The Tony Romo Paradox

Being the quarterback of America’s Team is no easy job. No position in the most popular sport in the United States of America is more scrutinized, analyzed and criticized. The Dallas Cowboys have had more than their fair share of great QB’s, several of whom have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. As fans, you could easily argue that we’re spoiled by the long history of outstanding play by Dallas’ QB’s over decades of record-setting individual and team performances. As a result, the bar is set very high for anyone who dares take up the mantle of QB for our beloved Cowboys. 

One thing I often find interesting is the paradox of the position. If your stats look great, but your team doesn’t, then you’re not a member of the truly elite QB club. The fact is that the performance of QB’s, more than any other position, is viewed through the lens of their TEAM’s performance. Matt Schaub can lead the league in passing, but he’s not going to be remembered as anything special unless he either has a dozen more of those 4700 yard seasons in him or he wins a freakin’ Super Bowl. It’s not MY reality, it’s THE reality. In the same way that some NFL fans deride Troy Aikman’s accomplishments because he lacked the gaudy numbers of some of his contemporaries (no one will deny he benefitted from having an outstanding O-line and played with supremely talented players and coaches) I reject the views of people who say stats should be juxtaposed with, and viewed in the same context as, performance as a leader, game manager and most important, a winner. I understand their contentions, but I just plainly and openly reject them. Now, I doubt anyone would say Dan Marino wasn’t a better QB than Trent Dilfer, but those are the examples of people who need to be right more so than needing to be correct. Marino was far and away the better QB, but the comparison is no more than a stupid and foolish attempt at a straw man. So please, either come up with new material or don’t waste your time.

Let me be perfectly clear. I don’t care if Romo passes for 100 yards this year or 10,000 yards. I want him to lead the Cowboys to the Bling. I try to forget seasons that end in anything less than a Bling. I pay a lot of money to fly to Dallas every year to watch the games and drop a chunk of change on Cowboys gear (you should see my closet…I could open a Cowboys store). In return, I want a Bling. Nothing more, nothing less. Is that asking for too much? Yes, but that’s the beauty of being a Dallas fan. I’m not satisfied with just a playoff win. I’m not okay with an appearance in the post-season. It is this that separates me from Chargers fans and Redskins fans and (say it baby!!!) Eagles fans. 

I have been called out for being openly critical of the play of our current franchise QB. Maybe…maybe not. I will say that, in the past, I’ve written what turned out to be some controversial posts about what I perceived to be plusses and minuses of Romo’s game and where I thought he needed to improve his decision making and management skills, both on and off the field. Keep in mind, however, that my fixation isn’t upon anything other than what the team and, in this particular case, Romo, needs to do to win it all.

Just for clarity’s sake, here are the three most salient posts to help jog any memories that need jogging.

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2009/8/12/986563/romo-de-constructed

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2009/4/4/822663/will-the-real-tony-romo-please

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2009/1/10/716215/no-spin-zone-romo

Deep down inside, I like to think that Romo reads some of my posts (no, I didn’t ask him at the Brees golf tournament) and takes them to heart. After all, I think he has taken it upon himself to improve on some of the things I have tossed out there. While I don’t think that working on throwing at different arm angles is necessarily the best use of his time and energies, he’s obviously gotten better in specific areas which I had criticized him about.  This became plainly evident, especially last year, as he displayed an understanding that it’s not always the great throws he made, but sometimes the crappy throw he chose NOT to make, that would propel Dallas to it’s rightful place on top of the NFL world.

So, having said all of that, let me outline a few areas worth noting about our Mr. Romo and what I think he needs to do to lead this team to the top.

Stay Cool When You See Red

Romo’s production in the Red Zone (totally hate that name…hate it, hate it, hate it!) hasn’t been what it could be. He’s got a bevy of tall targets to throw to. He’s got two and a half capable tight ends. He’s got (supposedly) a Left Tackle who won’t get called for a false start at the 9 yard line on 3rd and 2. He’s got several years under his belt with the same playbook and he’s got the rookie WR with the biggest set of mitts the NFL has ever seen on a guy who runs a 4.5 forty. In 2009, Romo passed for 4483 yards and Dallas ran for another 2103 putting the team #2 in YPG on offense. But Dallas scored a meager 22.6 PPG last year which put them 14th in the NFL (really?). While I’m not a believer in statistics telling the tale, it is interesting to note that Dallas also had a Red Zone TD % of 52.6 last year and that was also 14th in the NFL (really). That, ladies and gentlemen, is a travesty with the volume of talent the Cowboys possess on offense. Romo needs to take this opportunity to do what Troy Aikman did and be the kind of field general that won’t tolerate mental lapses, including his own, and become the fiery presence in the huddle that can WILL them into the end zone when he has to. Yes, it’s a team game. No, one player can’t do it all. Yes, I still expect him to be able to do what needs to be done.

Ready, Set, G………………………………o?

Too often, Romo is associated with poor starts, and rightfully so. Anyone who watched all of the games from start to finish last year had to be unhappy with the way Romo’s early throws were behind receivers, floating high and generally erratic (take a look at the Tampa game in the first half if you want to scream your bloody head off). While you could make an argument that he improved, in almost every instance, as the game wore on, it’s simply inexcusable to start off as cold as Romo characteristically does (he’s outstanding late in games, but that’s neither here nor there). Now, I could say that some of this is attributable to Redball not helping Romo get into a rhythm early in games and creating some easy passes into the flat, bubble screens, etc. But in the end, Romo has to execute the plays that are called for the offense and deliver the ball accurately into the hands of the receiver. First quarter or fourth quarter, he has to be consistently on the money. Tony is blessed to have a complementary set of skill players unlike any other team in the NFL, which makes his slow starts even more infuriating. I don’t know if it’s a blood sugar issue or just that Romo needs a couple of series (quarters?) to get warmed up, but for the team to be able to control the tempo of the game without having to rely too heavily on its defense, Dallas needs to start more quickly. Put simply, that means Romo can’t wait until the 2nd half to get off. 

Over the Top

This offense can’t be a dominant one unless it finds new ways to deliver the ball deep downfield and Romo has to put the ball in the air on routes of more than 10-20 yards. Dallas had plenty of plays over 20 yards from scrimmage last year. The problem is that I could count on one hand those instances where the ball actually traveled that distance in the air (can you say, “New Orleans game”?). An overarching majority of our big plays came from busted tackles (thank you, Miles Austin) and short passes with good RAC yardage. Now none of my notes about Romo’s developmental areas are doable in a vacuum. First, he needs plays called that include 9 routes, stop and go’s, streaks and deep crossing routes. Next, he needs good pass blocking. Finally, he needs the receiver to get open. None of those things are on him. But if you go back and watch the games last year, you would find Romo looking away from the deep routes too early in the play, especially when pressure was not apparent. In his defense, he probably thought he was playing with a handicap given Roy Williams’ struggles, but even seam routes for Witten and Telly B, where they had separated from the defender, were clearly missed. Dallas’ ability to score more than the aforementioned mediocre 22.6 points per game in 2010 may depend largely on Romo’s ability to keep safeties from pinching up into the box. Defenses did exactly what I said they would do, and they forced Dallas to beat them over the top. Too often, we didn’t.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to call out Romo for “good behavior” in areas in which I’ve chided him in years prior. It’s true that Romo made some significant strides last year as a QB and as a leader. As I said, I’ve been (appropriately) critical of some boneheaded moves & decisions he has made in the past and it wouldn’t be fair if he didn’t get praise for the development he displayed last season.

Duck and Cover

Probably more than any other area, this was the most noticeable improvement that Romo made on the field. His decision making around the passes he chose NOT to throw were what really changed the face of the Cowboys offense. The unfortunate part of all this is that Romo took a beating back there. He was sacked a whopping 34 times in 2009 and some of those hits left Romo wobbly. Still, the evolution of all great QB’s included a defining moment where the light went on and the notion of not turning the ball over became more important than making the highlight reel play. Nothing, in my humble opinion, was more important to the team than that single solitary change in Romo’s approach. He deserves our praise here.

If You Ain’t the Lead Dog, the View Never Changes

I covered how Tony the QB improved a great deal. Of more interest to me personally, I observed how Tony the Leader seemed to grow up a bit in 2009 as well. There were moments during previous years when adversity would send Romo back to the bench with his head in his hands, despondent and non-communicative. That was not the case last year. In fact, I saw a guy who moved purposefully to the bench and immersed himself in the snapshots of the defense with his Offensive Coordinator and was really trying to figure out what he needed to do differently to get the team in position to score. Often times, that kind of personal development and maturation flies under the radar, but can be a catalyst as a QB takes the reins of not just the offense, but the entire team. I saw it happen with Elway, Aikman, Peyton, Phillip Rivers and now, with Tony. I don’t know how much the T.O. thing really affected Romo, but I said he wouldn’t become the QB he could be with T.O. dominating the foreground. This should be Tony Romo’s team and if he continues to mature as a leader, it certainly will be. 

TMZ Reports that Tony Romo was seen xxxxxx

Seriously, when was the last time you saw a story on Romo in Us Magazine, People, The Enquirer, on TMZ or E!News? I was one of the people who said that Romo can’t act like Vinnie Chase out with Turtle, E and Drama at the Club du Jour in Vegas or L.A. and still hope to avoid serious media scrutiny when things don’t go his way. The overall profile level of Romo’s has shrunken now that he’s not with Jessica, now that he is spending his Bye week studying film (on U.S. soil, no less) and now that his one vice seems to be golf. So I credit Romo for his off-the-field awareness and decision making. It’s a testament to the fact that he DOES take his job very seriously and that a $67 million contract doesn’t have to make you a dipstick. To those people who say golf is a distraction for him, I say you’re crazy. Considering the vices that some QB’s out there are wrestling with, I’m perfectly fine with 36 holes on a Sunday morning. Yup, perfectly fine.

So where are we? Well, as with any QB in the NFL, Tony has got his warts. He also has some pretty impressive abilities which he has been able to harness while becoming more of the team leader for an organization with big team goals and less so the ESPN Sportscenter highlight guy. I’ll restate the obvious. Romo’s legacy will not be measured by anything other than the Super Bowls he wins. While that wouldn’t be the case if he was the QB for Cincinnati or Jacksonville or Kansas City, it is because he is the QB for America’s most important and highest profile NFL franchise, our Dallas Cowboys. And no, I haven’t forgotten about the misery brought on by the stints from the likes of Quincy Carter, Chad Hutchinson and Ryan Leaf. But that is a non sequitur now. The two canvasses upon which the portrait of Tony Romo will eventually be painted are set. One already has Staubach and Aikman and Five Blings (the actual blings, not me) on there. The other has Don Meredith, Danny White, Steve Pelleur and others. The bar by which success is measured has been set high by his predecessors and he now has to figure out which group he belongs with.

If he wants to be mentioned in the same breath with Roger and Troy, he’ll need to continue to improve at a rapid pace. I believe he can do it. 

GO COWBOYS!