Tony Romo was pounded by everyone after his 4th quarter meltdown against the New York Jets in week 1. Romo fumbled the ball inside the Jets 3 yard line, and then threw an interception that ended up turning into a game winning field goal by Nick Folk. Through the first 3 quarters of that game Romo was exceptional as he made all the right throws and great decisions. But 1 quarter cost him the game, and caused him a whole lot of scrutiny. Tony reacted in the right way after the game. He answered everything professionally, and he let it be known that that loss was on him and he wasn't going to let it happen again.
Many believed Dallas would go into San Francisco and just hammer the 49ers. They figured the Cowboys were angry about last week’s loss, and who better to take it out on than the
49ers. Those people could not have been more wrong. The key to the game for the 49ers was 3rd down conversions. In week 1 they were on 1-12 on 3rd down conversions, but against the Cowboys they went 8-16 on 3rd down.
Romo was hit hard in the first quarter by Carlos Rogers, which resulted in a couple of fractured ribs.The Cowboys went into halftime trailing 14-7, and returned with a different quarterback. Jon Kitna was in the game. This seemed like a repeated bad dream for Cowboys fans after they saw Romo's season end prematurely last season due to shoulder problems. The camera's showed Tony begging his medical and coaching staff to let him go back into the game, but they must've thought they could win behind Kitna. Romo, obviously frustrated, could only sit and watch.
Kitna led the Cowboys to a touchdown drive, but then threw two interceptions, which then resulted into a 24-14 lead for San Francisco going into the 4th quarter. Romo couldn't watch anymore. He wasn't going to take no for an answer, and he let his coaches know that he was going back in. He could not face any more scrutiny, and he knew the only way this team was coming back was if he was leading them.
[caption id="attachment_207" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Miles Austin's 3rd touchdown catch of the day"]
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So Romo, fractured ribs and all, was nothing short of spectacular in the 4th quarter. He led the Cowboys down the field on a drive that was capped with a 25 yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin, the third time these two had hooked up for a touchdown in the game. The Dallas defense then stepped up, and got the offense the ball back with 4:03 left in the game. Again Romo was exceptional. He led the Cowboys on the drive by going 5-6 for 37 yards. They got the ball to the 30 yard line, where Dan Bailey would knock a 48 yard field goal in to send the game to overtime.
The Cowboys lost the coin toss, but got a quick 3 and out and then got the ball back on their own 22 yard line. Dallas was now down to backups. Felix Jones was out, Dez Bryant hadn't played the entire game, and Miles Austin injured his hamstring again. So Romo's receivers were now Kevin Ogletree and Jesse Holley. But on the first offensive play of overtime Romo connected with Jesse Holley on a 77 yard pass to get the Cowboys down to the 1 yard line. Bailey then knocked in nothing more than an extra point, and Dallas won the game.
The point isn't that the Cowboys won the game, but how they won it. They won behind their quarterback Tony Romo. He put the team on his back and more than made up for his costly turnovers the week before. Romo went out with fractured ribs and a limited supporting cast and still turned a 10 point deficit into a 3 point win in the 4th quarter and overtime. He was a warrior on Sunday.
So Cowboys fans may continue to bash Romo for his loss against the Jets, but just remember one thing. He may lose 1 or 2 games for you in a season, but he will single handedly win you 6 or 7 games. He is a great quarterback, and I believe his head is on straight now. So jump back on the bandwagon Cowboy fans, becuase Romo is about to take you on an exciting ride.
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