Graziano: Tony Romo 15th in Jaws' QB countdown

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Danny White would have been crucified by the media and Cowboys fans after the second NFC Championship loss. I realize that we all love to remember the days of old with a lot more fondness now, but the truth is that most of the fan base would have run Jimmy Johnson out of town after his first season if that season happened this year. The sad part is that most of the Romo haters will use the "it's a team sport" if he were to ever lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl win, but will continue to primarily blame him for the lack of a Super Bowl win until then.

/reality

Danny White did get crucified back then. I remember those days. All I'm saying is that I never turned on him. I'm not sure about how fans would have treated Jimmy. The team was awful when he came to Dallas. I think they would have given him some time. Fans are angry at Garrett because he's been here as OC almost as long as Romo. The internet makes thinks a lot different today then they were back then. When Danny was the QB, all I had to watch were the big 3 networks and my Cowboy magazines. ESPN didn't get that big with the NFL until the later 80's. People are much more in touch with other fans now so the outrage is probably more.

 

[Doomsday101]

What I gather from this is he is a very good QB but like most will suffer when he gets pressure up the gut. Solution? fix the pressure up the gut instead of asking Romo to over come it. Damn it is not hard to figure out but so many want to try and prove Romo as some slob QB, but fact is you put pressure in the face of a QB more times than not he will make mistakes this is why defense pay the big bucks to guys who can bring the pressure.

Fix the problem

 

[WhizKid]

This is the best thing I have ever seen you post. This could be his year.. our year. I really hope he is just as good as Manning and goes out there and proves it this year. I already love the guy off the field and most of the regular season too.

Hey man! I can't please everybody all the time!
Puzzle me shocked at a comp from you! This can't be real life. lol

Jokes aside, we all want the 'Boys to win.

 

[Doomsday101]

Make me wonder about people, it is like trying to claim who can bail water out of a boat the best, instead of fixing the hole where the water is coming in. lol

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

What I gather from this is he is a very good QB but like most will suffer when he gets pressure up the gut. Solution? fix the pressure up the gut instead of asking Romo to over come it. Damn it is not hard to figure out but so many want to try and prove Romo as some slob QB, but fact is you put pressure in the face of a QB more times than not he will make mistakes this is why defense pay the big bucks to guys who can bring the pressure.

Fix the problem

And fix the running game. A good running game would help Romo and he wouldn't think that he has to do everything by himself.

 

[Zordon]

That last game has the potential to haunt Romo for the rest of his career. Sucks b/c he pretty much carried us thru December but nobody remembers that anymore. Romo only has himself to blame for that wretched performance in D.C.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Wasn't Romo a lot higher last year?

He was.

What I find interesting is Romo appears to always be scrutinized for glaring mistakes in high-pressure situations more than other franchise QBs.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

That last game has the potential to haunt Romo for the rest of his career. Sucks b/c he pretty much carried us thru December but nobody remembers that anymore. Romo only has himself to blame for that wretched performance in D.C.

Yes and no. Some still consider the Seattle playoff game his biggest meltdown.

 

[Doomsday101]

And fix the running game. A good running game would help Romo and he wouldn't think he has to do everything by himself.

I agree. I sit here seeing people going on about who can survive a messed up situation instead of focusing on how to solve the problem.

As you said running the ball better will help, if it keeps defense from just going after the QB and actually having to defend vs the run then that is a big help.

Clearly Romo has shown the ability to make plays when things break down but when you get pressure quickly up the middle, when your line is being pushed back into your face it makes the job much harder.
I'm not excusing mistakes by Romo I'm only advocating what this team has to do to give themselves the best chance of winning.

 

[erod]

No. 15 is ridiculous, but I will say, Jaworski is a big defender of Romo.

 

[DFWJC]

Wasn't Romo a lot higher last year?

Yes
Jaws had him in the top 10 before last year (and Warner still has him top 10 this year).
I do agree that there are a bunch of new young guns (Luck, RG3, Kap, Wilson) in the league this go around, but I bet he still ends up higher next year on this same list.

Jaws likes him a lot. He just wants to slap his hand this go around. If you check out the list, you'll see some pretty good players behind Romo as well.

Personally, I certainly think Romo is better than 15th, but I understand what's going on here.
No big deal though.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Wow. Simply wow. It wasn't one player's fault in any one of those games you mentioned, and I would've hoped you'd know that ONE player is NEVER worthy of all the credit or blame for any win or loss.

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

Unless you think Romo saw the LB and decided "Gee, I'm going to toss it right towards that feller and hopefully it bounces off his hands and into DeMarco's!", you have no basis for saying he took too big a risk. He was tricked by the D and didn't expect the LB to run to the flats. Period.

And since throwing "into a crowd" implies that there was more than 1 defender in the vicinity, you're wrong about that too.

I think simply put he should not have throw that ball. T

But one thing, you are right. That wasn't into a crowd. It was a floater to a RB and the defender stepped in front. So Romo short arms the pass when the guy was covered - instead of poutting the ball to the only spot where the defender could not undercut the receiver - which is the sidelines to the receivers left shoulder. It can go out of bounds or the receiver have the only play on it. He had a defender in the back field, but he threw a ball on 2nd and 6 and under threw it. So that wasn't Tony's fault at all.

The receiver hadn't looked back and the defender watched the ball into his hands. Romo had a clear vision of the defender before he tossed the ball because the rush was still a yard or more in front of him.

It was Tony's mistake.

 

[DFWJC]

No denying it, Romo did screw up that play. It was a bad football play and it's a shame, because he was finally getting into a rhythm after being a bit off all day.
Recall, he had just thrown for a TD on the previous drive and then also threw for a 2 pt conversion--extremely clutch, btw. He then had just hit Witten for a first down and looked like they were moving again.

No excuses, but recall in this scenario the odds were borderline impossible.
The reality was this.

• Dez was out
• Miles was out
• Harris was out
• Almost no blocking
• No run game
• Facing a a rabid team playing in front of it's own deafening crowd
• Playing with badly busted up ribs (so should never be throwing off the back foot like that)

The situation was almost morbidly impossible for any QB ...ever.
Does anyone recall the old Monte Python bridge scene? Take my arm, still fighting. Take my other arm...take my leg...take my other leg....now trying to bite the guy. lol
If you do, that's what it reminds me of.
Yet he gets demollshed about it.
To be fair, I think it's a cummulative effect based on some past screw-ups.

I see why he get's judged on this and agree that IF he did see the defender he should have at least tried to toss it into the seats. But he saw daylight up the sideline and thought he could loft it to Murray and get a huge gain off the blitz.
He underthrew it and that killed us.

It sucked, no doubt.

 

[ufcrules1]

but he threw a ball on 2nd and 6 and under threw it.

He threw the interception on 1st down and 10.

 

[Idgit]

No denying it, Romo did screw up that play. It was a bad football play and it's a shame, because he was finally getting into a rhythm after being a bit off all day.
Recall, he had just thrown for a TD on the previous drive and then also threw for a 2 pt conversion--extremely clutch, btw. He then had just hit Witten for a first down and looked like they were moving again.

No excuses, but recall in this scenario the odds were borderline impossible.
The reality was this.

• Dez was out
• Miles was out
• Harris was out
• Almost no blocking
• No run game
• Facing a a rabid team playing in front of it's own deafening crowd
• Playing with badly busted up ribs (so should never be throwing off the back foot like that)

The situation was almost morbidly impossible for any QB ...ever.
Does anyone recall the old Monte Python bridge scene? Take my arm, still fighting. Take my other arm...take my leg...take my other leg....now trying to bite the guy. lol
If you do, that's what it reminds me of....

Despite all of that, I remember, at the time, thinking we were actually going to pull it out. That pick was a backbreaker.

I don't believe Tony Romo is a choker. I actually believe the opposite. But he does have a couple games every season---like every QB---where he puts the team in really bad positions. It could not have happened at a worse time that one of them in 2012 happened in week 17. But that pick, and Hatcher's subsequent head slap, killed us that day.

 

[ErikWilliamsHeadSlap]

Yes, I understand what I am watching, thanks. You try and absolve Romo, but all your complaining doesn't change the fact Romo threw into as crowd.

Throw it away and reload.

The defense had not been stopping them all day. So of all the times to hold the ball and move forward, this was it. Your excuses don't change the fact that Romo threw that pick and the momentum changed.

Why was it Austin's fault in the Giant game?

Dez' fault in the Bears game.

The punt block in the Jets game the year before.

But somehow Romo makes a mental mistake, and it's a team game.

How many times have you seen the comments about the Giants game in 2007 and it was Crayton's fault for short arming the pass from Romo.

Or Fasano dropping a pass in the endzone.

This is a team sport when Romo is involved with the loss. It is a player mistake when it is anyone else.

I didn't just arrive at this website this morning.

Excuses do not change results.

Austin isn't labelled a choker. Neither is Dez or Fasano or Crayton. Yet Romo makes a mistake in a game and he is called a choker by almost the entire football community. It works both ways.

Here is another thing about the division deciders against the Commanders , Eagles and Giants, the playoff games VS. Giants, the Vikings etc. The other team played better overall in each of those games. And they didn't just play better than Tony Romo, they played better than the entire Dallas team. And more often than not, the better team usually wins.

Brady hasn't gotten the job done since that defence got old and drifted away. Brees hasn't came close since Porter intercepted Manning in the SB. Eli hasn't gotten it done without that D-Line dominating opposing offences. Ben hasn't gotten it done since his defence got old and he lost his running game. Rodgers has been one and done since his defence collapsed and his O-line disintegrated.

So until Romo has those things and 'still throws it away' so to speak, let's leave the guy alone and concentrate on the real weaknesses the Cowboys have.

 

[Clove]

"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.

What's idiotic is a person thinking that numbers make a QB. Winning makes a QB. Being tough enough to win in December when the chips are all on the table. If for example, he has those GREAT numbers before the pressure games, why then can't he continue that on into the playoffs and further? You can't have it both ways. If your QB comes up with huge numbers, then his team helped him. Same team in December, yet the same QB for 8 years, no matter what team he has around him, always comes up short. Or his teams do.

After a while, when his teams, over the 8 years have swapped out every position on the field except his, then the FINGER IS POINTED DIRECTLY AT HIM.

 

[Clove]

Brady hasn't gotten the job done since that defence got old and drifted away. Brees hasn't came close since Porter intercepted Manning in the SB. Eli hasn't gotten it done without that D-Line dominating opposing offences. Ben hasn't gotten it done since his defence got old and he lost his running game. Rodgers has been one and done since his defence collapsed and his O-line disintegrated.
.

You should seriously consider proof reading what you're saying before posting, but you're about to get laughed at. HAHA.
Those people you just named, have won a million playoff games, and Brady has gone back to the Super Bowl multiple teams, WITH , and average team around him. Tell me again what Romo's done?

 

[Nav22]

Can you confirm that you believe Trent Dilfer was better than Tony Romo, Clove?

 

[DFWJC]

Can you confirm that you believe Trent Dilfer was better than Tony Romo, Clove?

Can't answer for Clove...
But I can confirm that Dilfer likes Romo better than Clove does.