Tony Romo Is Better Than You Think

 

That was the 10th of 11 commandments Bill Parcells gave Tony Romo when he was the head honcho in Dallas. Prophetic words, it seems, three years later, with Cowboys Nation falling over itself, bewildered and wide-eyed and still not quite sure how the Cowboys missed the playoffs last year.

 

At face value, it’s a legitimate question; however, just like most legitimate questions, there is no one satisfactory answer.

 

One popular theory has Tony Romo as a hopeless bum who accumulated two Pro Bowl appearances and a 94.7 quarterback rating on luck, I suppose. It is a flawed argument from the outset and those who loudly support it do so out of frenzied frustration, but it should be addressed, nonetheless.

 

This isn’t to say that Romo doesn’t have his faults, because he certainly does. He makes stupid decisions at times, and he throws his fair share of interceptions. However his fatal flaw, his hamartia, if you will, is the casual manner with which he approaches the media. An “aw shucks” attitude looks a lot like carelessness to the bitter, die-hard football fan, and Romo is never too far from another “aw shucks.”

 

This will just not do, in Dallas. Whether he likes it or not, Romo must care, or at least appear to care, about what we think of him. He must make us think that he is living and dying with each play, because that, more or less, is what Cowboys fans are doing every Sunday.

 

That said, I shudder to think of a Romo-less future. Romo is a Pro Bowler. Aikman was a Pro Bowler. Between the two are myriad minor characters who need not (and probably can not) be named here.

 

There is nothing as short as the memory of the true football fan.

 

Make no mistake, Valley Ranch is in perpetual chaos these days, reeling from arguably the lowest point in franchise history. Feelings have been hurt, changes have been made, all in the name of restoring the name of the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo is the hope of the future, and this might be a good thing. Whether or not Romo can steady the ship is yet to be seen. But the kid can play.

 

Parcells knew this when he gave Romo his list of commandments in 2007, and it’s supported by those sacrosanct statistics that we bandy about. Even last season, when all seemed dark and unsure, Romo posted a stat line that, at worst, was pretty good. In thirteen games, Romo had a passer rating of 91.4 -- 10 points higher than that Ben Roethlisberger character.

 

So, I implore you skeptical Cowboys fans, be careful what you wish for; lest we look up to see Quincy Carter under center.