ego and hubris strike again.