22
Sep
2009
Ex-Cowboys piling on the Anti-Romo train
By ArtieFufkin
Oh Snap!
In the wake of his 3-interception performance in Sunday’ loss to the New York Giants, QB Tony Romo has become the whipping boy of fans, media and ex-Cowboys alike. The backlash against Romo and his backward-hat wearing-fratboy-failure-in-the-big-game routine has been swift and justifiably harsh.
First, Terrell Owens Twitter-slapped Romo on Monday with the post in the above banner pic. Juvenile, self-serving and expected. Yawn. But then, legendary Cowboys RB and Miller Lite silent pitchman Tony Dorsett went on Fox Radio and had this to say about the hope of the Dallas franchise:
“Well, for one thing, I don’t know why on God’s earth Tony Romo has been anointed a superstar in the National Football League. Tony is very young in his career. Not to say you can’t be young in your career and be a superstar because you’ve got one up there in Minnesota in Adrian Peterson. But the thing is this: you have a guy who hasn’t done much and quarterbacks in the National Football League, most of them go through this growing curve. He hasn’t gone through that growing curve, but he was anointed this great player all of a sudden. Now he’s having to live up to that.
But, he’s a good player who’s still learning how to play in the National Football League and I think the media has given him too much credit for doing nothing. He hasn’t done anything really in the National Football League to deserve all the recognition and visibility that he’s gotten so far. And now he’s going to have to live with how they treat the quarterback in the National Football League whether you’re a young quarterback or you’re a superstar or you’re not.”
Ouch. But Dorsett is completely right. And his criticism actually means something, because he’s a Hall of Famer, and not a me-first pinhead like T.O. Dallas fans had better hope Romo takes some of this to heart and starts focusing on winning games instead of believing his own hype. As is stands now, he’s got a long way to go before he’ll be remembered for anything more than fumbling a FG snap and dating Jessica Simpson.
Now I suddenly have an urge to watch Tony Dorsett highlights. And maybe drink a cold Miller Lite.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
Tony Dorsett Highlights
Tony Dorsett Miller Lite Commercial
Compare Romo’s stats to Aikman’s and Staubach’s at this point in their respective careers. His are better in nearly every respect– which makes his inability to perform in big games all the more frustrating.
Is he better than they are? No. Has he won anything yet? No. He is a better than average quarterback that is still learning how to win. He still has the tools to quarterback a team to the Super Bowl, but never will unless and until he is held accountable for making bad decisions. I saw more accountability from him after the Giants game, but I still don’t see Phillips holding him accountable. You can express confidence in a player while at the same time say that his turnovers are holding the team back.
Too early in the season for everyone to be killing the Cowboys. Not to early in the season to question whether Romo can learn from his mistakes. This is a big year for him to prove that he can and he is off to a lousy start.