Cowboys' Tony Romo right to strut into playoffs with MVP bravado
ARLINGTON, Texas – Tony Romo emerged from the locker room Sunday with a little of that Texas swagger on his chest.
Not figuratively. His choice was something more literal following the 42-7 face-stomp of the Indianapolis Colts. Slipping through a doorway afterward, the T-shirt worn by the Dallas Cowboys quarterback flaunted block letters:
"COWBOYS RUN THE EAST".
That's a fact. The New York Giants tripped at the starting line; the Washington Redskins devoured themselves from within and the Philadelphia Eagles fell into a tailspin. The playoff-bound Cowboys don't just run the NFC East this season. They own it.
For this franchise, it's a significant step forward. The Cowboys look as complete as they ever have, drawing forth memories of the 1990s: stout offensive line, bell-cow running back, opportunistic and speedy defense. Team owner Jerry Jones is smiling. Seemingly everyone is in line for contract extensions this offseason.
Then you see Romo in that shirt, with a little bit of swagger, and you think, maybe, maybe this is the season he does it. Maybe this is the season he finally reverses that career-long nag: Own the regular season, rent the playoffs.
"As we go into the tournament, we're going to have as good of quarterback play as any other team in the NFL," Jones said of Romo. "I think [he's] there. I'm going to say it one more time – somehow, someway he needs to have a Super Bowl by his name."
This is the question nipping at Romo. It's why the NFL world at large can rarely praise him without a qualifier. His numbers are elite, but… His record is excellent, but… He's one of the all-time greatest Cowboys, yet…
He's the NFL's Charlie Brown, annually zeroing in to kick that football each December. And when it looks like he might … he doesn't. No sustained playoff run. No Super Bowl. No supreme stamp of approval.
Which might be why most everyone outside of Dallas has hardly noticed Romo's superb 2014 season. After Sunday, his quarterback rating (114.4) and completion rate (70.3 percent) lead the NFL. Despite playing one fewer game than his counterparts, his 32 touchdown passes tie him for fifth in the league and are within shouting distance of leader Andrew Luck (38). And depending on whether he plays in the season finale, his eight interceptions have a chance to be his lowest total of any season he played at least 15 games.
"I'm a better player," Romo said. "There is no question that I'm much better now than I've ever been for a multitude of reasons."
His mechanics have certainly improved. He has shown more toughness. He doesn't recklessly wheel and deal in spurts – an early career trend that earned him both positive and negative comparisons to Brett Favre. But what sticks out this season is his patience. With the team that surrounds him, he doesn't feel the need to take the chances he has in the past. He has shown the willingness to lay back and pick his spots without having to pile up 300-yard games.
And Sunday, dueling against Luck? Romo was nearly perfect: 18-of-20 passing for 218 yards and four touchdowns. As if someone reached into one of Troy Aikman's best seasons and plagiarized a stat line.
"The way he's played this year is the way great quarterbacks in this league have played for a long time," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "That's how Troy played."
Or as Dez Bryant put it more succinctly, "I told you all from Day 1, he's a beast. I told you he's a warrior. I know a lot of people don't like listening, but hopefully they'll start. Tony, he's doing what Tony do."
Tony Romo 2014 Passing Yards and Touchdowns By Game | FindTheBest
He's doing what he does, and yet we never hear Romo's name in the league MVP conversation. It's all about New England's Tom Brady or Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers or even Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt. Are those players more deserving? Possibly. Does Romo deserve to be in the running? Consider Dallas was still in play for a top-two NFC seed as late as Sunday night, why not?
Maybe it's because running back DeMarco Murray is pounding home his career year. Or because wideout Bryant draws away media attention. Or maybe it's because we've become so accustomed to the negative Romo storyline. About how his career has been defined by choking in the postseason, or his back surgery or how Jones was so enamored with Johnny Manziel this past offseason.
History suggests it's likely the latter. Rarely does Romo get his due, largely because it has been so much easier to write off Dallas' failures as all being a function of his mistakes (which, in reality, have often been him failing to accomplish a bailout of others).
Despite guiding one of the cornerstone franchises in the league – and there is no NFL spotlighting shining brighter than in Dallas – Romo's impact on the Cowboys is largely overlooked outside his city. Sunday, for example, he became the all-time passing yardage leader in the team's history. And he already owns the remaining trio of passing stats that matter most: touchdown passes, quarterback rating and completion percentage.
In that vein, he's been better than Aikman. Better than Roger Staubach. Better than "Dandy" Don Meredith. But while he's in that group, he's not of that group. No Lombardi Trophy, no late-game playoff heroics, no chance at securing mythical status in the heart of Texas.
This might be where it all changes – own the regular season, own the division, own the playoffs and own the Super Bowl ring. If the Cowboys can finally put that together, the swagger on Romo's chest and his esteem among the NFL masses will have nothing to do with his T-shirt.
