Graziano: Tony Romo 15th in Jaws' QB countdown

[WoodysGirl]

Jul 8
6:11
PM ET
By Dan Graziano | ESPN.com

Ron Jaworski's daily countdown of the top quarterbacks in the NFL rolls on, and he's got the Dallas Cowboys' Tony Romo ranked No. 15 this year:

"I have always liked Romo, but his play in the final regular season game of the 2012 season with the NFC East title on the line still bothers me. You just can’t make mistakes, regardless of whose fault it is. It was the fourth quarter interception with three-and-one-half minutes remaining and the Cowboys trailing by three. That I just can’t forget. You can’t make a throw with no definition in that particular situation, regardless of the pressure.
​

Now, you can argue that Jaws has Romo too low on his list. I personally feel he does. But what you can't argue is that Romo has himself to blame for the fact that this can still be the reason for downgrading him on a list like this. All of the things people say in support of Romo are true. He succeeds in spite of a rotten offensive line, makes plays other quarterbacks can't make when the play breaks down. The one-playoff-win thing can't be laid entirely at his feet. He led the Cowboys back from behind over and over again last year in real games that counted in the standings in order just to get them into that division title game in Washington. All of that is true.

But it's also true that he threw the three interceptions in that game, after a half-season in which his interception problem had lay dormant. And it's true that this is the one consistent thing that keeps Romo from the top level of rankings like this -- his maddening tendency to make mistakes in these big moments and big games.

Read the rest: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/52662/romo-ranks-15th-in-jaws-qb-countdown

 

[perrykemp]

Clearly Jaworski and Graziano are in on the world wide conspiracy against Romo.

 

[DFWJC]

Jaws is generally a Romo supporter and he's usually smart enough to see past the superficial. So, if he docks him down from his top 10 to 15th for this past year, I can accept it.
There are more good QBs in the league right now than ever, imo.


Also, I thought Graziano explained the big picture rather well.
I do agree that he's better than that ranking, but in spite of the fact that he often carried us last year, he did also have far too many turnovers.

Warner's list has him 10th.

I assume Jaws still has Romo ahead of Stafford, Cutler, Rivers, and some other decent players, to go along with lower end guys.
After just one year, I'm not sure I'd put all those rookies ahead of him, but it's his list.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Clearly Jaworski and Graziano are in on the world wide conspiracy against Romo.

Actually, you should read the whole article, because as DFWJC noted, Graziano is a Romo supporter and broke down the issue very clearly.

 

[Nav22]

"There are 14 QBs currently better than Tony Romo."

-Either a) morons who don't know football, b) morons who still can't grasp the elementary concept that it's unbelievably idiotic to attribute credit/blame for a team's success on ONE PLAYER IN THE ULTIMATE TEAM SPORT, c) people who may know football but aren't confident enough in their own opinion to be able to look past "the perception" of Romo, or c) talking heads who seek cheap, easy attention by slamming Romo.

The numbers don't lie and the numbers clearly suggest that Romo's been a top-tier QB on a mediocre team. Disagree and join the idiotic masses if you must. You'll have plenty of mouth-breathing company.

 

[SportsGuru80]

"There are 14 QBs currently better than Tony Romo."

-Either a) morons who don't know football, b) morons who still can't grasp the elementary concept that it's unbelievably idiotic to attribute credit/blame for a team's success on ONE PLAYER IN THE ULTIMATE TEAM SPORT, c) people who may know football but aren't confident enough in their own opinion to be able to look past "the perception" of Romo, or c) talking heads who seek cheap, easy attention by slamming Romo.

The numbers don't lie and the numbers clearly suggest that Romo's been a top-tier QB on a mediocre team. Disagree and join the idiotic masses if you must. You'll have plenty of mouth-breathing company.

I will say it is hard defending those INT's in the last game of the season against Washington...

 

[03EBZ06]

It really doesn't matter whether he is ranked 32nd or 1st, last year is last year and and I hoping thatRomo will have a great upcoming season, leading the team into the playoffs.

 

[gimmesix]

Jul 8
6:11
PM ET
By Dan Graziano | ESPN.com

Ron Jaworski's daily countdown of the top quarterbacks in the NFL rolls on, and he's got the Dallas Cowboys' Tony Romo ranked No. 15 this year:

"I have always liked Romo, but his play in the final regular season game of the 2012 season with the NFC East title on the line still bothers me. You just can’t make mistakes, regardless of whose fault it is. It was the fourth quarter interception with three-and-one-half minutes remaining and the Cowboys trailing by three. That I just can’t forget. You can’t make a throw with no definition in that particular situation, regardless of the pressure.
​

Now, you can argue that Jaws has Romo too low on his list. I personally feel he does. But what you can't argue is that Romo has himself to blame for the fact that this can still be the reason for downgrading him on a list like this. All of the things people say in support of Romo are true. He succeeds in spite of a rotten offensive line, makes plays other quarterbacks can't make when the play breaks down. The one-playoff-win thing can't be laid entirely at his feet. He led the Cowboys back from behind over and over again last year in real games that counted in the standings in order just to get them into that division title game in Washington. All of that is true.

But it's also true that he threw the three interceptions in that game, after a half-season in which his interception problem had lay dormant. And it's true that this is the one consistent thing that keeps Romo from the top level of rankings like this -- his maddening tendency to make mistakes in these big moments and big games.

Read the rest: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/52662/romo-ranks-15th-in-jaws-qb-countdown

So who are the other 14 on the list? Did all their teams make the playoffs or did they also have a few bad games that affected their team's fate?

I have no problem with holding that game against Romo, but some people tend to give it greater weight than other QBs' bad games. The problem is Romo has no margin for error, so his bad moments get blown out of proportion compared with other top QBs' moments.

If none of the other QBs ahead of him had two or three bad games (whether their team overcome them), then I withdraw my objection.

 

[TwoDeep3]

"There are 14 QBs currently better than Tony Romo."

-Either a) morons who don't know football, b) morons who still can't grasp the elementary concept that it's unbelievably idiotic to attribute credit/blame for a team's success on ONE PLAYER IN THE ULTIMATE TEAM SPORT, c) people who may know football but aren't confident enough in their own opinion to be able to look past "the perception" of Romo, or c) talking heads who seek cheap, easy attention by slamming Romo.

The numbers don't lie and the numbers clearly suggest that Romo's been a top-tier QB on a mediocre team. Disagree and join the idiotic masses if you must. You'll have plenty of mouth-breathing company.

D) a quarterback who went to the SB and was pretty darn good in his day evaluates the situation and places the 15 tag on Romo because he knows more about the game than the fans who whine over Romo not being respected.

Jaws is right. That last pass was a stupid pass and it was all on Tony. You cannot throw a pass into a knot of players and not know where the defenders are and where your target is. Especially in the last 4 minutes of a win or go home game.

Romo made that mistake and there isn't any other player, squad or coach that can be blamed for that pass.

Nav - you wear homer glasses and your caveat at the end about joining the morons makes you look petty and small.

Stats don't mean squat if the team doesn't win. They don't hand out trophies for stats.

 

[Nav22]

I will say it is hard defending those INT's in the last game of the season against Washington...

The numbers show that he's clearly better than many of the QBs who will be ranked higher by Jaws.

"Numbers" is another word for "facts". So whenever you hear someone say, "I don't care about the numbers", what they're really saying is they don't care about the facts. They have their biased opinion that won't change no matter how illogical their stance.

It doesn't matter if Romo played great and we beat the Commanders. As long as the Cowboys lost in the playoffs (which they would've), the eventual blame will have been assigned to Romo. Just like after 2007 and 2009.

You can't win it all with a mediocre team and football's the ultimate team sport. Remember when Peyton Manning was a choker? How about LeBron James? Remember the perception of Tim Tebow back in 2011?

Now ask yourself: how stupid do those people who doubted Peyton or LeBron look today? How stupid do those people who praised Tebow look today? They weren't wrong because Peyton and LeBron won titles, or because Tebow has since fallen from grace. They were wrong because Peyton and LeBron were ALWAYS great enough to win titles but they didn't have good enough teams to win with, and because Tebow ALWAYS sucked.

 

[Nav22]

D) a quarterback who went to the SB and was pretty darn good in his day evaluates the situation and places the 15 tag on Romo because he knows more about the game than the fans who whine over Romo not being respected.

Jaws is right. That last pass was a stupid pass and it was all on Tony. You cannot throw a pass into a knot of players and not know where the defenders are and where your target is. Especially in the last 4 minutes of a win or go home game.

Romo made that mistake and there isn't any other player, squad or coach that can be blamed for that pass.

Nav - you wear homer glasses and your caveat at the end about joining the morons makes you look petty and small.

Stats don't mean squat if the team doesn't win. They don't hand out trophies for stats.

Jaws is wrong. I can easily name a half dozen experts whose opinions I respect FAR more than Jaws who would rank Romo much higher than 15th.

"The last pass" doesn't define his career, nor is one play EVER enough to knock someone's ranking down so far. The numbers say Romo's EASILY a Top 10 QB, and no amount of spin can change that.

If you're going to rank 14 guys ahead of Romo, you'd better be able to defend your stance with numbers. Hell, a bunch of guys who will be ranked ahead of Romo have LESS POSTSEASON SUCCESS AND WORSE STATS. So let's hear you try and justify that. You can't.

Your last line is sad, TwoDeep. You've watched football for an awful long time; you didn't know that QBs don't win or lose games by themselves, and therefore it's completely idiotic to judge them based on their team's success?

 

[kristie]

I will say it is hard defending those INT's in the last game of the season against Washington...

same here, but a couple of those INTs were not his fault. JMO.

 

[Zman5]

You can't screw your ranking based on one game. That's BS. So where is Peyton ranked at on Jaws list? It should also be out of the top ten based on Peyton's last game of the season.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Jaws is wrong. I can easily name a half dozen experts whose opinions I respect FAR more than Jaws who would rank Romo much higher than 15th.

"The last pass" doesn't define his career, nor is one play EVER enough to knock someone's ranking down so far. The numbers say Romo's EASILY a Top 10 QB, and no amount of spin can change that.

If you're going to rank 14 guys ahead of Romo, you'd better be able to defend your stance with numbers. Hell, a bunch of guys who will be ranked ahead of Romo have LESS POSTSEASON SUCCESS AND WORSE STATS. So let's hear you try and justify that. You can't.

Your last line is sad, TwoDeep. You've watched football for an awful long time; you didn't know that QBs don't win or lose games by themselves, and therefore it's completely idiotic to judge them based on their team's success?

I know that the team lost that game because of that pass. Regardless of what went before, the game was still in play and Dallas could have won. But they did not because Romo turned the ball over. At some point you have to give credit where it is due. All the theatrics he did before were washed away when he lost the game with one pass.

At 8 years in the league he should know better. That is what Jaws is saying. Clearly an 8 year vet should know better in a game where it is for all the regular season marbles. An 8 year vet should know not to throw a dumb pass into a crowd where you cannot see your receiver or the defenders when the game is on the line.

When one mistake can be an ender. And that is the rub with Romo. He takes risks he doesn't have to. And why the press and talking heads believe what they do about him.

He did the very same thing against the Giants in the second game against them last season and it was a pick six for Pierre-Paul. So this was not an isolated incident.

You can claim team game all day long, but the fact remains he threw an ill advised pass when there was no shot at recovering from the turnover. He took a risk, either out of panic or over confidence and tossed the one play the team cannot come back from.

Game over and Romo was at fault. Excuses are for the guys who walk the field.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

D) a quarterback who went to the SB and was pretty darn good in his day evaluates the situation and places the 15 tag on Romo because he knows more about the game than the fans who whine over Romo not being respected.

Jaws is right. That last pass was a stupid pass and it was all on Tony. You cannot throw a pass into a knot of players and not know where the defenders are and where your target is. Especially in the last 4 minutes of a win or go home game.

Romo made that mistake and there isn't any other player, squad or coach that can be blamed for that pass.

Nav - you wear homer glasses and your caveat at the end about joining the morons makes you look petty and small.

Stats don't mean squat if the team doesn't win. They don't hand out trophies for stats.

I would suggest to you that a qb carrying his team is forced to take risks, like tossing a pass into an area he cannot see because he's under immediate threat by redwood trees. Risky and ill advised? Yes,,, but that's the hand he's dealt all of the time.

 

[TwoDeep3]

I would suggest to you that a qb carrying his team is forced to take risks, like tossing a pass into an area he cannot see because he's under immediate threat by redwood trees. Risky and ill advised? Yes,,, but that's the hand he's dealt all of the time.
Tracking Number: 1ZW0Y5430342170707
Shipper:

He could have throw the ball into the stands and reloaded. This was not a Hail Mary screen pass where you have one down and the game is over. Let's not rewrite history here.

 

[perrykemp]

I would suggest to you that a qb carrying his team is forced to take risks, like tossing a pass into an area he cannot see because he's under immediate threat by redwood trees. Risky and ill advised? Yes,,, but that's the hand he's dealt all of the time.

Sometime I wonder if Romo would benefit from taking a queue from what many consider Aaron Rodger's greatest weakness -- Rodger's willingness to eat dirt and take sacks. In fact, I'd say Rodgers has taken it to a level I'm not sure I've ever quite seen before and at times Rodgers <looks> borderline silly doing it.... however, you can't argue with the results of taking a sacki instead of throwing low percentage passes. The sack hurts but you can recover from it -- a interception is a back breaker.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

He could have throw the ball into the stands and reloaded. This was not a Hail Mary screen pass where you have one down and the game is over. Let's not rewrite history here.

I'm just saying he takes risks more often than a qb should because he has too. When he's dodging mack trucks and throwing for first downs we cheer wildly and say "why can't he do that every time?" And the answer is that he can't, the percentags catch up to you.

 

[Nav22]

Calling that play a "risk" makes no sense. It was a pass to the RB in the flats!

He was FOOLED by the LB on the play and it was picked off. Simple as that. Blame Romo for it.

Calling it a "risk" and pretending it's a pattern with him and that other QBs don't make mistakes is just plain silly.

Do you people even understand what you're watching on Sundays? Do you REALLY think Romo knew the LB would be waiting underneath Murray in the flats and just tossed it there anyways?

TwoDeep, as for your assertion that Romo's last INT lost the game, you're still wrong. It's a 60 minute game. The D had a chance to hold the Commanders to a FG even after that INT which would've given the offense another opportunity. So if I was as fixated on the D's performance as you are on Romo's performance, I could say that Jason Hatcher lost the game when he committed the personal foul on RG3 which ended our hopes of keeping them out of the endzone. Hell, we DID stop them on 3rd down until the flag was thrown.

Football is a team sport. Doesn't get more elementary than that.

 

[FiveRings]

Wasn't Romo a lot higher last year?