Monday Night Football: Tony Romo's Full Week 3 Report Card

Tony Romo
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Facing Dallas' biggest rival on Monday Night Football last night, Tony Romo battled injuries, a fierce pass rush and problems with his supporting cast.

Romo has had a career full of ups and downs in Dallas, with highs like last week's OT win in San Francisco and lows like fumbling a hold in Seattle that bumped Dallas out of the playoffs.

Last night, Romo had another very memorable game, but did he make the grade?

Hit All Night

Brian Orakpo
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Romo injured his ribs and suffered a punctured lung against San Francisco last week, which kept him out of practice until last Saturday.

The Redskins were very aware of Romo's injury and sent heavy blitzes and unleashed their pass rushing duo of Pro-Bowler Brian Orakpo and impact rookie Ryan Kerrigan, who placed hard hits on Romo throughout the night.

However, Romo hung tough, receiving pain-killing injections before and during the game.

Problems with Offensive Line

Phil Costa
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The Cowboys abruptly cut Pro-Bowl center Andre Gurode this offseason, which caused Phil Costa to become Tony Romo's battery mate at center.

It wasn't an issue until the second half last night when several bad snaps led to three fumbles and a low snap began the play that resulted in Romo's only interception of the game.

The Cowboys also replaced guard Leonard Davis and tackle Marc Colombo from last year's unit. Through three games, Romo has been sacked six times and the Cowboys are only averaging 78 yards rushing a game.

Problems with Supporting Cast

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Tony Romo had to carry the Cowboys' anemic running game and a passing game that was missing Cowboys star wideout Miles Austin.

Without Austin, the receiving corps struggled. There where several times throughout the game it was clear that Romo was frustrated with the poor quality of the routes some of his receivers were running.

On the interception he threw, his receiver didn't adjust his route to compensate for the Redskins' all-out blitz. Also, Kevin Ogletree gave up on a route before Romo threw him the ball, causing a second-half drive in the red zone to stall, forcing a Cowboys field goal.

The Grade

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Romo didn't have the biggest game numbers-wise, but at the end of the day, he made the plays necessary to win the game. Especially the third-and-21 completion to Dez Bryant that saw him scramble away from a blitz on the game-winning drive.

For Romo's gutty 22-for-36, 255-yard night, I give him a B+.

Romo overcame a lot of adversity in this football game and has been dealing with criticism in the media following Dallas' collapse against the New York Jets. But on the NFL's biggest regular season stage, he came up a winner in one of the NFL's fiercest rivalries.