Must win, no win situation for Tony

[dfense]

In all reality, Romo's play of late, has probably gotten the team farther than they should have gotten with all the injuries they have had on defense.

Going forward, even if Tony throws 4 TDs and they get past the Skins, Romo is going to have to win at least one playoff game to shake a little of the "choker" label so many have saddled him with.

Could you imagine having to play a Seattle team coming off a three game run averaging 45 points? Without five defensive starters and possibly Ware out also?

Romo essencially has to win the next two games by himself just to get the monkey off his back. It's really too bad that injuries have unfortunitely robbed Romo of his time to shine. He can't catch a break.

[GusTheo]

The thing is though, as unlikely as it may be, it's possible!

The defense doesn't have to play great, it just needs to play OK. If the defense plays OK, and just makes a timely stop here or there the Cowboys will have a chance to beat anyone.

And as far as I can tell, most of the national media has been pretty fair with Romo this year. Granted he's played out of his mind, I've been hearing a lot of "The Cowboys would win maybe 3-4 games a year if Tony Romo wasn't the QB, he does stuff that maybe only Big Ben and Aaron Rodgers can do" type comments (Which is true).

EDIT: But let's not feel sorry for him either. It wasn't easy for anyone. You want to win, you have to do what it takes. Romo will be the first one to admit that if he wants to shake this "label" then he has to win. Doesn't matter if the defense is ravaged by injuries or not, the Cowboys have been in every game up this point, and even though the defense got torched against a top flight offense last week, it doesn't change the fact that we won the OT coin toss last week. If we would've marched down the field and scored a TD, Brees never would've touched the ball. Cowboys offense could've kept their own defense off the field. I'm not blaming the offense, they did score 31 points, and had a sick come back, but it doesn't change the fact that they had the ball first and weren't able to close the game out, that ultimately falls on them, not the D.

(I am in no way shape or form blaming the offense, or giving the defense a pass)

[cowboyfan4life2]

Great qbs put their team on their back when it matters most, if tony wants to be elite, he needs these next two games.

[ufcrules1]

Originally Posted by cowboyfan4life2

Great qbs put their team on their back when it matters most, if tony wants to be elite, he needs these next two games.

Agreed about great QB's putting teams on their backs and leading them. I would be beyond happy if he plays lights out against Washington and helps take his team to the playoffs.

[aikemirv]

Originally Posted by cowboyfan4life2

Great qbs put their team on their back when it matters most, if tony wants to be elite, he needs these next two games.

Tony is elite, but he does not play defense. This won't end this year. This team does not have the defense to make it.

Like the OP said - it is a no win situation for Tony this year unfortunately

[Clove]

Originally Posted by cowboyfan4life2

Great qbs put their team on their back when it matters most, if tony wants to be elite, he needs these next two games.

Someone finally gets it. It's been happening for years, this theory didn't just start this year.

[Dave_in-NC]

Originally Posted by cowboyfan4life2

Great qbs put their team on their back when it matters most, if tony wants to be elite, he needs these next two games.

Bull. Romo has played with no supporting cast in FRONT of him. He has a supporting cast in skilled positions but nothing of a O line or running game till now.

People want to point at one guy, football is a team sport on both sides of the ball. Most QBs in the game would be huge failures on this team right now.

They are where they are BECAUSE of Romo, not inspite of him.

[ufcrules1]

Originally Posted by dfense

In all reality, Romo's play of late, has probably gotten the team farther than they should have gotten with all the injuries they have had on defense.

Going forward, even if Tony throws 4 TDs and they get past the Skins, Romo is going to have to win at least one playoff game to shake a little of the "choker" label so many have saddled him with.

Could you imagine having to play a Seattle team coming off a three game run averaging 45 points? Without five defensive starters and possibly Ware out also?

Romo essencially has to win the next two games by himself just to get the monkey off his back. It's really too bad that injuries have unfortunitely robbed Romo of his time to shine. He can't catch a break.

Right, cause nobody ever helps Romo. Dez didn't help Romo with his underthrown balls the other day? Dez taking it to the house on a 10 yard pass was all Romo right? Romo has a chance to be a leader and lead his team to the playoffs against a team that has just as bad of a defense an OL as we do. Never mind the Seattle game, he will impress a lot of us with simply winning a "Win and you're in" game.

[Arkyvarminter]

Tony Romo will be labeled a "choker" by the media and fans alike until he wins a SB. There are two types of people who label Romo a choker, the media and people who don't know football. He is the QB for America's team and being scrutinized, labeled, and even hated goes with the territory. IF I could play any position in the NFL for any team, QB for the Cowboys would be my last choice. Tons of pressure and the spotlight is alway shining bright on Romo. He HAS to win a SB to quiet the critics and that is really not fair since he has done really well in the NFL and is highly regarded by those who aren't biased for one reason or another. Winning another playoff game won't change their mind....

[ufcrules1]

Originally Posted by Arkyvarminter

Tony Romo will be labeled a "choker" by the media and fans alike until he wins a SB. There are two types of people who label Romo a choker, the media and people who don't know football. He is the QB for America's team and being scrutinized, labeled, and even hated goes with the territory. IF I could play any position in the NFL for any team, QB for the Cowboys would be my last choice. Tons of pressure and the spotlight is alway shining bright on Romo. He HAS to win a SB to quiet the critics and that is really not fair since he has done really well in the NFL and is highly regarded by those who aren't biased for one reason or another. Winning another playoff game won't change their mind....

I disagree. I think if he wins a few "win and you're in" and playoff games he will get a hell of a lot more respect from the non homers, media, and realists.

[cowboyfan4life2]

Originally Posted by ufcrules1

I disagree. I think if he wins a few "win and you're in" and playoff games he will get a hell of a lot more respect from the non homers, media, and realists.

I don't agree, Marino won a lot of playoff games, and still got labeled with that tag, granted romo isn't in the Marino class, but it comes down to winning the big one.

[OriginalNameGuy]

The Boys could win it all and people would still find a way to say he stinks and isn't an elite QB.

[dfan32]

Originally Posted by Arkyvarminter

Tony Romo will be labeled a "choker" by the media and fans alike until he wins a SB. There are two types of people who label Romo a choker, the media and people who don't know football. He is the QB for America's team and being scrutinized, labeled, and even hated goes with the territory. IF I could play any position in the NFL for any team, QB for the Cowboys would be my last choice. Tons of pressure and the spotlight is alway shining bright on Romo. He HAS to win a SB to quiet the critics and that is really not fair since he has done really well in the NFL and is highly regarded by those who aren't biased for one reason or another. Winning another playoff game won't change their mind....

Exactly! Romo has handled it very well though. Unfortunately all media has degraded to tabloid journalism and in many cases, they're not even good at that.
They should be asking themselves what it takes to become an elite journalist because it's obvious very few of them have any idea what a journalist is, much less "elite".

[cajuncocoa]

Originally Posted by Arkyvarminter

Tony Romo will be labeled a "choker" by the media and fans alike until he wins a SB. There are two types of people who label Romo a choker, the media and people who don't know football. He is the QB for America's team and being scrutinized, labeled, and even hated goes with the territory. IF I could play any position in the NFL for any team, QB for the Cowboys would be my last choice. Tons of pressure and the spotlight is alway shining bright on Romo. He HAS to win a SB to quiet the critics and that is really not fair since he has done really well in the NFL and is highly regarded by those who aren't biased for one reason or another. Winning another playoff game won't change their mind....

[tyke1doe]

Originally Posted by Arkyvarminter

Tony Romo will be labeled a "choker" by the media and fans alike until he wins a SB. There are two types of people who label Romo a choker, the media and people who don't know football. He is the QB for America's team and being scrutinized, labeled, and even hated goes with the territory. IF I could play any position in the NFL for any team, QB for the Cowboys would be my last choice. Tons of pressure and the spotlight is alway shining bright on Romo. He HAS to win a SB to quiet the critics and that is really not fair since he has done really well in the NFL and is highly regarded by those who aren't biased for one reason or another. Winning another playoff game won't change their mind....

I think we need to retire this phrase. Some of the people labeling Romo a choker are NFL players and former NFL players. Do they not know football?

Obviously, they do.

I think they know the intangible aspects of football, and that's probably what they're looking at when they say that about Romo.

However, intangibles are just that. It's a quality you can't put your finger on. It's not solid.

If a player has that view about Romo, I'm not going to say he's wrong. But I don't necessarily have to buy it either because it is an intangible. It's kind of like a gut feeling. Your gut feeling isn't necessarily my evidence.