Tony Romo Has Maxed Out His Potential
ByThe same question, the biggest question, about Tony Romo has been asked for a little over a year now. When will he reach the next level? Let us be the first guys to tell you, he has reached his top level. But he’s not the only quarterback in the NFL that isn’t going to live up to the standards the public and his franchise has set for him.
Tony Romo was never a “can’t miss” prospect, coveted by every division one school in the country. He was a hard working D 1-AA quarterback at Eastern Illinois who had the ability to scramble and make throws while avoiding pressure. He went undrafted. That means every team that watched him work out didn’t believe he was worthy of a selection. There wasn’t a line out the door to sign him either. He was behind Quincy Carter in the Cowboys quarterback mix for a while. Tony isn’t a guy who has always been on the minds of any scout, at any level. He’s done a lot with the skill set he’s been blessed with. He should be extremely proud of himself. But that doesn’t win championships.
The Cowboys, the same franchise that believes Wade Phillips is a championship coach and keeping T.O. instead of Bill Parcells was a good idea, are the ones responsible for inflating Romo’s expectation level. When he first stepped in as a starter for Dallas in 2006, everything he gave the Cowboys was gravy. There were no standards and people loved the way he created something out of nothing. The problem is he was getting away with the same mistakes that he is being vilified for today.
In 10 games in 2006, Romo threw 13 interceptions and was sacked 21 times. After being handed the keys to the car that offseason, it was assumed that Romo would get a better grasp of the offense and protect the ball in big spots. It didn’t happen. In 2007, he threw 19 interceptions. He led Dallas to a 13-3 record, only to get exposed by a great Giants defense in the playoffs.
Last season was the first year of the serious ‘step forward’ talks. And Romo crumbled. Delighted with his new found celebrity, Romo seemed more comfortable in front of the camera than he did in the pocket and it showed in a number of tough losses. He battled with Terrell Owens, as well as his inability to protect the ball, and the Cowboys failed to make the playoffs, never mind win a game. Romo threw 14 interceptions in 13 games, right on pace with his 19-INT performance of 2007. The step forward became a hurdle that he couldn’t clear.
This is who Tony Romo is. He’s maxed out his potential. The comparisons with Kurt Warner and Joe Flacco are inaccurate. Warner and Flacco are football players who love the game and have to be dragged away from the film room. Warner realized the opportunity he was given and never stopped working to perfect his game. He won a Super Bowl and an MVP award. Romo has improved his golf game more than his passing ability. He can read putts better than he can read defenses. Flacco was a big time recruit who chose the nearby University of Pittsburgh. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt didn’t give him a fair shot at the starting job and chose to play Tyler Palko instead. Flacco wanted to play immediately so he transferred to the University of Delaware. Wannstedt wouldn’t release him from his scholarship and Flacco came into camp late, which allowed Flacco to learn the offense and throw rockets on scout team. During his first season as a starter at Delaware, the NFL scouts started to call. He was on their minds from that point on and coach K.C. Keeler knew he had a stud.
There are a number of other quarterbacks in the NFL that are facing unrealistic expectations from their delusional fan bases and front offices, Romo isn’t the only one. The Redskins’ Jason Campbell was excellent at one thing during his time at Auburn: handing the ball off to Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown. Campbell was never the focal point of Auburn’s offense and didn’t have to win games with his arm. Now the Redskins are relying on him to lead them to the next level, yet Campbell has never done anything to be worthy of, or deserve, these standards. You’re money is on the wrong guy.
Matt Cassel is another guy who has been given a ton of money and a load of expectations. He should have the same set of standards as Shaun Hill or David Garrard, but some GM was enough of a sucker to write him a fat check. He was a good quarterback in a great system who now has to play with worse protection and less talented players. Expecting him to lead the Chiefs to the playoffs is like expecting Jenna Jameson to become a nun. Aint gonna happen!
There are a number of sayings to describe how good someone is. You’re only as good as your last game. You’re as good as the team around you. You’re only as good as the number of wins your team has. We’ve heard them all before. Most of the time, you’ll only be as good as the expectations and standards people have set for you. When the bar is set too high, there’s nothing you can do to please people. When you come out of nowhere and the bar is set low, you’ll be looked at as a success.
Tony Romo has had, and will have, a successful career in the NFL when all is said and done. But he is not, and will never be, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Unfortunately for him, that is what the Cowboys expect.
Perhaps if Romo would turn his ball cap around, he might actually become the player some think he can be. I can’t put my finger on it but there is something about him wearing that cap backwards that tells me all I need to know.
Colin I know you\’re a W-L guy, so lets back up and look at the numbers. Since 2006 (Romo\’s first season where he had his first career start) Tony Romo has a 27-12 record as a starter during the regular season and postseason while other Dallas Cowboy starters at quarterback (Bledsoe and Brad Johnson) are 2-7 during that same span.
He was close in both of his playoff loses (combined 5 points), including losing by 4 (with a chance to win at the end) to a smoking hot Giants team that made Jeff Garcia, Tony Romo, the legendary Brett Favre and the great Tom Brady look bad on their way to a Super Bowl win, and a 1 point loss to Seattle in January where it\’s traditionally difficult to play.
He was 7-6 as a starter last season (the so-called disaster season) even though he had a broken pinky finger on his throwing hand for about 1/2 of the season.
Let\’s look at some other quarterbacks who \"couldn\’t win the big game\"
- Peyton Manning, who started his postseason career something like 0-3 and who\’s lost in the first round several times in his career.
- Eli Manning, who started his career 0-2 in the postseason.
- Drew Brees, who\’s 1-2 in the playoffs in his career and who has missed the playoffs most seasons as a starter
And this doesn\’t include Jay Cutler, who\’s 5-9 as a starter in December and who has never played in a playoff game, and Trent Edwards, who\’s 2-7 as a starter in December and who has never played in a playoff game.
And you\’re argument that so many smart guys passed on Romo in college and the pros would have merit if these same guys didn\’t drool over stalwarts like Jamarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith, Tim Couch, Cade McNown, Kyle Boller, Jeff George and Brady Quinn, and didn\’t completely ignore players such as Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme (winning postseason record), Tom Brady (never really got to start in college and was passed over in the draft by the likes of Giovanni Carmazzi and Spergon Wynn), Matt Hasselbeck, Trent Green, Jeff Garcia, and Brad Johnson.
Take a step back just like the rest of the Cowboys fans need to do and realize that you\’re completely overreacting by Romo having a bad performance against a great defense.
I couldn’t agree more with Brian from Raleigh. The beauty of the Tom Brady situation, is that he came in on a team primed to win. Peyton had to build a team once he was there. That’s why the Pats are 11-5 without Brady. If Peyton Manning or Tony Romo got hurt they would be nowhere near the playoffs. Indy might win 5-6 games, and Dallas is 6-10 at best without Romo. The Cowboys were like 43-59 in 6 seasons + the first 6 the year Romo took over, they are now 33-14 with Romo in the line-up since he took over.
Even the great Peyton Manning lost his first 3 playoff games, and it wasn’t because he was failed QB, it was because top to bottom, outside of QB, the Colts had less talent than New England at almost every position, and their defense was inferior to the Patriots in every way. Let’s see Brees, or Cutler, or some of these other guys you claim to like win something before you dog a guy who has outperformed them all career wise so far(although Brees has one playoff win). You fail to mention how Romo makes guys look better than they are, that line is very average, but when Romo is healthy he makes them look like pro-bowlers by avoiding sacks. There were nevr 13 true pro-bowlers on that team. The Pro-bowl is a joke.
Anyway, I love the show even though I don’t always agree.
In less than 50 starts Tony has set the record for most 300 yd games by a cowboy, 3rd best passer rating in NFL history behind P Manning and Steve Young, only Cowboy QB to pass for 4000 yds in a season, most TD passes 36 in a season, 35-15 (70% wins) among other records as a Cowboy team that has had 2 HOF QBs that took whole careers to set records he has broken so fast. This is only Tony’s 3 complete season and 2nd not injured so my god lets just jump ship so fast on a guy that has been better than Staubach, White, Aikman, Morton, Meridith among all the other QBs the Cowboys have gone through. Romo IS a great QB especially given the talent that is either so young around him or disruptive like TO was or gun shy like R Williams dropping the ball so many times. Look at the stats and you will see he is good. A couple the seasons the defense let us down more than he did. Of the only 2 playoffs we have been in with him we only missed by a botched EP by possibly winning that game on the road and against the Giants a division rival it is always tough game and 21-17 loss is not a blowout. Look a Dan Marino who never won the big one and many other greats are also on that list as well so it takes a team to win it all not just a QB.
Wow you look stupid now.