Is Tony Romo – Danny White?
Some of my readers have already e-mailed to ask my feelings about the Dallas Cowboys’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. First of all, the Cowboys’ defense came to play football. It is the first time this year that we have seen anything like a ferocious Dallas Cowboys defense, which is good. On the other hand, we saw what may be the final step in the transformation of Tony Romo into former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Danny White. For those of you who don’t know, Danny White was the quarterback who followed the great Roger Staubach. Danny White was a good quarterback. He stood tall in the pocket and delivered a very pretty football. He retired with a quarterback rating of 81.7, completing almost 60% of his passes. In 1983, his best year, one of his throws went almost 4000 yards . He had 29 touchdowns. Remember, this was an era when we ran the ball far more than we ever threw the ball. The problem, of course, was that Danny White could not win the big game. In 1980 and 1981, he took the Cowboys to the NFC championship game…but lost twice. So the question becomes… can Tony Romo win the big game? So far, the answer is no.
I still have a problem with some of the Dallas Cowboys’ basic maneuvers. More than once during the Pittsburgh Steelers game, it seemed as if players did not know where they were supposed to be lining up. This is the 14th week of the season. There were several mini-camps before preseason and a bunch of preseason games. Shouldn’t we know where to line up by now? Why is it that in the heat of the moment several key players did not know the Cowboys were out of timeouts that late in the second quarter?
I also believe that everyone on the special teams should be fired. They have let this team down in several games this year. Where’s Billy Bates or that guy who did the Shark dance… Kenny Gant? The big run back in the fourth quarter was unforgivable.
Where was Patrick Clayton? He was supposed to be a big part of the offense yet, in big games, he always disappears. Terrell Owens had a lot to say after the game but the bottom line is he was not running wide open. Our big acquisition during the season was Roy E. Williams, the receiver. Where was he? Two catches for 16 yards..? That’s not going to get the job done.
Jason Witten, who has kept fighting despite a broken rib, should be applauded just for being out there. He had an awful game. On a fourth and one, early in the game, Witten missed his block and Harrison tackled Anderson for a loss. He and Romo had a miscommunication, which gave the game the winning touchdown for the Steelers.
All in all, the defense played well enough to win. The offense and the special teams for the Dallas Cowboys did not play well enough. Jimmy Johnson, former Cowboy quarterback, said that in these big games you need to win two out of the three phases of the game. Instead, the Cowboys lost two out of three.
It is possible for the Cowboys to catch fire and win the rest of their games. The Giants caught fire last year. Tony Romo must stop turning over the ball. The Cowboys cannot go deep into the playoffs with Tony Romo’s needless sacks and mindless interceptions.
