Oh, how the mighty have fallen, and it seems to be ACCEPTABLE! In what has to be the worst town for mediocrity and losing, it boggles my mind with how many people are content with Tony Romo as the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys (in my header, it says "hockey or what-not," here's the what-not...with a hockey twist). Let me preface by saying I am NOT a Tony Romo hater. He seems like a very nice guy. I'm glad he's happy with life and has a wife and hopefully a very healthy baby on the way. My critique of the Cowboys field general has nothing to do with the guy personally. I look solely at the numbers and, ultimately, the results.
One. That's the number of playoff wins the Dallas Cowboys have in the last twelve and a half years. That one came against an Eagles team that had just been complete decimated the week before by the Cowboys...in Arlington. If I had to stay in a city that I just got killed in the week prior, listen to the local talk shows and read the local papers to play a playoff game in the same place the following week, I'd be pretty deflated myself. I stated in a previous post that I remember a time when you could maybe watch one or two Cowboy games a season here in the DFW area because the other games were blacked-out, which is a league imposed restriction on the televising of a team's games because of their inability to sell out the stadium. The team in the mid-80's were HORRIBLE! My grandfather had season tickets since their inception, and there were times he'd ask if I wanted to go to the game and I declined. Then, came the 90's. Super Bowls were being shipped to Valley Ranch in November. I remember when the Jimmy Johnson-coached team made the playoffs in 1990, just a year removed from going 1-15. Everyone in the area was ecstatic! The team was going back to the "glory days." Then, the Detroit Lions decided to knock us back down a few rungs and reminded Dallas that they weren't there just yet.
Since the last Super Bowl, the Cowboys are 122-118. They've made the playoffs seven times and have two wins, both wild card victories...as divisional champions. FOUR games over .500 and a 28.6% win percentage in the playoffs. Now, the bulk of those disappointments do not rest on Tony Romo's shoulder pads. He was a third stringer for nearly half of that time. However, when people make the argument that he's a "top ten" quarterback, I start to have an issue with that. When was it acceptable to be top 10 in this area? Why not top five? How about strive to be the best? Ok, that last statement was unfair. I don't know his work ethic. But, much can be said (and has) about his demeanor on the sideline when things are not going as well as one would hope; with his hat on backwards and smiling and comments like, "If losing a play off game is the worst thing to happen to me..." Again, what he says is VERY CORRECT. But, I don't want to hear that. What if the Joint Chairman were to come on the news and say, "Well, if losing 1000 troops is the worst that happens..." NO! We shouldn't lose a SINGLE solider. Will it happen in a war? Sure. Doesn't mean we should be complacent with the notion. Yes, I realize I took that to a whole different level, but my point being, complacency is acceptable with the Cowboys, and it never should be.
Here's some interesting figures I came across. When Romo attempts more than 31 passes, his rating is at it's lowest when compared to pass attempts: 73.3%. That goes to say, the more Romo is looked upon to put the team on his shoulders and throw for victories, he buckles. A very interesting stat: his passer rating is at it's highest when in the red zone. That's because he's not thrown an interception when deep in opponent's territory. However, his completion percentage is at it's lowest point at 54.5%, compared to over 64% every where else on the field. In the last two minutes of each half, his 92% passer rating is the worst when compared to the halves as a whole. This is evident in the Cowboys THREE blown leads of 12 or more points compared to just two in the first 50 years of the team's existence. The biggest issue I have with Romo is supported by the following figures. I often take a stance that Romo is not a leader; he has no killer instinct. Here's the numbers to support that: When behind in a game, Romo's passer rating is 102.7%, and explodes to 124.2% when trailing by 9-16 points. But, when the Cowboys are winning, Tony's rating is 99.3%, and drops to the lowest point of 91.6% when ahead by 9-16 points. And, of course there's that one playoff win.
In comparison, let's look at last year's Dallas Stars team. Brad Richards finished 10th in points and 11th in assists. Brenden Morrow finished 13th in goals scored. Kari Lehtonen was 12th in wins. The team finished with 95 points, 14th in power play percentage and 15th in goals allowed. Why do I bring these figures up? How did the Stars do last year? The previous three years? What does their mediocrity get them? 7000...8000...10,000 per game. The Cowboys continue to sell out the Death Star. Oh well. For what it's worth, at least I get to watch the Cowboys mediocrity on television each week. Thank you for lowering your standards, Dallas/Ft. Worth.
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