So what's the media talking about this fine Monday morning, one day after the Cowboys vaulted to the top of the NFC East?
Taking a spin around the news it looks like a couple of stories are dominating the conventional wisdom. The first is Tony Romo and the way he gutted out a win on Sunday.
BTB regular AmosM pointed me to this Don Banks article, which expresses more eloquently what I thought about Romo's play than I did in my own post.
Those are exactly my thoughts, and close to my words from my post late last night. Romo didn't have his best numbers but when it mattered, he won. Nobody puts up gaudy numbers every single week, and we needed to see Romo play a game and win it when things weren't as easy as his previous starts. We got that on Sunday.
It's not like Romo played badly, but he's set his own bar so high, that a modest week by him is considered struggling.
Jason Witten on Romo:
Romo himself says the Giants were able to do some things to get him off his game, and he was scrambling back there a good part of the day.
Mac Engel discussed the same theme. The offense wasn't clicking on all cylinders for most of the game, but in the 4th quarter, where legends are made, Romo made plays.
In that drive, he completed five of six passes for 49 yards, ran once for 10 yards and was 3-for-3 on third downs. He completed passes to three receivers.
Clutch. He is the guy who sinks the 8-ball and takes the money.
Terry Glenn agrees:
And that is?
"Greatness," Glenn said. "Coming down to the wire, having that composure and poise in the huddle, he really did it for us. He made that throw to [Jason] Witten, and it did it for us."
Winning ugly is a step every QB must take. Romo's game wasn't ugly, but it wasn't a DaVinci or a Rembrandt like he was painting before. But he still won, and he did it in the 4th quarter on the road and in the division. Romo took a big step forward in his maturation level yesterday.
Gil LeBreton picked up on the same theme I did about Parcells being Vegas-lucky right now.
"Between Romo and Gramatica, everything he's doing seems to be right."
Parcells is living right, whether he's a genius or is getting lucky, he's got the golden touch right now.
By the way, Gramatica's new Cowboys jersey bears the number 7.
Craps baby, everyone wins!
Colishaw mentions a play that made my heart stop for a full three seconds. Late in the 4th quarter, we were driving the ball and Romo slung a quick out to Patrick Crayton. Gibril Wilson flashed into the picture and I knew that ball was going the other way for 7. The whole game flashed before my eyes. But Wilson only tipped the ball and Crayton made a big catch. Romo says he saw it all happening:
OK, maybe he is that good. But maybe he's a little lucky, too.
Yeah, that was the difference between losing and winning. I don't know either if he was lucky or good on that play, but he did get away with it.
Last word on Romo playing tough when it mattered:
That's why the Cowboys own a two-game advantage on the Giants and are in real position to secure a playoff home game, possibly even a bye.
"He didn't have his best day," coach Bill Parcells said of his quarterback. "But he got us down the field when it counted. That's all I'm going to say about him right now."
Let's give some love to the other big story; the diminutive one with the big leg.
Gramatica's just happy to be here:
"It's been a rough couple of years for me," the journeyman said, "being out all last year and then not making any teams this year."
Let's give Clarence Hill the final words.
This is what winning looks like: