Maybe it was the pressure consistently in his face. Maybe it was Denver's outstanding secondary which, for some reason, hasn't been praised ad nauseum on ESPN by now. Maybe, just maybe, it was the altitude, or that immoderately sophomoric "IN--COM--PLETE!" chant the fans seem to enjoy so much out in Denver.
Whatever it was, Tony Romo looked bad, today; JaMarcus Russell bad.
Dallas ran the ball 25 times opposed to 42 pass attempts, which might seem like poor play-calling; and maybe it was. But the run wasn't the impressive run we saw against New York or Carolina. The obvious solution, for Dallas, was our two-time Pro Bowl quarterback. Only problem was, our two-time Pro Bowl quarterback was beyond inaccurate, and seemed wholly lost for most of the second half.
Romo will probably be blasted in the national media--which, besides snaring hot blondes, seems to be his greatest talent--for having two turnovers in the game. But neither of these turnovers, for all we know, were his fault. The fumble was caused by a completely unchecked Renaldo Hill; the interception came on what, in all likelihood, was a textbook case of miscommunication. That is, the box score may show that Romo was bad; but it will do so for all the wrong reasons.
The second half was an exhibition in inaccuracy for Romo, who missed big plays to Patrcick Crayton and Roy Williams when they were wide open or, in high school football vernacular, W.A.O.; he threw a high ball to Williams that resulted in the coachable receiver being exposed to a hard hit to the ribs, which resulted in him missing a play.
Maybe Denver's defense is just amazing; okay. But these were--or should have been, more accurately--easy throws, for any quarterback being payed to play football.
Throughout the first half, Jason Garrett had seemed shy, with respect to taking a shot downfield. Perhaps in the second half, we saw exactly why.
