Romo still hasn’t proved to be elite QB
Colin Wilson
The Daily Times
I have to ask, what’s the big deal with this Tony Romo character?
He’s the only quarterback I’ve heard about this offseason.
If you Google “Tony Romo” you get his Wikipedia page, his player profile on NFL.com and a bunch of gossip columns about him and girlfriend Jessica Simpson.
What? No Super Bowl celebration photos?
New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning won a Super Bowl last season, and you rarely hear a peep about the guy.
I know the Cowboys are “America’s Team,” but doesn’t playing in the Big Apple count for something?
And what about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger? He’s won a Super Bowl and made the playoffs all but one year of his career. He’s been more successful than Romo even after bouncing his head off of someone’s windshield in a motorcycle accident two summers ago.
Romo’s success story can’t even come close to that. He went to a Division I-AA school and was an undrafted free agent?
Big deal.
With big media these days, guys with stories like that are a dime a dozen. Ever hear of Jared Allen or Rashean Mathis? (Division I-AA players.) What about Joshua Cribbs or Antonio Gates? (Undrafted free agents.)
That’s why Romo’s instant celebrity is somewhat troubling to me. Especially since Romo hasn’t done a thing yet.
Yes, he had a great regular season last year, statistically, as “America’s team” finished 13-3.
But going into the stretch run, Romo faltered, throwing three interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that was later known as the “Jessica Simpson” game.
For some reason, a professional athlete couldn’t play well in front of his smoking hot, pop star girlfriend.
A few weeks later, the Cowboys’ season came to an end against the eventual world-champion Giants.
In that game, Romo threw for a touchdown and an interception and completed half of his passes. His 64.7 rating was his fourth-worst of the season.
The previous year, Romo infamously fumbled a snap on a sure-fire field goal attempt to send the Cowboys home early in the playoffs.
In two playoff games as a starter, Romo has completed 35-of-65 pass attempts for 390 yards with two touchdowns, an interception and two fumbles.
By comparison, Vikings backup quarterback Kelly Holcomb is 26-of-43 for 429 yards in his one playoff game, throwing three touchdowns and an interception.
There are only 12 starting quarterbacks in the NFL with playoff wins under their belts.
However, I’d contend that other than Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, Romo has the most recognizable name in the NFL among signal callers, and he hasn’t even won a playoff game yet.
It was Romo’s predecessors who did more for his promotion to a starter than he did. Quincy Carter was in trouble with drugs and Drew Bledsoe passed his prime. Chad Hutchinson? Drew Henson? That’s quite a motley crew.
Romo’s fame isn’t all geared toward the women he dates either.
When Romo decided to brave Torrey Pines last week, the article from The Associated Press (you know that world-renowned, respectable, unbiased news outlet) described Romo’s performance like this, “The beefy quarterback, who boasts a 2.2 handicap index, barely broke a sweat playing the first nine holes in 5-over 40 but slowed as the six-hour round wore on.”
Beefy? Barely broke a sweat?
Something tells me that if Roethlisberger or Cleveland Browns quarterback Derek Anderson would have been doing the same thing, they’d have been a sidenote. And they certainly wouldn’t have been called “beefy.”
But this is the world we live in. The New York Yankees are a bigger story when they’re under .500 than the Chicago White Sox are when they’re in first place. Isiah Thomas being a bad coach in New York will always be a bigger story than Byron Scott or Gregg Popovich being good coaches.
And Tony Romo, the guy who hasn’t yet won a playoff game, will draw more headlines for going to Hibachi with a pop singer than Eli Manning did for winning a Super Bowl.
The Daily Times
I have to ask, what’s the big deal with this Tony Romo character?
He’s the only quarterback I’ve heard about this offseason.
If you Google “Tony Romo” you get his Wikipedia page, his player profile on NFL.com and a bunch of gossip columns about him and girlfriend Jessica Simpson.
What? No Super Bowl celebration photos?
New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning won a Super Bowl last season, and you rarely hear a peep about the guy.
I know the Cowboys are “America’s Team,” but doesn’t playing in the Big Apple count for something?
And what about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger? He’s won a Super Bowl and made the playoffs all but one year of his career. He’s been more successful than Romo even after bouncing his head off of someone’s windshield in a motorcycle accident two summers ago.
Romo’s success story can’t even come close to that. He went to a Division I-AA school and was an undrafted free agent?
Big deal.
With big media these days, guys with stories like that are a dime a dozen. Ever hear of Jared Allen or Rashean Mathis? (Division I-AA players.) What about Joshua Cribbs or Antonio Gates? (Undrafted free agents.)
That’s why Romo’s instant celebrity is somewhat troubling to me. Especially since Romo hasn’t done a thing yet.
Yes, he had a great regular season last year, statistically, as “America’s team” finished 13-3.
But going into the stretch run, Romo faltered, throwing three interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles in a game that was later known as the “Jessica Simpson” game.
For some reason, a professional athlete couldn’t play well in front of his smoking hot, pop star girlfriend.
A few weeks later, the Cowboys’ season came to an end against the eventual world-champion Giants.
In that game, Romo threw for a touchdown and an interception and completed half of his passes. His 64.7 rating was his fourth-worst of the season.
The previous year, Romo infamously fumbled a snap on a sure-fire field goal attempt to send the Cowboys home early in the playoffs.
In two playoff games as a starter, Romo has completed 35-of-65 pass attempts for 390 yards with two touchdowns, an interception and two fumbles.
By comparison, Vikings backup quarterback Kelly Holcomb is 26-of-43 for 429 yards in his one playoff game, throwing three touchdowns and an interception.
There are only 12 starting quarterbacks in the NFL with playoff wins under their belts.
However, I’d contend that other than Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, Romo has the most recognizable name in the NFL among signal callers, and he hasn’t even won a playoff game yet.
It was Romo’s predecessors who did more for his promotion to a starter than he did. Quincy Carter was in trouble with drugs and Drew Bledsoe passed his prime. Chad Hutchinson? Drew Henson? That’s quite a motley crew.
Romo’s fame isn’t all geared toward the women he dates either.
When Romo decided to brave Torrey Pines last week, the article from The Associated Press (you know that world-renowned, respectable, unbiased news outlet) described Romo’s performance like this, “The beefy quarterback, who boasts a 2.2 handicap index, barely broke a sweat playing the first nine holes in 5-over 40 but slowed as the six-hour round wore on.”
Beefy? Barely broke a sweat?
Something tells me that if Roethlisberger or Cleveland Browns quarterback Derek Anderson would have been doing the same thing, they’d have been a sidenote. And they certainly wouldn’t have been called “beefy.”
But this is the world we live in. The New York Yankees are a bigger story when they’re under .500 than the Chicago White Sox are when they’re in first place. Isiah Thomas being a bad coach in New York will always be a bigger story than Byron Scott or Gregg Popovich being good coaches.
And Tony Romo, the guy who hasn’t yet won a playoff game, will draw more headlines for going to Hibachi with a pop singer than Eli Manning did for winning a Super Bowl.
posted by The Gryphon at 12:58 PM
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