With the nation watching on Sunday Night Football, the Cowboys found themselves down by 4, with 3 minutes remaining and 2 timeouts left. The perfect stage for yet another Romo meltdown that would prove once again his reputation as a choker.
Only that statistics started flowing and showing that in the 4th quarter, with the game on the line, there are very few quarterbacks in the history of the game that are better than the quarterback we all love to hate: Tony Romo.
And Tony did what he usually does. Deliver. Just win the game for his team. Complete all his six passes in a winning drive that was a thing of beauty.
I know that everybody is so excited about that acrobatic touchdown catch by Mr. Beckham Jr., and although it was an impressive feat, it wasn’t enough to get the win.
While the Cowboys winning drive was football at its best. Not an individual effort, but a complete team effort that seemed just too perfect. If anything, one could say that they score too quickly. Well, that’s on Romo, he tried his best to keep the ball on the pocket all the way to the last second of the game, but I think he just couldn’t help himself and had to throw that touchdown pass to Dez Bryant.
That’s the only stupid argument the Romo-haters haven’t used yet.
With the game on the line Romo produced a perfect offensive drive that got key contributions by DeMarco Murray, Cole Beasley, Jason Witten, Dez Bryant and that outstanding offensive line.
A complete team effort, as I said.
On Sunday night, that was the difference. The Giants had the most spectacular and electrifying player on the field, but the Cowboys had the better team. Once the Cowboys defense figured out Beckham Jr., the Giants had no answer.
The wide variety of offensive weapons is a reason for optimism going into the final stretch of the season, but even more important is the poise this team is showing against adversity. And nobody showed more poise than Romo on that winning drive. I was sure they would got the touchdown. He never flinched. Everything seemed easy, like if it was just the usual stuff.
Just like Beckham Jr., catching one-handed balls in practice and then doing it on national television. It was like that for Romo, just like a practice back at Valley Ranch. Now that everybody got so hyperbolic with “the best catch ever”, that winning drive perfect execution kind of reminded me of the Joe Montana winning drive against the Bengals on Super Bowl XXIII. The Niners were also down by 4, and there was 3:10 left in the clock.
Not comparing Romo to Montana here, just saying that the drives were pretty similar and that Romo’s poise and execution on the drive reminded me of Montana’s poise and execution on Super Bowls (any of them actually).
It’s been a long and bumpy road for Tony Romo, but he seems to have finally figured things out. On Thursday against the Eagles, he’ll have one more chance to prove it.
https://sportdfw.com/2014/11/24/cowboys-winning-drive-thing-beauty/
Luis F. Dominguez 