Dallas Cowboys: 10 Reasons Tony Romo Is Most Overrated QB in the NFL
The Super Bowl favorite Dallas Cowboys laid an egg last nigh in their 13-7 loss to Washington, a team that was 4-12 last year, playing with a new head coach and a new quarterback. And while Tony Romo posted pretty good numbers (31/47, 282 yards, 1 TD) his offense only only scored once against the Skins D.
If Romo's Boys can't defeat lowly Washington, how are they going to contend in the NFC East against Philadelphia and the Giants.....and Green Bay and New Orleans in the rest of the conference. That question leads to another: is Tony Romo terribly overrated?
Here are 10 reasons why Romo gets more credit and attention than he deserves.
#10: The Cowboy Quarterback Legacy
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Dallas quarterback tradition is pretty special: In the last 35 years, two sure-fire Hall of Fame quarterbacks have donned the star: Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman. The position of “Dallas Cowboys Quarterback” is one of the most high profile jobs in all of team sports: would Quincy Carter be as well known if he played for the Tampa Bay Bucs? What about Drew Henson?
And since Romo took over, he has certainly looked better than some of his aged contemporaries: Drew Bledsoe, Brad Johnson, Vinny Testaverde. Romo has been named to the Pro Bowl enough times to suggest he might become the long-awaited heir apparent to Aikman and become the Cowboys third different Super Bowl MVP quarterback.
But he hasn’t done it. Those who want to see that happen are Romo’s biggest cheerleaders.
#9: Stacked at Running Back
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From the moment he took over in Dallas, the Cowboys have had very good production out of their running backs. Maybe it wasn’t an Adrian Peterson or LaDanian Tomlinson but the Julius Jones-Marion Barber duo and now the Marion Barber-Felix Jones-Tashard Choice trio has been a great benefit to Romo.
How often do we hear about the importance of a running game and how John Elway never won a Super Bowl until he got Terrell Davis? Well, Romo might not have a hall of famer standing beside him but he has several good options, each of which is usually fresh.
Because the Cowboys running game is consistent, they don’t fall behind by more than one or two scores and therefore don’t have to chuck the ball up every play. That greatly helps Romo keep is interception totals low, his completion percentage high and generally makes the passing game more efficient.
#8: Not Brady Or Manning
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For all the great players who came through the league during the previous decade, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were far and away the most visible and the two top faces of the league: Brady was the league’s premier “winner”, claiming 3 Super Bowls and nearly a fourth during and Manning was arguable the league’s premier player, winning 3 MVPs, a Super Bowl and racking up just about every passing stat there was. And their epic head-to-head battles actually matched the hype.
But after roughly a full decade (Brady made his name in 2001, Manning even before that) NFL fans have been ready for someone new to carry the torch. And quarterbacks will always be the one to do that. We’re always looking for someone new.
Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, and Romo have all been popular candidates to supplant Manning and/or Brady but it still hasn’t quite happened. People who are sick of that duo want someone like Romo to win the MVP and beat one of them in the Super Bowl.
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#7: He IS Good
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Just because you are overrated doesn’t mean you’re not a very good player. And Romo is.
If the Patriots weren’t 16-0 and Brady didn’t throw 50 touchdowns in 2007, Romo would have been one of the MVP front runners that year: he tossed 36 touchdowns and threw for over 4,200 yards. His yearly totally in 2009 were practically just as good.
So no one can deny that he is one of the league’s best quarterbacks. But just because his quarterback rating has been in the mid-90s every year doesn’t make his Joe Montana: can’t everyone agree that—since no one understands how it works—that statistic should just be forgotten?
Right or wrong—unless you’re Dan Marino—we pretty much measure the greatness of quarterbacks by Championship Rings: Romo has none.
#6: The Next Gunslinger
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Besides the Aikman and Staubach comparisons, Romo has been too often labeled the heir apparent to another NFL legend. When Romo emerged in 2006 and 2007, we all (mistakenly) thought that Brett Favre was on his way out of the league: three retirements will do that.
Several of the broadcasters doing Cowboy games were quick to point out the similarities in their styles as “gamblers.” Like Favre, Romo is very good at turning a potentially bad play into something spectacular: he is mobile and threads the ball well.
But that doesn’t put him at Favre’s level, no matter how much people say he is the next “gunslinger.” Not only did Favre win a Super Bowl ring, play for another and win 3 straight MVPs, but he did so without the abundance of offensive firepower that Romo has enjoyed.
#5: His Love Life
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To be “overrated” your name has to be in the headlines a lot, more than you deserve. And Romo’s taste in women—Jessica Simpson, Carrie Underwood—brought him to US Weekly and the E! Channel as often as it did in Sports Illustrated and ESPN.
That infamous trip to Mexico with Simpson and a few teammates again increased his Q-rating. People not so tapped into the NFL were talking about Romo and saw that his team was in the playoffs and just naturally assumed he was another glamorous and great quarterback like Tom Brady.
But while Tom Brady has 3 Super Bowl rings and a league MVP and has a very hot celebrity WAG, Romo doesn’t seem to have either right now.
#4: Rags To Riches
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Not only was Romo undrafted out of college in 2003 but he went to Eastern Illinois. The rise of Tom Brady is partly so fabled because he was a 6th round pick and a host of average QBs were taken ahead of him. But at least Brady went to Michigan and was a somewhat well-known talent.
Practically no one saw Romo play in college and he didn’t get any attention before, during or after Draft Day. Furthermore, he didn’t throw a single pass his first three seasons. Once he started winning games for the Cowboys in 2006, he was a new face who came out of nowhere. People still cling to that.
#3: Tremendous Receivers
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Tight end Jason Witten may be his “security blanket” but Romo has also been loaded with receiving talent. Say what you will about T.O. but he was still a great player when he was with Dallas.And even if his skills had diminished and he wasn’t the same player he had been in San Francisco or Philadelphia, he certainly drew a lot of attention from defenses.
In their three seasons together, Romo and Owens hooked up for 38 touchdowns. Opposite T.O. that first season, Terry Glenn caught 70 passes for over 1,000 yards. Then Roy Williams came to town and—although he hasn’t been nearly as productive as Jerry Jones would like—he too attracts a lot of attention, especially in the red zone.
In 2010, with Witten, Williams, Miles Austin and Dez Bryant, Romoo is blessed with hands-down the finest receiving corps in the NFL.
#2: Big Game Blunders
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Forget the botched field goal hold in the 2006 playoff game against Seattle. His (and his team’s) poor playoff record is well documented.
And during his first 3 seasons, his poor play down the stretch (8 touchdowns vs. 11 INTs in December) was also well covered. Now Romo was very good in December last year (7 TDs vs. 1 INT) but he was hardly spectacular in the post-season, especially in the embarrassing loss to the Vikings.
He and the Cowboys made great strides last year but to be considered an elite quarterback, he will have to do far better in the future.
#1: America's Quarterback
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For more than four decades the Cowboys have been billed as “America’s Team” and the attention will turn directly to the most prominent spot on any football team: quarterback. The Cowboys are the biggest lightning rod in the NFL, people either love them or hate them.
For that reason, how often do broadcasters say that “the NFL is better when the Cowboys are good”? Well, Dallas’ current Super Bowl drought is the longest since the Super Bowl began and most people agree that in order to get back, Romo will be the one to lead them there.
If non-Dallas fans really “love to hate the Cowboys” they will love to see them playing in a Super Bowl….just so they can lose. That wishful thinking convinces many that Romo will get the job done.
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