Chip Kelly Says Tony Romo Is as Good as Any QB in NFL Today

The vultures are always waiting to take down Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo whenever he makes a mistake, but Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly had high praise for the 35-year-old heading into the teams' Week 2 matchup. 

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News, Kelly said he believes Romo belongs in the same class as the best quarterbacks currently playing in the NFL:

"

Tony has been an elite quarterback for a long time. He's as good as anybody playing right now. I've always been a big fan of Tony and just how he plays the game at quarterback. He has an unbelievable understanding of what they're doing. He gets them always into the right play, always in the right protection and he can make all the throws. He's playing as good as any quarterback in the National Football League.

"

The numbers Romo has put up throughout his career since taking over as Dallas' quarterback in 2006 put him in the top tier of quarterbacks. He's averaged 3,795 passing yards and 28 touchdown passes from 2007-14. 

Player	Yards	TD-INT
Peyton Manning*	4,586	32-14
Tom Brady**	4,516	35-9
Drew Brees	4,908	36-16

*Manning missed the entire 2011 season. 

**Brady suffered a season-ending injury in the first game of 2008

In May 2014, NFL.com analysts Brian Billick and Charley Casserly did not have Romo among the top 10 quarterbacks in the league. That may have changed in the year since, with the Cowboys coming off a 12-win season and Romo leading the league with a 69.9 completion percentage. 

There is more to playing quarterback than just putting up numbers, though, which is where the criticism of Romo tends to come in. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees have all won at least one Super Bowl in their careers; Romo has not advanced past the NFC Divisional round. 

Yet there's also an inherent bias toward and against quarterbacks when it comes to Super Bowl titles. It takes more than one player to win a title; otherwise the Green Bay Packers would have won every year with Aaron Rodgers under center. 

Romo has played at a high level for a decade, made many great plays late in games and been in the postseason four times. He's got to get over the hump before every analyst puts him in the elite category of quarterbacks, but Kelly's comments about Dallas' star are appropriate.