Tony Romo has taken a lot of undue heat in his career, and he's also had his fair share of deserved criticism for his failure to come through in big games, most notably a couple of those Week 17 win-and-you're-in games when he threw huge, late picks.
After last week's game, which saw Romo overcome an awful first half to lead the Cowboys back against one of the league's best defenses, the Romo haters should've all been silenced.
If there is any Romo hating going around today, they need to have their heads examined.
Romo was phenomenal on Sunday, on the road in an environment where opposing quarterbacks rarely succeed, much less win. Romo didn't get the win, though his signature postseason moment was robbed from him by an awful interpretation of an awful rule to overturn a ridiculous Dez Bryant catch that would've led to the Cowboys taking the lead with a few minutes remaining. But make no mistake, Romo was phenomenal.
Let this sink in for a moment: Prior to Sunday's game, quarterbacks had an all-time record of 68-0 in the postseason when posting a passer rating of 125.0 or better. Tony Romo posted a rating of 143.6 — well above that number — and lost to Aaron Rodgers, who posted a similar number turning that record from a perfect 68-0 to 69-1. And of course, in true Romo luck, he's the one.
How good was Romo on Sunday? Well, he had four incompletions all day and fought through some spells of pressure while playing with a torn ligament in his left ring finger and suffering a knee injury during the game. A little deeper digging into those incompletions shows just how great he was.
One was a flat-out drop from Jason Witten, who rarely does that. Another was on a designed screen pass to DeMarco Murray that broke down and resulted in Romo making the right decision and throwing the ball at his lineman's feet. Another was the fateful ending — the last offensive play of his season — when he threw a ball only Dez Bryant could catch. He caught it and then had it taken away by the referee.
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The worst of the four incompletions was a desperation heave to Terrance Williams after a bobbled snap threw off the rhythm of the play on third-and-1.
Romo was spectacular, and for his sake, you hope he can make it back to the place again before his career is over. Unfortunately for him, that's never a guarantee.
