Cowboys mystique killed Tony Romo's hero narrative

boozeman

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Cowboys mystique killed Tony Romo's hero narrative


By Cory Collins



 @CoCoCoryCollins

Published on Nov. 28, 2015 | Updated on Nov. 29, 2015


The authors of sport have a fatal flaw: We write too many stories in retrospect.

Muhammad Ali was a hero of humanity and style mostly after the fact. On April 16, 1947, Arthur Daley of the New York Times dubbed Jackie Robinson's debut a "quite uneventful" affair. LeBron James was The One who couldn't get it done. We've since revised.

In pure sports terms, Tony Romo finds himself and his legacy trapped by a tale as old as barber shop debates and sports journalism: In our desire to debate, we've overlooked the great. In any other uniform, beneath any other star and spotlight, Romo would be the underdog hero we espouse to worship in sports. The improbable son. The impossible story.

Instead, that story might end before we ever get it right.

As SN's David Steele pointed out, Romo has taken a beating in the last five years. Three distinct fractures of his left clavicle. Two back surgeries. One inescapable truth: He'll be 36 next season. And as Peyton Manning has illustrated this season, storybook careers don't always come with storybook endings — not when the body breaks.

And as Romo's career almost certainly nears its penultimate years, the conversation surrounding the Cowboys quarterback often returns to tired territory. No matter how many damn times — seriously, a lot of times — stats say otherwise, figureheads embrace debate and say Romo is a choke artist. And lost within that, within the "Is Romo just good or great?" debate, within backwards ball caps and Cowboy mystique fatigue: Romo has an incredible career arc.

One we should have been celebrating all along.

It's a story more improbable than Tom Brady's — the surefire Hall of Famer who once struggled to earn starts at Michigan and got drafted in the sixth round before embarking on a documentary-worthy career. A story more decorated than Jeff Garcia's — the undrafted San Jose State grad who overcame his lack of size to build a Canadian resume before becoming a serviceable successor to Steve Young in San Francisco.

No, Romo's journey is only rivaled by Kurt Warner's — he of the undrafted fraternity, he who famously attended Northern Iowa, played in NFL Europe and bagged groceries before becoming a Super Bowl MVP. That story we celebrate, to the point that it is ingrained into NFL myth, as common knowledge as Narcissus and Achilles in the American psyche.

Yet Romo remains a polarizing figure. Another controversial Cowboy. A debate topic. Lest we forget, a reminder of where he came from:

Romo was a small-school star at Eastern Illinois, an Ohio Valley Conference champion in 2001. And as the Dallas Morning News points out, scouts and front office personnel at the time didn't exactly see him as a future franchise QB. Chicago's Jerry Angelo said "He's OK." Said Charley Armey of St. Louis, "He's a take-a-chance guy. I wouldn't draft him." Said Ron Nay of Washington: "IMG's trying to convince people he's really good, but he isn't."

Thanks to then-Cowboys quarterback coach (and now-New Orleans head honcho) Sean Payton being a former Eastern Illinois signal-caller himself, Romo went to Dallas for a $10,000 signing bonus. The Packers — reportedly interested at the time and once the bastion of Brett Favre backups turned starters like Mark Brunell and Matt Hasselbeck — opted instead to sign Utah State's Jose Fuentes. Who? Exactly.

Yet now we're here, and by any objective measure, Romo belongs among the great undrafted quarterbacks.


Only two undrafted quarterbacks have more passing yards than Romo. One is Warren Moon, who never went undrafted because scouts thought he lacked skill, but instead, as some have suggested, because he didn't look the part — because in college and the pros, he refused to switch to a position more commonly held by black players.

The other is Dave Krieg, whom Romo could surpass in another full season (should such a thing ever exist for him) despite Krieg having played 19 seasons to Romo's 12.

Comparing eras is a fool's errand, but Romo stacks up well against even these best of the best undrafted QBs.

Romo: 12 seasons | 61.4 win % | 65.3 comp. % | 34,154 yards (220.3/g) | 247 TD (1.59/g) | 117 INT | 24 fourth-quarter comebacks | 114 approximate value (9.5/season)
Moon: 17 seasons | 50.2 win % | 58.4 comp. % | 49,325 yards (237.1/g) | 291 TD (1.4/g) | 233 INT | 26 4QCs | 166 AV (9.76/season)
Warner: 12 seasons | 57.7 win % | 65.5 comp. % | 32,344 yards (260.8/g) | 208 TD (1.68/g) | 128 INT | 9 4QCs | 113 AV (9.42/season)
Krieg: 19 seasons | 56 win % | 58.5 comp. % | 38,147 yards (179.1/g) | 261 TD (1.23/g) | 199 INT | 24 4QCs | 138 AV (7.26/season)
(All stats courtesy Pro-Football-Reference.com.)

Even when filtered into the ranks of the drafted (the NFL's version of clean and unclean), Romo belongs in a tier above places his Cowboys critics might put him. His passer rating ranks third-best all time. His completion percentage, tied for fourth (with Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers). And even through just 12 seasons, Romo's touchdown total, completions, yards and game-winning drives all sit within the top 30 all time.

And just last year — on his way to a 69.9 completion percentage, a 34:9 TD:INT ratio and a 12-3 record — Romo booked the fifth-best season, according to QBR, since 2006. The only other names in the Top 10: Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Carson Palmer — exemplary company.

But Romo's a Cowboy — and no Cowboy can be the underdog. A Cowboy gets the Skip Bayless treatment. A Cowboy gets doused in Jerry Jones residue. A Cowboy — like a president, like Pepsi and Coke — has no choice but to be hated by half the country.

And thus we've lost a story beneath a blue star. A story of which we are vaguely aware but have stripped of its power. A story as fractured as Romo's clavicle, sacked by those who would make him a talking point instead of a point of inspiration.

But like Romo, that career now lies bare on the field for all to see, its end suddenly, seemingly nigh. Our sympathy — instead of Dallas derision — suddenly, seemingly apt.

So we write. For the authors of sport have a hearse-chasing tendency: Once we see the end, the beginning becomes truth, again.

And beneath the porch laden with boards nailed down by hot takes and tired debates, we find the underdog, who has picked the place where he will wither.
 

L.T. Fan

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Nice to see an article that paints an objective picture about his individual accomplishments. The fact that the team hasn't flourished is certainly not his fault. I think we know where that problem rests.
 

BipolarFuk

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No, Romo's journey is only rivaled by Kurt Warner's
Rivaled?

Kurt's story is much better. He's held the trophy Romo never will, unless he's blowing dust off of a Cowboys relic.
 

L.T. Fan

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Rivaled?

Kurt's story is much better. He's held the trophy Romo never will, unless he's blowing dust off of a Cowboys relic.
The trophy is a team honor. This article is pointing out the individual accomplishments.
 

VA Cowboy

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Kurt was a major part of the Rams winning the SB. The Cowboys were at their best last year when we had the league's leading rusher and relied less on Romo. I know Tony was a disadvantage due to a lack of OL/running game much of his career and vastly subpar coaching. On the other hand Romo was at times his own worst enemy and many times negated the huge passing days he had due to poor decisions/int's in pressure situations and late in games.
 

townsend

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Kurt was a major part of the Rams winning the SB. The Cowboys were at their best last year when we had the league's leading rusher and relied less on Romo. I know Tony was a disadvantage due to a lack of OL/running game much of his career and vastly subpar coaching. On the other hand Romo was at times his own worst enemy and many times negated the huge passing days he had due to poor decisions/int's in pressure situations and late in games.
It's not like Kurt didn't have an all-timer RB.

I think the poor decision narrative is a little unfair, yeah he had shitty fucking days, but only 3 times in his career has he had a defense that wasn't atrocious. Each time he won the division. Almost every year the onus was on Romo to outpace the other offense that Rob Ryan, or Mike Zimmer, or Wade Phillips, or Monte Kiffin was making look like the 07 Patriots. Go back over the last 9 years and see how many times Romo was left trying to bail us out against a horrible offense that happened to be playing their best game of the year.
 

ravidubey

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Rivaled?

Kurt's story is much better. He's held the trophy Romo never will, unless he's blowing dust off of a Cowboys relic.
Romo might have done OK with Orlando Pace, Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Adam Timmerman, Leonard Little, Aeneas Williams, Kevin Carter, and London Fletcher too.

He can't help it if his GM took shortcuts for most of his career.
 

boozeman

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This parade of shit with Romo out this year really made me realize that a lot of the criticisms I had of him in the past were more with the team and specifically fucking Garrett, rather than him.
 

Clay_Allison

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This parade of shit with Romo out this year really made me realize that a lot of the criticisms I had of him in the past were more with the team and specifically fucking Garrett, rather than him.
One of the local talk shows Monday said the Kuechly was calling out the plays we were running at the line and mentioned Ray Lewis after the last Texas Stadium game saiying we had the most predictable offense in football. It's a wonder Romo's been able to gunsling his way through this turd of a playbook for so long.
 

townsend

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One of the local talk shows Monday said the Kuechly was calling out the plays we were running at the line and mentioned Ray Lewis after the last Texas Stadium game saiying we had the most predictable offense in football. It's a wonder Romo's been able to gunsling his way through this turd of a playbook for so long.
I remember in 2012 and 2013 all of our offense was done once we scrapped the game plan and played no huddle. We got a taste of that opening week vs the Giants too. Garrett has been a liability for this team. If Jerry had a brain in his head he's fire the shit out of that guy. 5 year contract or no, this is a 4 billion dollar franchise that Garrett's running into the ground, and Jerry has no guarantees that he'll live 5 more years.
 

Genghis Khan

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I remember in 2012 and 2013 all of our offense was done once we scrapped the game plan and played no huddle. We got a taste of that opening week vs the Giants too. Garrett has been a liability for this team. If Jerry had a brain in his head he's fire the shit out of that guy. 5 year contract or no, this is a 4 billion dollar franchise that Garrett's running into the ground, and Jerry has no guarantees that he'll live 5 more years.

Hell, if Jerry had a brain in his head he'd have fired him 3 years ago.
 

Rev

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You guys just dont watch the games.
 

kidd

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Kurt was a major part of the Rams winning the SB. The Cowboys were at their best last year when we had the league's leading rusher and relied less on Romo. I know Tony was a disadvantage due to a lack of OL/running game much of his career and vastly subpar coaching. On the other hand Romo was at times his own worst enemy and many times negated the huge passing days he had due to poor decisions/int's in pressure situations and late in games.
Funny how Kurt Warner made all these great decisions when he had Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, and Torry Holt to choose from. It was called "The Greatest Show on Turf" for a reason. Then I guess his decisions fell off after a while when he didn't have them. Many thought his career was over until he went to Arizona. Then his decision making mysteriously got better once he had Edgerin James, Anquon Boldin, and Larry Fitzgerald at his disposal.

The problem with Romo is that he had a career defining moment when he bobbled that snap. People focus on that and use it to define Romo as a choker. Nevermind that the bobbled snap isn't what necessarily lost that game. People forget about Terry Glenn laying the ball down on his own one yard line or a defense that let Shawn Alexander rumble for 20 yards after the bobbled snap had them pinned one the 3 yrd line.

Has he had some bad games? Sure but so does every QB. Just last year Brady had an awful game against KC. I remember a game Manning had gainst SD in which he had 5 INTs. Every QB is good for at least one bad game per year and that's about what Romo has averaged.

If he didn't have a star on his helmet, he would be everybody's favorite player to pull for. Much like John Elway until he finally got some help. Not that Romo is as talented as Elway. It's just the best example I can think of as far as QBs who have had to carry their teams and not be able to get them over the hump.
 

townsend

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It's never been about the bobbled snap. The thesis of the article nailed it. He was a cowboy, and everyone NEEDED him to be a choker.
 
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