I think he wasn't this good because this was really the outlier for his career. He's pimped out before, often in fact, but never like this. For that reason, I guess I understand why people feel the need to defend his crucial miscue, because it seems wasteful to discount the other 58 minutes. Even though I believe he cost us the game ultimately doesn't mean I don't marvel at what he did before that. I also think that his performance is something he has never and will never duplicate again. So his game Sunday does not have any impact on our future this year or any year, any more than some people think his INT was irrelevant to the outcome because he was the reason we were in it.
I agree, pretty much completely. I don't anticipate another game this perfect. The closest (versus real competition) I've seen, is the 2011 'lost in the lights' game, and I thought 2011 Romo was already long gone.
I slightly disagree. I recall the NY Jets opener two years ago. He was having a great game. Not shredding Rex's D, but certainly having us in a good place. Then he fumbles at the goalline and then throws the pick to Revis. Game over. He was tearing up the Lions before tossing a reckless pass to his buddy Bobby Carpenter to start the landslide loss to Detroit. Contrary to what people say, this was not his finest moment. SF with the walk off pass to Mr. 4th and Long was the best. Even if the orchestra has been missing pieces he's still been very good at times only to screw up at the end. Thing is, the orchestra will always be missing pieces. It is inevitable. I don't see how you can complain that he's missing pieces for 58 minutes and use that as an excuse for the final two. He's one of the pieces too, the most important part. As he goes, so do the Cowboys. It is how everything is structured, especially with the contractual backing he has now. He's the man. And to be the man, he has to avoid making this kind of play that makes the team lose. He's not the first QB to get into a shootout where nobody could stop the other team. Those games happen.
I was really hoping you were going to say, to be the man, he'd have to beat the man. I'd say the worst game of Tony's career had to be versus Pittsburg in 2008. If there's one game that distills every criticism leveled against Romo it's his late choke/meltdown in a crucial game, against a good/hated team. I hate to read straight from the Romo aplologist playbook, but I figure most 2nd tier QBs have shitty games like this. Obviously Eli does. Even Peyton has had his share of Meltdowns. I'm not saying it isn't really freaking frustrating, I just think it's gonna happen, especially with our questionable offensive setup.
We've struggled in shootouts over the years. Actually for a really long time Romo throwing over 40 times meant we were absolutely gonna lose. Some of that is Romo's failures, we've also struggled mightily with clock management, which can't help. Also we love to commit penalties and kill drives in the clutch too. Also in shootouts, the last team to hold the ball usually wins, so you're already down to a 50-50 chance at best.
If he walked off the field a winner Sunday with no pickoff, people would be hanging from his nuts. I also think he'd be sky high. Maybe it would have been a boost to his confidence and shatter the mental block he seems to go into occasionally when the chips are down late. Who knows. But I doubt it wouldn't have meant much. He'd have gained a peg on critics and then the noise about choking would stop...you don't shatter an all time record and not have it change your rep a little.
It might change things a little, but this team is not going to see success in the playoffs. Doesn't this argument sound familiar to you?
"Yeah he can put up a lot of stats, but we're not talking about a fantasy league here, real quarterbacks win when it counts."
Hell in 2004 Peyton Manning threw 49 TDs and still got shut down by New England. I remember him getting a pretty big backlash from that (not on a Romo scale, but Peyton is generally well liked).
They also were part of teams that felt like that...a team. Romo has always been the one, or at least felt he had to be the one, who had to play well for the team to win. Part of that is the weaker team, but a lot of that is how things are structured. No running game, a lack of creativity/discipline/focus on his defenses, bad special teams. But the real problem is that we have been good enough to win if Bad Tony shows up. Nobody, including, Romo though, believes that. And it is made worse when he does make that mistake because they have that mindset, we live and die by Romo. That's not fair to him. And I think he feels it and reacts accordingly when he has to win the game.
This. This is what happens when your coach isn't a coach. If Romo had a Parcells, Holmgren, Harbaugh (either), or even a Gruden to step up and tell him what to do, and put together a team; instead of making every game the Romo show, starring Romo. We'd probably see a lot less spectacular (meaning one that causes a spectacle) Romo. Parcells clearly had the worst incarnation of Romo (It was the worst incarnation of Parcells too), and managed to get to the playoffs with him. Because things like time of possession, and "keeping a defense honest" were part of his game plan. Sure he had a habit of putting Marcus Spears at full back three times before attempting a field goal, but at least our offense wasn't boom or bust, and our defense got some decent time off the field.
I doubt we see it consistently enough to get sniffed out. We are more likely to see the KC game offense this week as we will the Bronco game offense. Washington will blitz him mercilessly. And as we saw in KC, he will underperform. I just don't get why people are so eager to think we can replicate Sunday. It was an all-timer.
Could be. I was kind of going off of what we saw through most of 2012. Which was tons of 4th quarter rallies or attempted rallies. Honestly after watching the Chiefs game I thought Romo might be done, it looked like he was suffering from Brad Johnsonitis. He could barely sling the ball across the line of scrimmage. I'm hoping that it was a side affect of his bruised ribs.