Tony Romo: How I Learned To Stop LOLing and Root For the Cowboys Quarterback

The Monday after an NFL playoff weekend usually produces many strong opinions, or in the preferred nomenclature of the modern day online sports-environment: takes. Sunday’s Cowboys victory over the Lions certainly has people talking around the water cooler or howling on message boards and or talk radio over the officials picking up a flag on a possible pass inference call by Dallas.

Against the usual script, something that isn’t quite fodder for public discussion today is the play of Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. The veteran signal caller finished the day 19-of-31 for 293 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was also sacked six times, which is probably less-than-ideal considering he missed time a few weeks ago due to a lower back fracture. The Cowboys won, so No. 9 won’t be raked through the usual Monday-morning coals.

The win means Romo’s playoff record is now 2-3. Beating the Lions at home isn’t going to change the long-standing Romo-is-a-loser narrative — when you botch a hold like Romo did vs. Seattle all those many years ago you’ll probably need to win a Super Bowl to shut people up once and for all. The Cowboys move on to play Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at Lambeau. If Romo and Dallas survive a rematch of the 1967 Ice Bowl, yeah maybe, perceptions will continue to change in earnest.

For what little it’s worth, my personal opinion of Romo changed. Admittedly going online in a forum such as this with that opinion is setting myself up for ridicule. All someone has to do is look at the headline and scroll down to rip me since so many sports fans are rabid partisans who take every thing bit written about a player or team as a personal slight or offense without reading the entire context. Alas.

That said, (deep breath, gulp, exhale, sigh) I find myself rooting for Romo this postseason.

Sure, like everyone else in the era of Twitter and social media I’ve had great fun mocking Romo when he throws one of his patented fourth-quarter interceptions. “LOL ROMO” or whatever variant you prefer might as well be a stock phrase installed in new iPhone keyboards. Cracking wise about Romo on Twitter is probably one of the few things that unites American sports fans. It’s easy, it’s simple, it’s safe, it’s fun and nobody gets hurt except for Romo’s feelings — and as we know in this decade any professional athlete or celebrity really isn’t a human being made of flesh and blood, but rather an abstract concept for your ridicule, humiliation and personal affirmation from the comfort of your couch.

Romo is right up there with televised award shows for the easy Twitter targets for scorn and mockery. You’d think since he was an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois people might cut him some slack or latch on to his surprising rise to NFL starter, but that sort of treacle doesn’t sell well anymore, apparently.

As easy as Romo is to mock online for his late-game foibles, it turns out he’s not been quite as bad in late game situations as listening to the crowds might have you believe. We had this story on plagiarism from a Dallas radio host last year, but the underlying story was how Romo wasn’t a choker. For example, in the last five minutes of games when trailing in the last five years, Romo (83.8) has a better passer rating than Flacco (78.1), Brees (75.2), Roethlisberger (75.2), Brady (74.2), Peyton (73.3), Eli (72.5), and Wilson (60.6). All of those guys have rings, though.

And by any other measuring tool you’d consider Romo an unmitigated success. A nine-year starter at quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, which is one of the sports worlds most-scrutinized positions? Yeah that seems pretty impressive at least to me when we live in a world where Ryan Lindley can start an NFL playoff game. That’s saying nothing of Romo pocketing more than $100 million in salary or whatever else.

Think about it for a second on a human level. If you’re the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, everything you do is going to be discussed by people you’ve never met 365 days of the year. Often the discussion won’t be very nice, either. Yes, this comes with the territory and, yes again, if you’ve sign a six-year, $108 million contract, the average person isn’t going to sympathize with you all that much. This is as good an explanation as any as to why Romo always seems to have a grin permanently affixed to his face. You have to laugh, or else you’ll cry, right?

So that’s why without any other vested NFL interests I’ll root for Romo, if not the Cowboys, the next couple weeks. For purely selfish reasons my fingers are crossed Romo ends up lifting the Lombardi Trophy in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 1. That happening might be one of the few incidents that could cause a permanent rupture in the space-time-sports-Internet continuum.

Tony Romo: Destroyer of ~~worlds~~ narratives would be, if nothing else, enjoyable to watch.