Post by Sideshow Bob on Oct 3, 2011 15:46:14 GMT -6
www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7052185/upon-initial-review-week-4
Before you call for Tony Romo's head, you should look a little closer
by Bill Barnwell
What's the narrative about Tony Romo this Sunday? Over the course of four weeks, Romo's gone from embarrassing choker to comeback artist to gritty grinder to, well, embarrassing choker again. The Cowboys blew their second big lead in four weeks on Sunday, allowing the Lions to come back via a disastrous second half, and the blame has been firmly pinned on the Dallas quarterback. He deserves better. Blame Romo for his three interceptions, but let's make this clear: He didn't lose this game for the Cowboys.
Let's start with the idea that Romo somehow gifted the Lions 14 points by having two of his three interceptions returned for touchdowns. Go watch those plays again. It's one thing when a quarterback makes a terrible throw to the sideline and it gets jumped by an eager defender. That's a throw that invites a pick-six. The two interceptions that were returned for scores were both disappointing throws, but neither of them were totally on Romo. And if you watch the returns, you'll note that Bobby Carpenter and Chris Houston run through virtually the entire Cowboys offense en route to the score. The Houston pick came on a quick slant where Laurent Robinson quit on his route. There's nothing about those interceptions that forced the Cowboys to avoid making tackles, and assigning Romo all of the blame for those plays because the Cowboys didn't tackle is beyond unfair.
Historically, no quarterback has shown an ability to prevent pick-sixes or a propensity for consistently producing them. Even the great ones have games like that — Peyton Manning threw four interceptions and had two returned for scores by the Chargers last season. It's a fluke that those two picks resulted in touchdowns, not a reflection on Romo.
When the Cowboys weren't turning the ball over on offense, of course, it wasn't like Romo was sitting at cornerback and watching Calvin Johnson and Brandon Pettigrew take over the game. During the second half, the Cowboys simply had no answer for the two Detroit star receivers, with Johnson memorably catching a Matthew Stafford lob into triple coverage in the end zone for a touchdown before later picking up the game-winner on a fade. After holding Stafford to 88 yards and an interception in the first half, the Cowboys let Stafford go 12-of-20 for 152 yards with two scores and no picks. They also had a blown coverage that left Johnson open for what would have been an easy score, only for Stafford to somehow overthrow, probably out of shock more than anything else. The same Cowboys pass rush that took over in the fourth quarter of the Redskins game in Week 3 didn't sack Stafford once all game.
Romo deserves credit for what he did in the first half with Robinson and a gimpy Dez Bryant at receiver. With one of the league's most fearsome pass rushes staring down an inexperienced offensive line, Romo was 19-of-24 for 195 yards with two touchdowns. At least one of the incompletions was dropped by the consistently awful Martellus Bennett. And that's all with a rib that's still cracked.
The reality is that the Cowboys could easily be 4-0 or 0-4 with a few small breaks going in either direction for them in any of their four games. Romo has been inconsistent, a mix of big plays with some poor decision-making, injury limitations, and communication issues with his receivers. If you truly believe that Romo is holding back the Cowboys and that they lost on Sunday because he blew the game, you're kidding yourself. He's carrying them.
