bubba9497
December-8th-2008, 01:04 AM
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/columnists/jennifer_floyd_engel/story/1080042.html
Click link for entire article
It's time for Tony Romo to choke down his problems in December
If this were anybody else, we would not be tiptoeing around this issue this morning.
We’d call a choke a choke.
We’d eviscerate him.
We’d wonder if he had what it takes to win when it counts.
But because it is Cowboys QB Tony Romo, we tiptoe. We do this because we know he is why the Cowboys are in the playoff conversation at all; him saving this team back in Washington. We watch him buy time and make throws like he did to T.O. in the back of the endzone and we realize we have a special QB among us. We appreciate that Romo is their best chance at playoffs and playoff victories.
There comes a point, though, when more is needed.
Sunday was just about that point for Romo. The Cowboys were on the verge of what would have been a gigantic, momentum-building victory in Pittsburgh. It was not a stretch to say this could have been defining. Until they collapsed, in a 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh
And Romo has to be dropped in the grease for this.
He was responsible for four of the five Cowboys turnovers. And he is lucky the tuck rule saved him from another. The last, of course, was the worst -- a pick to Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend that went for seven in the other direction. It was the game winner.
I know tight end Jason Witten said he was to blame for the interception touchdown and, by all accounts, he was. “I don’t know if it was miscommunication or a just slip or, what,” Romo said. “ … it’s part of the situation, the time, you have to do the right thing. I threw it where he wasn’t, so that’s on me.” This is also a salty Steelers defense, No. 1 in like 457 million categories.
But Romo is right. It is on him.
The Cowboys needed him to be his best Sunday, or at least not screw it up for the defense who was finally playing theirs. He was not ... not even close. There were moments of good, but not enough. Too often, what we saw from Romo was the recklessness Big Bill had often warned about, the one play in the game that ends up negating the others.
Nor is this an anomaly.
Romo has a bit of a December problem, much like his team. He has not brought his best self in said games which often is synonymous with big games. And he is no longer young or inexperienced or all of the other things people like me say to defend him when he is being attacked.
The reality is, if this were anybody else, he’d have no defenders.
But this is Romo. So we tiptoe around the reality that he has to start showing he has what it takes to win when it counts. Or else he’ll prove something else.
So while I ponder if this team can be saved, let’s chow down on a helping of Monday Morning Musings:
1. Please, please, please Coach Wade, stop with the excuses.
Afterwards, after this miserable choke job of a loss, Witten blamed himself, as did Romo. Cowboys linebacker Bradie James looked ready to vomit blood. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin praised Dallas as “for real”.
And Coach Wade was talking about how his defense outplayed Pittsburgh’s. His silliness, while usually a giggle-worthy punch line, has become embarrassing. I want to take him and shake him until he realize this sunshine-pumping makes him look like a fool and, more importantly, does not help the Cowboys going forward. Honesty is what is needed; if he’s capable of that emotion.
2. Fire Bruce Read.
Much blame exists for Sunday’s choke, and let’s not bother with euphemistic happy. This was a choke. In my mind, Sunday’s game turned when the Cowboys gave up the 35-yard punt return to Santonio Holmes which gave life to a team without any.
Inexcusable. As is keeping the coach of a unit with so many problems.
3. Watching Ray Lewis and his Ravens cronies go crazy on Redskins QB Jason Campbell does not bode well for that easy “W” everybody has been predicting against Baltimore.
I do not know if they are as good as the Steelers, but they certainly are in the conversation. And that game is going to be extremely tough to win, home or away, final game at Texas Stadium or not.
4. As if Romo did not have enough problems …
Everybody’s favorite receiver has determined who is to blame for Sunday. You knew this was coming. Watching T.O. on the sideline, ranting and raving at receivers coach Ray Sherman, you knew he was mad. It was just a matter of who.
The RHG. The game plan. The offense.
It did not take long to figure out he had retreated to his favorite whine: Blame the QB. He never mentioned Romo by name, but it is not to figure out who had earned T.O.’s ire.
“All I can do is run my routes,” he said. “It's his job to go out there and assess what the defense is, and he made that decision.”
Yes, T.O. has a point. What he fails to mention is two of Romo’s four turnovers came while trying to force the ball into T.O. His biggest sin seems to be that he basically looks at two guys, T.O. and Witten. So maybe, he needs to use his bully pulpit to campaign for more catches for The Good Roy Williams and Pat Crayton who, btw, was open on the interception. But why do I not think that is going to happen?
5. So much for December being a “baseball stat”.
Remember how Coach Wade told us previous Cowboy failures in December had no bearing on this season? In fact, he looked me in my face during an interview and told me my questions about Decembers past were baseball stats, inconsequential numbers based on negativity, not on fact.
Really?
Because when you have not had a winning December since 1996 and you open December with a loss as ugly and gut-wrenching as what we saw in Pittsburgh, it appears that December remains a problem. That there is some sort of mental block. The Cowboys did not lack toughness or fight on Sunday. They lacked finish.
6. You did not hear wrong. That was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones calling out running back Marion Barber and basically questioning his toughness.
Wow. Double wow.
This warrants additional digging because we have Tashard Choice saying he knew Barber was not going to play in Pittsburgh and Owner Jones saying there was no reason for Barber not to play and no evidence ever of anything but toughness from Barber. Something is off here.
Stay tuned.
7. Can anybody on the Cowboys sideline count?
Obviously not.
Much less line up correctly.
As good as this Cowboys defense played in Pittsburgh, and they were exceptionally good, too much boneheadedness takes place with them. How does a team fail to account for how many players are on the field, or Greg Ellis line up offsides on third and six, or look utterly befuddled on a play that leads to a huge James Washington reception.
And I’m sorry, this has to fall on coaches, actually The Coach, to clean such messes up.
8. The nice section: Bradie James and Nick Folk were good.
So was Jay Ratliff. And Tashard Choice.
That is all I got. If you want to hear about how good the Cowboys were for three and a half quarters or how the defense was exceptional for most of the game, listen to Coach Wade. Or read the pr website.
I tend to find praising moral victories in a game that should have been a toteboard victory annoying.
9. Your homework assignment was, in honor of Jason Hatcher, to name your favorite celebratory dance?
We here at LBOH headquarters love to remind anybody and everybody willing to listen that we’re young. Really young. So I enjoyed being introduced to The California Quake, a very popular choice.
Click link for entire article
It's time for Tony Romo to choke down his problems in December
If this were anybody else, we would not be tiptoeing around this issue this morning.
We’d call a choke a choke.
We’d eviscerate him.
We’d wonder if he had what it takes to win when it counts.
But because it is Cowboys QB Tony Romo, we tiptoe. We do this because we know he is why the Cowboys are in the playoff conversation at all; him saving this team back in Washington. We watch him buy time and make throws like he did to T.O. in the back of the endzone and we realize we have a special QB among us. We appreciate that Romo is their best chance at playoffs and playoff victories.
There comes a point, though, when more is needed.
Sunday was just about that point for Romo. The Cowboys were on the verge of what would have been a gigantic, momentum-building victory in Pittsburgh. It was not a stretch to say this could have been defining. Until they collapsed, in a 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh
And Romo has to be dropped in the grease for this.
He was responsible for four of the five Cowboys turnovers. And he is lucky the tuck rule saved him from another. The last, of course, was the worst -- a pick to Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend that went for seven in the other direction. It was the game winner.
I know tight end Jason Witten said he was to blame for the interception touchdown and, by all accounts, he was. “I don’t know if it was miscommunication or a just slip or, what,” Romo said. “ … it’s part of the situation, the time, you have to do the right thing. I threw it where he wasn’t, so that’s on me.” This is also a salty Steelers defense, No. 1 in like 457 million categories.
But Romo is right. It is on him.
The Cowboys needed him to be his best Sunday, or at least not screw it up for the defense who was finally playing theirs. He was not ... not even close. There were moments of good, but not enough. Too often, what we saw from Romo was the recklessness Big Bill had often warned about, the one play in the game that ends up negating the others.
Nor is this an anomaly.
Romo has a bit of a December problem, much like his team. He has not brought his best self in said games which often is synonymous with big games. And he is no longer young or inexperienced or all of the other things people like me say to defend him when he is being attacked.
The reality is, if this were anybody else, he’d have no defenders.
But this is Romo. So we tiptoe around the reality that he has to start showing he has what it takes to win when it counts. Or else he’ll prove something else.
So while I ponder if this team can be saved, let’s chow down on a helping of Monday Morning Musings:
1. Please, please, please Coach Wade, stop with the excuses.
Afterwards, after this miserable choke job of a loss, Witten blamed himself, as did Romo. Cowboys linebacker Bradie James looked ready to vomit blood. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin praised Dallas as “for real”.
And Coach Wade was talking about how his defense outplayed Pittsburgh’s. His silliness, while usually a giggle-worthy punch line, has become embarrassing. I want to take him and shake him until he realize this sunshine-pumping makes him look like a fool and, more importantly, does not help the Cowboys going forward. Honesty is what is needed; if he’s capable of that emotion.
2. Fire Bruce Read.
Much blame exists for Sunday’s choke, and let’s not bother with euphemistic happy. This was a choke. In my mind, Sunday’s game turned when the Cowboys gave up the 35-yard punt return to Santonio Holmes which gave life to a team without any.
Inexcusable. As is keeping the coach of a unit with so many problems.
3. Watching Ray Lewis and his Ravens cronies go crazy on Redskins QB Jason Campbell does not bode well for that easy “W” everybody has been predicting against Baltimore.
I do not know if they are as good as the Steelers, but they certainly are in the conversation. And that game is going to be extremely tough to win, home or away, final game at Texas Stadium or not.
4. As if Romo did not have enough problems …
Everybody’s favorite receiver has determined who is to blame for Sunday. You knew this was coming. Watching T.O. on the sideline, ranting and raving at receivers coach Ray Sherman, you knew he was mad. It was just a matter of who.
The RHG. The game plan. The offense.
It did not take long to figure out he had retreated to his favorite whine: Blame the QB. He never mentioned Romo by name, but it is not to figure out who had earned T.O.’s ire.
“All I can do is run my routes,” he said. “It's his job to go out there and assess what the defense is, and he made that decision.”
Yes, T.O. has a point. What he fails to mention is two of Romo’s four turnovers came while trying to force the ball into T.O. His biggest sin seems to be that he basically looks at two guys, T.O. and Witten. So maybe, he needs to use his bully pulpit to campaign for more catches for The Good Roy Williams and Pat Crayton who, btw, was open on the interception. But why do I not think that is going to happen?
5. So much for December being a “baseball stat”.
Remember how Coach Wade told us previous Cowboy failures in December had no bearing on this season? In fact, he looked me in my face during an interview and told me my questions about Decembers past were baseball stats, inconsequential numbers based on negativity, not on fact.
Really?
Because when you have not had a winning December since 1996 and you open December with a loss as ugly and gut-wrenching as what we saw in Pittsburgh, it appears that December remains a problem. That there is some sort of mental block. The Cowboys did not lack toughness or fight on Sunday. They lacked finish.
6. You did not hear wrong. That was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones calling out running back Marion Barber and basically questioning his toughness.
Wow. Double wow.
This warrants additional digging because we have Tashard Choice saying he knew Barber was not going to play in Pittsburgh and Owner Jones saying there was no reason for Barber not to play and no evidence ever of anything but toughness from Barber. Something is off here.
Stay tuned.
7. Can anybody on the Cowboys sideline count?
Obviously not.
Much less line up correctly.
As good as this Cowboys defense played in Pittsburgh, and they were exceptionally good, too much boneheadedness takes place with them. How does a team fail to account for how many players are on the field, or Greg Ellis line up offsides on third and six, or look utterly befuddled on a play that leads to a huge James Washington reception.
And I’m sorry, this has to fall on coaches, actually The Coach, to clean such messes up.
8. The nice section: Bradie James and Nick Folk were good.
So was Jay Ratliff. And Tashard Choice.
That is all I got. If you want to hear about how good the Cowboys were for three and a half quarters or how the defense was exceptional for most of the game, listen to Coach Wade. Or read the pr website.
I tend to find praising moral victories in a game that should have been a toteboard victory annoying.
9. Your homework assignment was, in honor of Jason Hatcher, to name your favorite celebratory dance?
We here at LBOH headquarters love to remind anybody and everybody willing to listen that we’re young. Really young. So I enjoyed being introduced to The California Quake, a very popular choice.