It's funny to me how the topic of Romo is still so polarizing among Cowboys fans.
And even funnier to me is the revisionist history fans have in regards to Romo's career on each side of the spectrum.
Not that anyone asked, but I'll share my thoughts on Romo and what I believe is a fair and accurate assessment of his career.
To be clear, my opinion of him definitely changed in the latter years from what it was just 4 years before the end.
In a nutshell, Romo was a very very good QB. Borderline elite, even.
He would've been even better had he not been straddled with the Jones/Garrett combo of doom.
Swap him and Roethlisberger and I strongly believe the Steelers get to multiple Super Bowls while we never reach one. Both teams' histories would've largely remained the same.
Other than size, they were both very very similar in playstyle. That same special something that they had that allowed them to pull amazing plays out of their ass was also the source of the boneheaded plays that left you wondering what the hell they were thinking.
The biggest difference is that one played his career with one of the best and most stable organizations in sports, and the other joined the disorganized circus that is the Jerry Jones owned Cowboys.
Still, the other key difference was Romo's propensity for making the worst mistakes at the worst times. There is absolutely no debating that for his first 7 years as a starter, he cost us crucial games and even playoff appearances because he shat the bed numerous times.
Could that have been minimized with better coaching? Maybe....but we can only judge him by what we actually saw and experienced.
Now, he also won so many games on his own. He carried an awful and outdated offensive system. It's no coincidence that he played his best and the offense functioned better when he just got to draw it up himself.
He truly was special when he was at his best.
I feel bad for him at times not just because if the coach he was strapped with, but also because I think the mistakes became less frequent and his play became more consistent in his final years.
He was finally figuring it all out.
By the end of 2014, I had no "Please don't screw up, Romo" fears anymore. I had full confidence that he would get it done in crunch time.
Unfortunately for him, as he was finally figuring things out and the game slowed down for him, his body was breaking down so he didn't get to enjoy his peak for long.
In the end, I think Romo was a fine QB who would've made the HOF with a better team and more stable situation. But to say he didn't have talent to work with or that his own shortcomings were someone else's fault is nonsense.
I'll always remember him fondly and see him as a great but flawed QB that could've been better in a different world.
But in this reality, he wasn't a HOF'er and he's not some underappreciated genius. He's a very good but not elite QB who just didn't get it done....
Even if it wasn't all his fault.
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