Tony Romo was an excellent QB for the Dallas Cowboys. I don’t know about you, but despite the Cabo incident and the occasional untimely turnover early in his career, I always loved him as he gave me hope.
However, I’m sick of seeing him brought up in many threads lamenting how he was never given a supporting cast. It’s ridiculous and untrue. In his ten seasons as the starter, Romo went to the playoffs only 4 times despite playing with true super stars at WR, a HOF TE, and Tyron Smith in his prime, along with HOF Demarcus Ware and other pro bowl players. In 6 playoff games, he only threw 8 TD passes.
In his first playoff win, he led the offense to 34 points vs Philly when he passed for only 228, but the team also rushed for 198. Lots of support in that game as the defense held Philly to 14 points and created 4 turnovers.
In his second playoff victory, he led the offense to 24 points vs the Detroit Lions, passing for 242 and 2 TDs. The defense held Detroit to 20 points, so they did not require a high scoring affair.
In his 4 losses, the scores were 20-21 (passed for 189 while team rushed for 116); 17-21 (passed for 201 while team rushed for 154); 3-34 (passed for 156 with an INT while team rushed for 92), 21-26 (passed for 191 while team rushed for 148).
I supported and loved Romo as my QB, but I’m sick of this false narrative that he wasn’t supported. He had a good OL, a good to great running game from time to time, great receivers and TE, and his defense averaged holding teams to 22.6 points per game in his 6 playoff games. Take away the 34 Minnesota scored when Romo’s offense only scored 3, and his defense held the other 5 teams to 20.4 points per game while we went 2-3 In low scoring games. Over six playoff games with that high powered offense, Romo passed for an average of 201 yards per game while the team rushed for an average of 130 per game. So there was balance.
Tony Romo was a great talent who didn’t step it up in his 6 playoff games despite leading teams that were 13-3, 11-5, 12-4 in 3 of his only 4 appearances. The worst year of his 4 appearances in the playoffs was the 9-7 team in 2006 when we had the game won before he fumbled the snap.
It’s fine for us to love Tony Romo, the hope he gave us as Cowboys fans, and the gaudy stats he put up during his seasons as the Cowboys QB. But let’s stop the false narrative that those teams depended only on his arm, that he had no run game, and that the defense didn’t perform in the playoffs for him. The facts do not support that narrative.