Teague31
Defender of the Star
- Messages
- 18,220
- Reaction score
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Compare and contrast:
– Opening drive of the 3rd quarter, 1993 NFC Championship Game. Score tied 10-10. Dallas crosses midfield on a key 3rd down completion from Troy Aikman to Michael Irvin. On first down just outside the 49ers’ 40, Aikman pumps, then throws a deep fade down the right sideline for Alvin Harper, who is covered by Eric Davis.
Aikman underthrows the pass and it appears Davis might intercept, but Harper, who high jumped 7′1″ in college, does his best Reed Richards impersonation, leaping and reaching over Davis and snatching the ball off the ‘Niners’ facemask. The circus catch gives Dallas first-and-goal at the four. Daryl Johnston scores on a short run and Dallas ends a long drive with a touchdown. The Cowboys never trail again and go to the Super Bowl.
– Opening drive, third quarter of a 2007 NFC Divisional Playoff game. Scored tied 14-14. Dallas breaks into New York’s red zone on a mad scramble by Tony Romo. Two plays later, from the Giants’ eleven, Dallas runs Anthony Fasano on an out towards the right goal line pylon. He’s well covered by Gibril Wilson, who hangs off Fasano’s right shoulder and leaves Romo a target about a foot square.
Romo paints an imaginary laser on Fasano’s heart and rifles the ball on the spot. When it bounces off the tight end’s pads, the collective hearts of the Cowboys Nation are broken. The Cowboys leave four points on the field, settling for a field goal after an eight minute drive and search in vain for them the rest of the game.
Two huge games. Two outcomes in the balance. Two Pro Bowl Dallas QBs at the controls.
One of them makes a perfect throw into the smallest of spaces. The other floats a duck towards his target. Yet it’s Aikman, the poorer thrower, who gets rewarded.
I raise the comparison because I’m reading a lot of stereotyping, positive and negative about Aikman and Romo in the threads these days. That Aikman won because he possessed unquantifiable super powers which could will his team towards titles. That Romo has failed because he doesn’t yell enough, or possess the pixie dust which Aikman would sprinkle in the huddle, making his teammates’ hearts grow three extra sizes.
I think we’re seeing causal chains running in reverse here. To my eyes it’s simple. Aikman didn’t pull any hocus pocus. He’s considered invincible because Alvin Harper and quite a few other Cowboys played beyond themselves when the chips were down. They made Aikman’s reputation as much as he did.
Romo suffers slights like “the best QB never to win a playoff game” because Fasano and several other teammates failed to execute the ordinary.
You’re only as good as your teammates help you be.
great stuff from vela.
– Opening drive of the 3rd quarter, 1993 NFC Championship Game. Score tied 10-10. Dallas crosses midfield on a key 3rd down completion from Troy Aikman to Michael Irvin. On first down just outside the 49ers’ 40, Aikman pumps, then throws a deep fade down the right sideline for Alvin Harper, who is covered by Eric Davis.
Aikman underthrows the pass and it appears Davis might intercept, but Harper, who high jumped 7′1″ in college, does his best Reed Richards impersonation, leaping and reaching over Davis and snatching the ball off the ‘Niners’ facemask. The circus catch gives Dallas first-and-goal at the four. Daryl Johnston scores on a short run and Dallas ends a long drive with a touchdown. The Cowboys never trail again and go to the Super Bowl.
– Opening drive, third quarter of a 2007 NFC Divisional Playoff game. Scored tied 14-14. Dallas breaks into New York’s red zone on a mad scramble by Tony Romo. Two plays later, from the Giants’ eleven, Dallas runs Anthony Fasano on an out towards the right goal line pylon. He’s well covered by Gibril Wilson, who hangs off Fasano’s right shoulder and leaves Romo a target about a foot square.
Romo paints an imaginary laser on Fasano’s heart and rifles the ball on the spot. When it bounces off the tight end’s pads, the collective hearts of the Cowboys Nation are broken. The Cowboys leave four points on the field, settling for a field goal after an eight minute drive and search in vain for them the rest of the game.
Two huge games. Two outcomes in the balance. Two Pro Bowl Dallas QBs at the controls.
One of them makes a perfect throw into the smallest of spaces. The other floats a duck towards his target. Yet it’s Aikman, the poorer thrower, who gets rewarded.
I raise the comparison because I’m reading a lot of stereotyping, positive and negative about Aikman and Romo in the threads these days. That Aikman won because he possessed unquantifiable super powers which could will his team towards titles. That Romo has failed because he doesn’t yell enough, or possess the pixie dust which Aikman would sprinkle in the huddle, making his teammates’ hearts grow three extra sizes.
I think we’re seeing causal chains running in reverse here. To my eyes it’s simple. Aikman didn’t pull any hocus pocus. He’s considered invincible because Alvin Harper and quite a few other Cowboys played beyond themselves when the chips were down. They made Aikman’s reputation as much as he did.
Romo suffers slights like “the best QB never to win a playoff game” because Fasano and several other teammates failed to execute the ordinary.
You’re only as good as your teammates help you be.
great stuff from vela.
