Dallas Cowboys: Top 10 Reasons Tony Romo Isn't Overrated and May Be Underrated

Last week when I was scouring the recently written articles on Bleacher Report, I came across an article written by Chargers Featured Columnist Todd Kaufmann which listed Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo as the third most overrated player in the NFL.

The next day, I saw a poll on the B/R home page that asked the question, “Who do you think is the most overrated player in the NFL?”

Not surprisingly, Tony Romo was winning (or losing?) the poll.

As a Dallas Cowboys fan, this infuriated me.

But as a football fan in general, this made me really think about why people seem to believe that Tony Romo is “overrated.”

Unlike the majority of people who ramble incoherently about players being “overrated,” I’ve decided to take the time to explain why Tony Romo is not only not overrated, but may in fact be underrated by the national media and fans alike.

10. Winning Percentage

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MINNEAPOLIS - OCTOBER 17: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys walks off the field following the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Mall of America Field on October 17, 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings defeated the Cowboys 24-21.

Although I never like to put wins (or losses) solely on a quarterback, it seems that there is a good percentage of people who seem to believe that winning percentage is the most important thing to consider when judging a quarterback.

Well how does a 38-17 record sound? A career winning percentage of 69 percent puts him approximately 11 wins per regular season—good enough for a playoff every year in the NFC.

The winning percentage of 69 also puts Tony Romo ahead of legends like John Elway, Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas, Steve Young and Kurt Warner. It is also better than current stars Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and better than any quarterback to have begun his career since Romo took over in Dallas.

9. Completion Percentage

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

MINNEAPOLIS - OCTOBER 17: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys drops back to pass in the first quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at Mall of America Field on October 17, 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Completion percentage is an obvious, but important statistic that can help show us the accuracy of the quarterback in question as well as his relationship and timing with his receivers.

With a career completion percentage of 64, Tony Romo currently ranks seventh all time in that category.

Though players generally trail off in this statistic over time, Romo has established an excellent base to begin with throughout his first five seasons as the Cowboys’ starter and although he isn’t considered by many to be one of the league’s most accurate passers, this statistic tells us that he is not only one of the best currently playing; but one of the best ever.

8. Passing Yards Per Attempt

Bob Levey/Getty Images

HOUSTON - AUGUST 28: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys calls out a play at the line of scrimmage during a football game against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on August 28, 2010 in Houston, Texas. Houston won 23-7. (Photo by Bob Levey/

This statistic goes hand-in-hand with the previous completion percentage statistic.

When I tell someone that Tony Romo is 7th all-time in completion percentage, their immediate response is usually, “Well that’s because he dumps the ball off all the time.”

False.

Romo’s yards per pass attempt shows us that not only does Romo pass the ball down the field often, he actually does it better than almost anyone in league history.

With 8.1 yards per attempt, Tony Romo currently ranks fourth all time.

By comparison, “gun-slinging” quarterbacks like Brett Favre and John Elway, who both average 7.1 yards per attempt over their careers, are a full yard per attempt behind Romo.

7. Touchdown Pass Percentage / Interception Percentage

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ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 9: Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a touchdown by running back Tashard Choice #23 against the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2010 NFC wild-card playoff game at Cowboys Stadium on January 9, 2010 in Arlington, Texas.

One of the most popular criticisms of Tony Romo is that he “throws too many interceptions” and that you need to “take the bad with the good” if he’s your quarterback.

Quite frankly, almost every team in the league would love to have the touchdown and interception percentages that Romo possesses.

With only 3.0 percent of his passes being intercepted, Romo is tied with first ballot Hall of Famers Dan Marino and Troy Aikman—neither of whom would be criticized for throwing “too many interceptions.”

That number is also better than John Elway, Kurt Warner, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, and Johnny Unitas—just to name a few. Again, where are these players’ critics? Where are the people saying that these quarterbacks “can’t win because they throw too many interceptions?”

Better yet is Romo’s touchdown percentage. With an unbelievable 5.7 percent of his passes going for touchdowns, Tony Romo is the best of any active quarterback in that category.

If I’m building a team and can choose a quarterback who throws for a league-best percentage of touchdowns while also throwing fewer interceptions than almost all of the elite quarterbacks in NFL history, I’ll take it in a heartbeat.

6. Quarterback Passer Rating

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ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 09: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys during the 2010 NFC wild-card playoff game at Cowboys Stadium on January 9, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Quarterback passer rating was created as a way to kind of lump together all of a quarterback’s passing statistics into one easy-to-read number. Though the way this number is calculated is confusing and its value debated, it is still considered to be one of the most telling statistics of a quarterback.

Romo’s current career passer rating stands at an impressive 95.4. This number puts him fifth all time and better than every Hall of Fame quarterback in league history other than Steve Young’s 96.8.

By comparison, here are some of the quarterback ratings of a few of the league’s most legendary quarterbacks:

Tom Brady—93.5

Troy Aikman—81.6

Warren Moon—80.9

John Elway—79.9

Johnny Unitas—78.2

Terry Bradshaw—70.9

Even in 2010, with the Cowboys currently struggling with a 1-4 record, Tony Romo has managed to keep his quarterback rating at a very high 93.6. The team may be struggling, but Romo remains an elite quarterback through it all.

5. Too Much Blame in Losses

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SEATTLE - JANUARY 06: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys sits dejected after fumbling the field goal snap in the fourth quarter of the NFC Wild Card Playoff Game against the Seattle Seahawks on January 6, 2007 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washi

As I said before, I hate to put wins or losses on a quarterback, and the reason is simple—football is a team sport. In fact, it’s the ultimate team sport.

No one football player has ever won a game for his team. It simply doesn’t work that way. There may be one play that a player makes that is absolutely amazing, but without his teammates, the play never happens.

Simply put, blaming one player for a loss or giving one player all the credit for a win is completely preposterous in any sport, but especially football.

So why, then, do so many people blame Tony Romo for the Cowboys’ losses, particularly in the playoffs?

The fumbled snap on the field goal against the Seahawks is really the only play that should be considered a “choke job.” Even that is pretty unfair, considering holding kicks isn’t really something that a starting NFL quarterback should be doing. With the sweat and grease that build up on a quarterback’s hands throughout the game, there’s a reason that starters don’t hold for kicks—it’s just not a safe thing to do.

At least the fumbled hold is one that I understand, though. You can easily see that Romo fumbled the snap and the Cowboys should have won that game.

But the other two playoff losses that the Cowboys have suffered with Romo at quarterback have simply not been his fault.

In the 2007 playoffs, Romo and the Cowboys lost to the eventual-Super Bowl champion New York Giants. After sweeping the Giants in the regular season, the Cowboys were favored to beat them for a third time—but that didn’t happen. Instead, the Giants sealed the game by intercepting Romo in the end zone near the end of the game.

On the surface, this sounds like another “Romo choke job,” but there is far too much being neglected in this quick analysis.

For example, the biggest play of the game may have actually been a pass that Romo threw to Patrick Crayton on the previous drive that could not have been defended more poorly by the Giants defense. With mere minutes left on the clock and the ball near mid-field, Romo fired a pass over the middle to a wide open Patrick Crayton who may very well have gone untouched for a touchdown to take the lead—that is, if he would have caught the pass.

Instead, Crayton dropped the ball which led to practically unattainable 3rd and 20 and an eventual punt.

Then on the final drive after driving the Cowboys down the field in the two-minute drill, Romo faced a 4th-and-11 with 16 seconds left on the clock. This is when the final interception was thrown, as Romo simply threw the ball into the end zone in an essential Hail Mary type play, as there was simply not the guarantee that there would be enough time to pick up a first round and run another play before time expired.

What more can Romo do in these situations than hit his receiver in the hands for a should-be huge play, and then give his team a chance at a touchdown with practically no time left?

The hate Romo received for this game was absolutely disgusting. The national media should be ashamed of themselves for blaming Romo for that loss. Did he make some bad plays throughout the course of the game? Sure. Everyone does. But when the game was on the line, Romo did make the throws that gave his team a chance to win—they just failed to catch them.

4. Pocket Presence

Perhaps the most undervalued asset that Romo possesses is his ability to sense pressure coming, buy time, step up and make great throws.

He’s not the quickest quarterback in the league and he doesn’t have the fastest release, but the way that Romo navigates the pocket is something that simply cannot be taught. Other than maybe the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, Tony Romo may be the very best in the league at avoiding sacks and making big plays down the field.

Despite what can only be considered to be a slightly above average offensive line during his tenure in Dallas, Romo has been sacked on only 4.89 percent of his pass attempts. This puts him sixth in that statistic among active quarterbacks and 19th all time.

His ability to not get sacked has helped the Cowboys avoid many long-yardage situations (even though they seem to still end up getting in those situations by being penalized).

With 0:03 seconds left on the clock, on the last play of the game against the Washington Redskins in Week 1 of the 2010 season, watch as Romo avoids the pressure and makes an excellent throw for what should have been a game-winning touchdown pass if it wasn’t called back due to holding by right tackle Alex Barron.

Many would argue that Redskins defender Brian Orakpo would have made the sack if Barron didn’t hold, but the way Romo steps up makes a play on the move is impressive nonetheless. Most quarterbacks feel that pressure coming and simply try to get rid of the ball. Williams was not open when the pressure came on Romo and he needed to buy time to make a play down the field in order for the Cowboys to have a chance of winning the game.

Judging by Romo’s history of avoiding sacks, it’s not out of the question at all that he makes a similar move and avoids being touched by Orakpo entirely even if Barron doesn’t hold on the play.

3. 4th Quarter Statistics

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NEW ORLEANS - DECEMBER 19: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates after throwing a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints at the Louisiana Superdome on December 19, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Image

Too many people have the misconception that Romo “cannot perform in the clutch,” but Romo’s fourth quarter “clutch time” statistics say otherwise.

2010 4th Quarter Statistics

43/68, 529 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT, 83.5 QB Rating

2009 4th Quarter Statistics

100/157, 1,316 yards, 8 TD, 2 INT, 101.8 QB Rating

2008 4th Quarter Statistics

69/109, 946 yards, 9 TD, 1 INT, 114.7 QB Rating

2007 4th Quarter Statistics

73/120, 1,072 yards, 10 TD, 7 INT, 93.5 QB Rating

2006 4th Quarter Statistics

68/100, 949 yards, 4 TD, 4 INT, 95.0 QB Rating

Total 4th Quarter Statistics

353/554, 4812 yards, 34 TD, 17 INT, 99.0 QB Rating

Not only are these numbers great, but they are actually better than the already excellent numbers Romo puts up throughout the rest of the game.

It’s unbelievable that NFL “experts” are paid to call Tony Romo “overrated” and say that he “can’t perform in the clutch” when he has been incredibly successful over the course of his career in the 4th quarter of games.

2. He Will Go Down As the Best Quarterback in Dallas Cowboys History

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ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 13: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium on December 13, 2009 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

As if the statistics alone don’t show it enough, Tony Romo may go down as the best quarterback in the history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise.

Though people are going to groan about Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach being way better than Romo, their statistical outputs aren’t even close to the pace Romo is on.

Even if Romo never wins a Super Bowl, his statistical output alone should certainly have him in the conversation of being the very best quarterback in the history of the Cowboys.

A lot of critics complained that Peyton Manning was too much of a “choke” artist to win the Super Bowl, but once “he” did it, all of that hate stopped.

If mediocre quarterbacks like Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Jim McMahon and even Eli Manning can win the big game, there’s absolutely no reason to believe that Tony Romo and the Cowboys can’t eventually get their act together and do it.

If that happens, there will be no more debate about who is the best Cowboys quarterback ever—it’ll be Romo—and it won’t be close.

1. Too Many People Dislike Him for Him to Be Overrated

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ARLINGTON, TX - JANUARY 09: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a 34-14 win against the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2010 NFC wild-card playoff game at Cowboys Stadium on January 9, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Mart

Perhaps the biggest reason that Tony Romo is NOT overrated is because it seems that the vast majority of fans seem to believe that he isn’t a good quarterback.

How, exactly, can a player be “overrated” when so many people call him “overrated?” Doesn’t a player have to be rated highly by the majority of fans to be “overrated?” If he’s not rated highly, then the term “overrated” really can’t apply.

The fact is that most fans dislike Tony Romo because he’s the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys—a team that they’ve been programmed to hate—and they don’t want to cheer for anyone who is a member of that team, especially the quarterback.

All of the things that I’ve mentioned in this article point to one thing—Tony Romo is an elite quarterback. He’s not overrated and judging by how many people seem to think he isn’t a good quarterback, he’s actually vastly underrated.

If fans stopped looking at Romo as “the Dallas Cowboys quarterback who I hate,” and simply looked at his achievements, his statistical output, and his overall talent; there wouldn’t be any room for them to call him overrated.

Tony Romo can be the quarterback of my football team any day and I’m proud to say that he is the underrated quarterback of my Dallas Cowboys.