Tony Romo: Why the Dallas Quarterback Is the NFL's Biggest Fraud

Tony Romo may be one of the most polarizing quarterbacks in the NFL.

This season, he has taken fire for his initially lackluster play, but also has lead the Cowboys to a comeback victory in San Francisco after having to leave the game due to an injury that was later revealed to be broken ribs and a punctured lung.  

But just today, he was not able to score in the 4th quarter against the Detroit Lions, while they rattled off 17 unanswered points to take the game 34-30. It was a huge meltdown in front of 78,000 unhappy fans in Arlington.

Romo has always been in the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks in terms of passer rating and other important stats (he holds a career passer rating of 95.5, good for fourth all-time). He's been selected to three Pro Bowls, and his Dallas teams can regularly be seen in the playoffs.

However, he has a reputation for choking in pressure situations. In his first playoff appearance in 2007, he botched the hold for the game-winning field goal against the Seattle Seahawks. While it was unusual for the starting quarterback to also hold for kickers, it does not change the fact that Romo ruined the Cowboys' chance to advance.

The next year, Romo again was responsible for ruining a chance for Dallas to advance. Facing the eventual-champion New York Giants, he threw away the Cowboys' last chance to take the game, with a red zone interception.

Follow these miscues with a 44-6 loss to the Eagles in a de facto December 2008 playoff game, and three fumbles against the Vikings that sealed a loss in 2010. The Vikes would advance to the NFC Championship game that year.

Plagued by injury in the 2010 season, everyone thought 2011 would be a bounce back year for both Romo and the Cowboys, but here they sit at 2-2 after another heartbreaking loss. Should the Cowboys make the playoffs this year, history has shown us that you shouldn't expect heroics from Tony Romo.