Tony Romo: Similarities of Dallas Cowboys QB to Dirk Nowitzki Hard to Ignore

Before Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was experiencing something of a rebirth.

Whereas he had always been known as a spineless choke artist, people were suddenly viewing him as a born winner with a very strong backbone.

This new reputation held true for one half against the Lions. Then Romo threw three interceptions in the second half. The first two were returned for touchdowns and the third set up Detroit's game-winning touchdown. The Cowboys lost 34-30.

Just like that, Romo was back to being a spineless choke artist. His back, spineless as it may be, could probably use a nice pat.

Or maybe Romo could use some words of wisdom. Lucky for him, he got them from an unlikely source in Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki:

Heck, easy for Nowitzki to say. He just won his first NBA championship after more than a decade of toil, and he did it while shutting up every last one of his critics. He can get away with saying just about anything he wants at this point.

Still, you can't argue that Nowitzki doesn't have a point (my apologies for the double negative). Instead of paying his critics any mind, Romo should indeed tune them out and keep working.

To boot, it's hard to imagine these words of wisdom coming from a more perfect source, even it if is an unlikely one. If there is anybody in the sports world who can relate to the trials and tribulations of Tony Romo, it's Dirk Nowitzki.

Before he led the Mavs to victory in thew NBA Finals, Nowitzki's career was largely defined by his ability to light up the stat sheet. Beyond that, though, the consensus was that he wasn't capable of doing much else—least of all winning.

To make matters worse, he had to put up with Dallas fans and the local media.

Romo is similar to Nowitzki in both respects. He's always been pretty good in terms of putting yards and points on the board, but winning the big game is not exactly his forte.

The fans and the media let him know this constantly, and I think it's safe to say they're much harder on Romo than they ever were on Nowitzki.

There is only one thing Romo can do to shut them up, and that's win. Just like Nowitzki.

Alas, the key difference between the two is that it's much, much harder for one man to win a football game than it is for one man to win a basketball game. Basketball is oftentimes a one-man sport, and football is pretty much never a one-man sport.

Translation: Romo is going to have a much tougher time silencing his critics than Nowitzki had silencing his own.

But hey, a little encouragement can't hurt.