I’ve been hard on Tony Romo over the years and have been one of the louder voices criticizing him for the many times he’s cost the Dallas Cowboys wins.
But after Romo led the Cowboys back from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to beat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday after suffering a cracked rib and punctured lung, he deserves some love from me.
Romo’s performance against the 49ers was indeed the mark of a great quarterback. No, Romo isn’t a great quarterback yet, not like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers have proven to be great QB’s.
But against the 49ers, he played like one. And that’s exactly what so many Cowboys’ fans have waited to see from a player who’s walking in the footsteps of Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.
Not that I believe he should be immortalized for his efforts, but playing with a major injury and leading the Cowboys to a victory is the kind of stuff Bears’ QB Jay Cutler can only dream about.
I’m not one to give Romo a break when he performs poorly, and there’s been many such occasions throughout his brief career to find fault with him.
So it’s only appropriate that I recognize his gritty performance on Sunday when he played virtually the entire game with a cracked rib and punctured lung.
Now that every team in the NFL knows Romo is injured, we’ll find out even more about his resolve as the season progresses.
Defensive coordinators are going to put more pressure on Romo than they normally would knowing his hurt, and no, he doesn’t have to get killed for him to earn my respect because Romo earned my respect on Sunday.
While he’s shown a propensity to make mistakes throughout his career, I’m willing to cut Romo some slack now knowing that he’s prepared to do what it takes to lead the Cowboys.
That’s all I’ve ever wanted to see from Romo. I wanted to see that he understood what it meant to be the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.
As of Sunday, I’m thinking he may have finally figured it out.
