ESPND: Romo gets it done late more often than not

[03EBZ06]

Because of the up-and-down nature of Tony Romo's last few seasons, here's a stat that may get overlooked.

Romo has 10 game-winning drives in fourth quarter or overtime since the start of the 2011 season, tied for the most in the NFL over that span.

Most Game-Winning Drives
In 4th Qtr/OT Since 2011
Tony Romo Cowboys 10
Andrew Luck Colts 10
Matthew Stafford Lions 10
Andy Dalton Bengals 9
Matt Ryan Falcons 9
Eli Manning Giants 9
Here's a brief recap of each one:

September 18, 2011 (Week 2) at 49ers
Cowboys overcome 10-point fourth-quarter deficit
The Cowboys overcame a 24-14 fourth-quarter deficit in San Francisco to beat the 49ers 27-24 in overtime. Romo threw a 77-yard pass to wide receiver Jesse Holley on the Cowboys first play in overtime to set Dallas up for the chip-shot field goal.

September 26, 2011 (Week 3) vs Commanders
Romo’s long pass sparks win
A week later, Romo was at it again. He completed a 30-yard pass to Dez Bryant on third and 21 with the Cowboys at their own 30, trailing by one point and 2:20 left in the fourth quarter. Dallas went on to win 18-16 after a Dan Bailey 40-yard field goal.

November 20, 2011 (Week 11) at Commanders
Romo beats Commanders again in similar fashion
Romo broke the Commanders hearts again, this time in overtime as he completed a 26-yard pass to Dez Bryant on 3rd and 15 near midfield. The Cowboys won 27-24 on a Bailey field goal three plays later.

November 24, 2011 (Week 12) vs Dolphins
Cowboys win as time expires on Thanksgiving
Four days later, Romo instrumented his fourth game-winning drive of the season. He led the Cowboys down the field on a 10-play, 54-yard drive and Dallas won 20-19 on a Bailey field goal as time expired.

Highest Total QBR, 4th Quarter/OT,
Score Margin -8 to 8 points
Since 2011
Andrew Luck 84.4
Aaron Rodgers 78.9
Drew Brees 73.1
Tony Romo 71.4
October 21, 2012 (Week 7) at Panthers
Romo’s first of five game-winning drives in 2012
Romo led the Cowboys past the Panthers 19-14 with his first of five game-winning drives in 2012. Romo engineered a short drive that ended with a Bailey field goal with 3:28 left in the fourth quarter to push Dallas ahead.

November 18, 2012 (Week 11) vs Browns
Cowboys survive in overtime
Romo survived seven sacks in the game to lead the Cowboys on a fourth-quarter comeback after trailing 13-3 entering the quarter. He led a drive to tie the game at 20 with six seconds left. They went on to win 23-20 against the Browns in overtime. A key play was a 28-yard touchdown pass to Bryant erasing that 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

December 2, 2012 (Week 13) vs Eagles
Romo posts 95.5 Total QBR in comeback win
Romo threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns and posted a 95.5 Total QBR as the Cowboys scored 21 fourth-quarter points in a 38-33 win. Romo threw another key pass to Bryant, a go-ahead 6-yard touchdown with 5:40 left to put the Cowboys up for good.

December 9, 2012 (Week 14) at Bengals
Cowboys overcome nine-point fourth-quarter deficit
A week later, Romo led the Cowboys past the Bengals overcoming a 9-point deficit in the fourth quarter. This included a 27-yard touchdown pass to Bryant with 6:44 left and a 13-play, 50-yard drive resulting in a Bailey game-winning 40-yard field goal as time expired (Cowboys win 20-19).

December 16, 2012 (Week 15) vs Steelers
Romo’s third straight game-winning drive in the fourth quarter/overtime
Romo engineered his third game-winning drive in as many weeks with a 27-24 overtime win against the Steelers. It wasn’t much of a drive as Ben Roethlisberger threw a pass picked off by Brandon Carr, Romo kneeled down on Dallas’ first play and Bailey kicked a 21-yard field goal to win.

November 3, 2013 (Week 9) vs Vikings
Romo throws go-ahead TD with 42 seconds left
And last Sunday Romo went from goat to hero in one quarter. His fourth-quarter interception with 4:35 left dropped the Cowboys’ win probability to 21.4 percent. But he got a second chance and engineered a nine-play, 90-yard drive to put the Cowboys ahead of the Vikings with 42 seconds left, including a key 34-yard pass to Bryant.

Romo will look to work the same magic against the Saints this Sunday that almost gave the Cowboys a miracle comeback win last season against New Orleans. The Cowboys trailed 31-17 with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter when Romo led two quick touchdown drives (1:10 and 1:14) to send the game to overtime. This included a 19-yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin on 4th and 10 with 21 seconds left. Dallas went on to lose 34-31 in overtime.

For the rest---> http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/77534/romo-gets-it-done-late-more-often-than-not

 

[DogFace]

He'd one of the best and it's beyond me how his much fewer bad plays at the end get more attention.
Great post

 

[starfrombirth]

What I get from that is Andrew Luck is a baaaad man! It's amazing how good he is doing. But Tony is great also...

 

[tomsanders921]

What I get from that is Andrew Luck is a baaaad man! It's amazing how good he is doing. But Tony is great also...

And that is only 1.5 seasons for luck, whereas all the others on that list are at 2.5 seasons (start of 2011).

In a year or two he will be hands down the best qb in the league.

 

[DallasInDC]

This doesn't even count the number of times that Romo has got us the lead in the last two minutes only to have the D give up a quick score to lose the game. I am pretty certain that Romo leads the league in that category as well.

It's a shame Romo gets as much grief as he gets from the media and especially cowboys fans.

 

[JBell]

Cliff notes: Romo is clutch, and so is Dan Bailey.

Pay this man:

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Dan+Bailey+Dallas+Cowboys+v+Washington+Commanders+TAPSVfKKYQel.jpg

 

[Red Dragon]

"But...but...but..............how many playoff games has he won?"


(the catch-all, answer-all tactic used by Romo critics who want to dismiss every sound, logical, reasonable argument in 5 seconds)

 

[03EBZ06]

 

[Dhragon]

I wonder how many games Tony has lost ( final drive that failed to win the game ). Without that, it's kind of hard to tell just how impressive this stat is.

If he failed 15 times but succeeded 10 times then that's horrid. But if he only failed 5 times and succeeded 10 times that's great.

 

[03EBZ06]

I wonder how many games Tony has lost ( final drive that failed to win the game ). Without that, it's kind of hard to tell just how impressive this stat is.

If he failed 15 times but succeeded 10 times then that's horrid. But if he only failed 5 times and succeeded 10 times that's great.

That should apply to all QBs for comparison, not just Romo. And as you could see in OP, he is tied for lead since 2011, that should say something.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

The people who aren't just throwing crap around out of blind hatred for Romo already knew this. The ones who didn't already know this don't care and won't ever get this. They are too invested in bashing Romo to do anything else at this point.

 

[Gameover]

Early?

Rarely

Getting it done early counts as well !

 

[big dog cowboy]

So now he isn't terrible? I can't keep up.

 

[03EBZ06]

So now he isn't terrible? I can't keep up.

Terribly good?

 

[KJJ]

He'd one of the best and it's beyond me how his much fewer bad plays at the end get more attention.
Great post

His fewer bad plays get more attention because they've come in much bigger games.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

His fewer bad plays get more attention because they've come in much bigger games.

Bigger than what?

 

[KJJ]

Bigger than what?

Bigger meaning some of his bad plays have occurred in some very significant games that had the Cowboys season riding on them. The fumbled snap in the final minutes vs Seattle was a playoff game. His int in the final 3 minutes vs Washington in week 17 last season happened in an elimination game. He's had 12 turnovers in his 6 elimination game losses. These are the games that have created the stigma he has.

It's hard to figure why some of you continue being so perplexed as to why many have such a negative perception of him. Taking the team 90 yards in the final minute to beat a 1-7 team isn't going to change the perception many have of him. He's going to have to do the same thing in a very significant game against a good team.

 

[DallasInDC]

I almost forgot how amazing some of those Miles Austin catches were until I watched this. Too bad the Dez/Miles duo was never fully realized.

 

[CaptainCreed]

Bigger meaning some of his bad plays have occurred in some very significant games that had the Cowboys season riding on them. The fumbled snap in the final minutes vs Seattle was a playoff game. His int in the final 3 minutes vs Washington in week 17 last season happened in an elimination game. He's had 12 turnovers in his 6 elimination game losses. These are the games that have created the stigma he has.

It's hard to figure why some of you continue being so perplexed as to why many have such a negative perception of him. Taking the team 90 yards in the final minute to beat a 1-7 team isn't going to change the perception many have of him. He's going to have to do the same thing in a very significant game against a good team.

See no one can really argue with this because you chose the right games to base your opinion on. Sure someone can argue it is a team sport, and that's the opinion I will hold, but steer away from the "spotlighted" games argument where you include a season opener versus the Jets a few years ago or losing a SNF or MNF game because those games mean just as much as the vikings game last week where he did bring the team back to win.

 

[DFWJC]

I've always said that in the minds of some, his bad plays = 10x. We still have people bringing up the occassional (as in 1-2 games per year) early games where he threw a bad pick as evidence that he chokes.

Then there is the win and go home creation...or even more comical, the limelight games creation---created only for Romo, of course.

I keep trying to explain to people that if they ever played sports and especially one requiring split second decisions, in a heated game situation, a QB is not sitting there calucalting in his
mind whether this is win or go home or how many viewers are watching. A game winning drive vs Pittsburgh in the middle of the season will have the same pressure (at that very monent) as a late game playoff drive.

In that crappy game that Romo and the entire team played at Washington last year, for example, on that next to last possession when he threw the pick, he didn't just all of a sudden choke. That's such nonsense. He just led a dirve to score a TD and then thre a back shulder 2 pt onversion. On the play before the pick he had just hit Witten ona nice pass. Something did not magically chance for that one play that he all of sudden froze up. It's beyond dumb to think so.
Quite possibly having zero run game, zero blitz pickup, no Dez Bryant, no Miles Austin, no Dwayne Harris on that drive, all couped with badly busted up ribs, just maaaay have had a little something to do with his poor decision and throw on that play. But no, people still act like this is an every week occurance.
Lunacy.