In a 32-team league, a player who ranks among the top 8 at his position is in the top 25% of the league. The following stats are adjusted for era, meaning that a player in a 16-team league must have ranked in the top 4, for example.

Romo will finish this season ranked among the league's top 8 in passer rating. (Currently, he's 4th) In his career, he's had enough attempts to qualify for a ranking in the league's passing categories five times (2006-09, 2011). All five times he's finished 8th or higher in the category of passer rating.

This degree of consistency is so rare that Romo becomes only the 10th player in the history of the NFL to rank among the top 8 passers (or top 25% for any era) in at least five consecutive qualifying seasons. Manning and Young did it eight straight times. Three other players did it six straight times.

Peyton Manning (8) 2002-2009
Steve Young (8) 1991-98
Sammy Baugh (6) 1940-45
Joe Montana (6) 1980-85
Dan Fouts (6) 1978-83
Fran Tarkenton (5) 1972-76
Roger Staubach (5) 1975-79
Dan Marino (5) 1983-87
Troy Aikman (5) 1991-95
Tony Romo (5) 2006-09, 2011

8 Hall of Famers, Manning, and Romo. On that list, only Romo's streak is still going.

It's not easy to string together five top-8 seasons in a row. Unitas, Elway, and Favre never had five in a row. Brady and Brees have never had more than two in a row.

Also, unlike those other QB's, Romo's never ranked below the top 8 for a season, not even once. How rare is it to rank among the top 25% passers in ALL of your first 5 qualifying seasons? Here's the complete list of the players who've done it in all of their first FOUR qualifying seasons:

Joe Montana 6
Dan Marino 5
Tony Romo 5*
Johnny Unitas 4
Otto Graham 4
Norm Van Brocklin 4
Aaron Rodgers 4*
*streak still active

That's five Hall of Famers, Rodgers, and Romo. And Romo is one broken clavicle away from being at the top of that list already.

Romo has completed five seasons as a starter, and finished in the league's top 25% in passer rating every time. Next year would make six. If that's so easy to do, how come the only QB who's ever done it is named Joe Montana?