Last night’s game was a complete mess for the Cowboys. I’m sure that you could have easily told that by the final 38-14 score line, but it really needed to be said.
I’ve seen Tony Romo throw some pretty bad interceptions before, but last night he threw two of his worst. Ever. Both were returned for touchdowns that pretty much put the game out of reach. There was never a real feeling that the Cowboys could pull it together and actually move the ball against the Bears defence.
The first brutal was a perfect throw. The problem is that it Charles Tillman, a Bears DB, right in the numbers. What followed was an untouched run for a touchdown.
While some will be quick to point out that there was supposed to be an adjustment made by Dez Bryant – who ran a stop-and-go route instead of what should have been a plain hitch – the real blame should be on Romo. Even if Bryant had run the proper route, Tillman would have been right there to either knock down the pass, tackle him or even still pick it off. And that’s not to even mention that the route was short of first-down marker.
The second amazingly awful pick was probably the worst shovel pass in NFL history. After scrambling forward in the pocket to avoid pressure, Romo proceeded to flip the ball forward in the general direction of Jason Witten.
The problem with that? The general direction was about a yard and a half off and the flip hit linebacker Lance Briggs in the chest. Briggs ran that easy catch back 74 yards for another touchdown that essentially broke the Cowboys’ back.
So what to do about Romo? There are games when he can look brilliant, but there’s also games like this that happen a bit too often.
Actually that’s not fair. Five-interception games don’t happen every day, but they get blown out of proportion more than the great showings that Romo is capable.
It’s the reason that Cowboys fans (like myself) never completely trust him. After this season, when Romo’s contract runs out, it may be time for the Cowboys to do what their rival Redskins did and start looking to the future.
This week: 7-8
This season: 29-33-2