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Tony Romo: Superstar or Falling Star for the Dallas Cowboys?
Published: July 7, 2009
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Depending on who you ask, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is either destined to become the most prolific passer in the Cowboys’ storied history, or he’s just the third-best quarterback in the NFC East.
With another season completed as starting quarterback and another year without a playoff victory, the shine is clearly off the star-bearer compared to this same time last year.
But is the criticism of Romo warranted? History suggests the best years lie ahead for Romo and the Cowboys.
Best Cowboys Quarterback Ever?
You don’t have to look beyond the quarterback fraternity of the Cowboys, which includes Hall of Famers Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman, to see the potential for greatness in Tony Romo.
Compare the numbers for Romo’s first 38 starts with Aikman’s first 39 starts and Staubach’s first 45 starts, and you quickly realize Romo is blazing a trail to Cowboys immortality if he can stay healthy.
In Romo’s two plus seasons as a starter, he has played 38 games, completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 10,562 yards and 81 touchdowns, and has compiled a record of 27-12 as a starter.
Aikman’s numbers aren’t even close. In his first 38 starts as Cowboys starter, he completed 58.5 percent of his passes for 7,082 yards and 31 touchdowns. Aikman’s touchdown percentage during this same time span was 2.9 percent, while Romo throws just over six touchdowns for every 100 pass attempts (6.1 percent).
Perhaps you are a little older and consider Staubach the standard-bearer, against which all Cowboys quarterbacks are to be measured. In Staubach’s first 45 games, he completed 58.9 percent of his passes for 5,371 yards and 41 touchdowns.
In Staubach’s 11 year career, he totaled 22,700 yards passing. Romo is almost halfway there after two and a half seasons. Staubach finished his career with a passer rating of 83.4. Aikman’s career passer rating was 81.6. Romo is tied with Peyton Manning with a 94.7 career passer rating, highest amongst active quarterbacks scheduled to start next year.
Aikman finished his 12 season, 165 game career with 32,942 yards, and 165 touchdowns. If Romo stays on his current pace and plays 150 games, he would finish his career with 40,623 yards and 311 touchdowns.
Romo Compared to a Few of the Best of All Time
The argument over who is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time will rage endlessly, but two quarterbacks always mentioned in the debate are John Elway and Joe Montana.
The strong-armed, swashbuckling Elway started his first 42 games by completing 53.3 percent of his passes for 8,152 yards and 47 touchdowns. He also threw 52 interceptions. Elway’s rating through these 42 games was 67.3.
The cerebral and deadly accurate Montana put up better numbers then Elway in his first 41 starts, but nothing compared to Romo. Montana completed 63 percent of his passes for 8,069 yards and 52 touchdowns, which earned him a quarterback rating of 86.3.
Clearly, the biggest difference between these all-time greats and Romo is playoff wins and Lombardi trophies. But even the greatest quarterbacks needed time before they won their first playoff game.
Statistically, Romo is in a class by himself at this juncture in his career. The obvious next step is to guide his team to a post season victory.
Third-Best Quarterback in the NFC East?
Playing in the brutal NFC East exacerbates Romo’s lack of postseason success.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning won a Super Bowl in his fourth season as starter, and no other quarterback in the NFL has been better at leading his team to the postseason then the Eagles Donovan McNabb.
Manning had been solid but not spectacular before getting hot in the 2007 postseason. During the Giants’ Super Bowl run, Manning threw only six touchdown passes. But he protected the ball, throwing only one interception the entire post season. His postseason quarterback rating was 95.7.
McNabb is best known for his ability to make something good out of a broken play, but his best asset may be how he protects the football. In the last five seasons, McNabb’s interception per pass attempt has been above two percent only once (2.5 percent in 2005).
So not only is McNabb able to beat a blitzing linebacker one on one, he doesn’t throw the ball to the other team when making something out of nothing.
But again, both of these players are older than Romo and neither compares to him statistically in the early part of their careers.
Manning started the first 41 games of his career, completing 54 percent of his passes for 8,049 yards, 52 touchdowns, and a passer rating of 69.4.
In McNabb’s first 44 career starts, he threw for 56.4 percent completions for 7,546 yards, 54 touchdowns, and a 74 passer rating.
Time will tell what becomes of Tony Romo and his legacy as the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback.
If he leads the Cowboys to their first playoff victory in more than a decade, Romo will have taken the first step toward equaling the previous great quarterbacks from Dallas.
If they fail to make the playoffs again this year, no one will care how inflated his stats appear. Romo will become synonymous with underachievement.
Terrell Owens Will Wish He Dropped Buffalo Bills Offer To Play
Published: June 11, 2009
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A propensity for drops, old legs and a brutal season ending stretch of cold weather game venues, could tarnish Terrell Owens reputation as one of the most productive offensive players in the NFL.
Owens has posted eight 1,000+ yard receiving seasons out of his last nine, with only an injury riddled 2005 campaign keeping him from hitting the magic 1,000 yards each season this millennium. In that same nine year time span, Owens has averaged 12.1 touchdowns a season.
Despite his obvious production, Owens has also developed a reputation as a receiver who will drop the ball. According to iWon Sports who track drops, Owens led the NFC last season with 10 drops.
Anyone who watched Owens play the last three years for the Cowboys could see he tended to fight the ball and doesn’t possess “soft hands,” especially in traffic. Hall of Fame NFL writer Rick Gosselin recently referred to Owens as, “The King of Drops,” in an article for The Dallas Morning News.
Owens was able to hide to hide his below average catching ability for most of his career, while playing for two west coast offenses in San Francisco and Philadelphia.
Both of these teams had mobile quarterbacks who would play action and throw one away, then wait for the drag route to clear the linebackers. This was Owens’ special. A short pass that he would turn into a long gain by winning a foot race and having the balance and power to shuck a defender one on one.
Next season Owens will turn 36, which will seriously test his ability to continue to win individual foot races. If anyone not named Jerry Rice can maintain his speed, its Owens, but history suggests an imminent decline in production.
Look at the production numbers of the all time leading wide receivers in NFL history tail off at the age of 36. As stated before Rice is an anomaly.
Marvin Harrison ranks second all-time in catches at 1,102. From 1999 to 2006, Harrison averaged 1,402 yards per season. He was hurt in 2007. He turned 36 in 2008 and caught only six balls for 636 yards.
Chris Carter, who ranks third with 1,101 career catches, also saw his production tumble at the age of the 36. Carter was riding an eight season streak of 1,000+ receiving yards, until the 2001 season, when he caught 73 balls for 871 yards.
Tim Brown ranks fourth all-time and he brought a nine season 1,000+ yard receiving season streak to his 36th birthday season, then dropped to 81 catches for 931 yards.
One could argue the numbers still suggest production, but compared to before these players turned 36, there is clearly a drop off.
Not only will Owens be battling the football and an invisible 36 year old wall, he must also find a way to be productive in the frosty conditions at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Four of the last six Bills games will be at home, starting Nov. 29. Of the two road contests, one is to frigid Arrowhead Stadium on Dec. 13, then they finally get a warm weather venue playing in the dome in Atlanta.
Since the 2003 season, Eric Moulds is the only receiver to gain over 100 receiving yards in a game at home in December for Buffalo.
If he follows the footsteps of legions of aging NFL receivers, who have gone before him, TO’s show could be played and the popcorn stale in 2009.
Jerry Jones, the Cowboys GM, Puts Himself on Record
Published: May 19, 2009
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Jerry Jones the GM puts himself on record with wide receiver moves.
When Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys for $150 million, back in 1989, Cowboys fans weren’t sure what to make of their brash new owner and general manager. Twenty years later, some still don’t.
The baby boomer Cowboys fans have yet to forgive Jones for relieving Tom Landry of his head coaching duties, but should Jones really apologize for hiring Jimmy Johnson? When the Cowboys won their third Super Bowl championship in 1995, it seemed that Jones was infallible. My, how times have changed.
Ask a random Cowboys fan what he thinks of Jerry Jones as an owner, and unless they are graying in the temples and sporting a Fedora hat, the answer will be positive. Ask the same fan their opinion of Jerry Jones as a General Manger, and the venom flies.
Jones is the longest tenured GM in the NFL. Not because of his track record of shrewd personnel moves and signing players below their market value, but because he refuses to relieve himself of duty. Consider Jones most recent moves: issuing a gag order to head coach Wade Phillips and cutting Terrell Owens less than a year after signing him to an extension.
You don’t even have to look outside the Cowboys’ coaching fraternity to ponder the ridiculousness of gagging the head coach. Can you imagine Landry or Jimmy Johnson or Bill Parcells being gagged by the GM?
Johnson probably would have fought Jones in the halls at Valley Ranch, and Parcells would have tendered his resignation on the spot. Only a GM wielding an owner’s power stick would dare make such a move without fear of disastrous repercussions. And within the duality of the roles lies the problem.
Cutting T.O. is the latest chapter of the ongoing saga that is Jerry Jones and the wide receiver position. Jones traded away two first-round draft picks in 2000 and 2001 to acquire Joey Galloway. Jones passed on Randy Moss. Last year, Jones traded a first-, third-, and fifth-round draft pick for Detroit wide receiver Roy Williams.
Says Jones, “I’m excited about Roy, so I’d rather have him than the [three] picks we gave up for him this draft.” The numbers don’t support the move, not losing what Owens brought and not gaining what Williams brings. No matter how petulant or divisive Owens has proven to be to the Cowboys, you can’t argue with the production.
In the last three years, Owens missed only one game, had three consecutive 1,000+yard receiving seasons and averaged 12.6 touchdowns per season. Owen’s Cowboys career stats are 235 catches for 3,587 yards and 38 touchdowns. Only hall of famer Michael Irvin did it better over a three-year span from 1993-95, catching 278 passes for 4,174 yards and 23 TDs. In Williams’ five year professional career, he has posted only one 1,000+ yard receiving season (2006). Last year, Williams was so bad he set career lows for receptions (36), yards (430) and touchdowns (2).
Jones got an up close look of what Williams could do in offensive coordinator Jason Garret’s system. The numbers were terrible, but Jones has declared Williams is his guy, and in so doing, he staked his reputation as a general manager on the results. With the draft coming next month, track the players drafted where the Cowboys would have selected, and compare that with Williams’ numbers for the next three seasons.
“No, no added pressure, it’s not my first rodeo,” said Williams about becoming the team’s new No. 1 receiving target. “I’ve been doing this since I was in Pop Warner.”
