Tony Romo is putting himself before the team. Thoughts?

[Bleu Star]

Matt Murphy
30 DEC 2016


If it was in the cards for the Cowboys to get Tony Romo some snaps on Sunday against the Eagles before he reportedly petitioned for himself to play, then that's fine

However, the news about Romo fighting his way into some playing time in the regular season finale makes the situation more controversial.



With Dak Prescott's emergence, the Cowboys are clearly in capable hands under center. It's very possible whatever snaps Romo gets on Sunday could be his last in a Cowboys uniform, barring an injury to Dak in the playoffs.

While it is understandable for Romo to want to show other teams that he can still perform, his requesting to play could spell problems for the team as a whole.



If he gets injured, he will throw off the Cowboys plans to plug him into the lineup should Dak go down in the playoffs. Jerry Jones has been adamant about the fact that the veteran Romo doesn't need game reps to be ready to go if needed in the playoffs. Also, every pass he throws on Sunday will be analyzed under a microscope, causing teams to potentially lose interest in trading for him if he plays poorly.


Now, if he plays well, it could create unnecessary drama for the organization when they go back to Dak for the playoffs. If the team was planning on keeping Romo sidelined as an emergency plan like has been mentioned all along, the Dak-Romo debate would have remained quiet like it has for weeks. But with Romo now reportedly having petitioned his way into snaps, that controversy could easily resurface.


All-in-all, it's important to note that Romo isn't expected to play very much at all, if he does indeed see action.



But if that is a series or two more than the Cowboys were originally planning to give Romo, this situation hints at the veteran putting himself before the team.

http://www.12up.com/posts/4340221-tony-romo-is-putting-himself-before-the-team?ref=1&team=cowboys

 

[65fastback2plus2]

he knows he needs real game time before the playoffs in case he is needed. smart man and putting the team first.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Player wants to play. News at eleven.

 

[Cowboys22]

I don't agree. He's a competitor and wants to play. I don't think wanting to play after sitting and watching for 15 weeks is putting yourself ahead of the team. Now, if he refused to play or if he refuses a trade that was going to bring back nice draft picks, that's a different story.

 

[fifaguy]

What exactly did Romo do to deserve being 3rd dog behind Sanchez?

 

[csirl]

He has to play - not playing last Monday has made people - including many GMs around the league - think he's done.

If he only plays a couple of series those questions will persist. Today will see Tony walking a tight rope between playing enough to convince he can still play and not so much that the injury risk is high.

Regardless of what players are on the field, his and Sanchez's performances will be compared and heavily scrutinized afterwards to see who should kit up as the #2 going forward.

Romo will be fighting for his future today. He asked to play as if Sanchez took over from Dak early in the game and looked reasonably well, Sanchez would get the nod going forward.

 

[Gator88]

This is as stupid after the game as it was before the game. No reason for Romo not to get any game action in a meaningless game where Sanchez played for more than a half.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Trying to start trouble.

 

[big dog cowboy]

But if that is a series or two more than the Cowboys were originally planning to give Romo, this situation hints at the veteran putting himself before the team.

How incredibly stupid does Murphy think the Cowboys are? Talk about trying to dig up a story. This is just one of the reasons most people hate "reporters" like this.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

No.

This is not putting himself above the team.

It's a dumb thought.

 

[landroverking]

OP no not yesterday not all season.

 

[SuspectCorner]

The Cowboys have never played their backup QB in a regular-season finale game with nothing to gain other than readying the latter half of the roster in case they are pressed into playoff action. Never mind that it makes good sense to do so.

Just asinine.

 

[zrinkill]

Thoughts?

Matt Murphy is an idiot.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

People need to stop this stupid stuff.

Really.

If they are not going to play the starter for a full game than the first backup should get some playing time...in what world is Matt Sanchez ahead in the line up when you have a healthy Tony Romo.

These reporters, and many of the fans here, are just dying to keep stirring the crap.

 

[punchnjudy]

Love him or hate him, Tony was always a team guy.

The true difference between a QB who's about winning vs. a QB who's about personal stats and salary is how they perform when their team is down late and the risks they take when their D is getting gouged.

When Dallas was down, Tony never hesitated to put the ball up for grabs if there was any hope of making a play. Lots of QB's today are overly conservative in situations like that, to the detriment of their team but to the betterment of their QB rating. Cian Fahey has pointed out a ton of those examples on twitter. It's one of the many reasons why QB rating, which treats all int's equally, is a garbage stat (for more evidence see Weeden in 2015).

BTW, none of this is a reference to Dak, so don't read it as such. Thankfully, Dallas wasn't in those desperate situations much in 2016. And even if they had been, I wouldn't judge a rookie in that situation the same as a vet. IMO, they're both far more concerned with winning than stats.

 

[erod]

Good Lord. Dumb.

I will throw out this theory. They pulled him quickly because they feared what three drives and 17 points might do from a PR standpoint. Imagine the national discussions if Romo kept ripping through Philly and putting up points.

That could have messed with Dak's head a bit.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't think Romo has put himself ahead of the team. If anything he has gone above and beyond in this transition. Did he push to get in the Philly game? I don't know but if so I have no issue with it since I felt it would only benefit him in being prepared should he be called on in these playoffs. You can practice all day but nothing compares to live action in a real game.

 

[sean10mm]

I'm not a big fan of trying to psychoanalyze quarterbacks and assign them moral failings when a more obvious explanation is right there. Romo wanted to play because he's a competitive football player, and it was a meaningless game so there was no reason for the coaches to say no.

That's pretty much it.

There has always been a creepy contingent that wants to assign Romo these huge moral failings whenever he had a bad game, or wore his hat backwards, or whatever. That's really dumb. He was a guy who did his best during a period where the Cowboys had a lot of weak coaching (Wade Philips, Garrett when he still had training wheels on, a bunch of dumb coordinators until they hit on Linehan and Marinelli) and bad personnel decisions (Roy Williams trade, sinking big money into old players who crapped out.) He had his faults, but it mostly didn't work out because of factors external to himself, but you always had this little group of weirdos who want to use every bad thing that happened as evidence that he was a bad person.

It never made a lick of sense to me.

 

[Stryker44]

Good Lord. Dumb.

I will throw out this theory. They pulled him quickly because they feared what three drives and 17 points might do from a PR standpoint. Imagine the national discussions if Romo kept ripping through Philly and putting up points.

That could have messed with Dak's head a bit.

That was messed up that they screwed him the chance to do so.

 

[LocimusPrime]