Tony Romo primed for best season yet
— -- IRVING, Texas -- If you're going to have a real conversation about Tony Romo, the discussion can't revolve around his statistics.
For quarterbacks, the game is never just about statistics. It's about winning above all else. Being a quarterback is about leadership, decision-making and all the other subtleties that help a quarterback lead his team to victory.
We can use the previous season as an example. Romo passed for 3,705 yards with 34 touchdowns and nine interceptions as the Cowboys went 12-4 and won the NFC East.
The 35-year-old quarterback has had seasons in which he threw for more yards and seasons in which he completed more touchdown passes. He has even had a season with more wins.
But 2014 was easily Romo's best season. Finally, we saw his immense athleticism achieve perfect synergy with his football intellect, and that's what led Romo to play his best football at winning time the past season.
He hasn't always done that. There have been years in which Romo put up gaudy stats but struggled in the season's most important games. As you would expect, Romo apologists offer a litany of excuses for those performances, but the reasons really don't matter. For quarterbacks, the result is what matters.
No worries. His days of imploding at winning time are over.
"What I'm seeing from Tony is he's confident in this team and he's confident with himself," owner Jerry Jones said. "He genuinely feels like that. His relationship with [Scott] Linehan and his relationship with Jason [Garrett], and we're all getting benefit of that."
Perhaps Romo's season was the one positive of his having back surgery each of the past two offseasons.
"I don't think so," said Garrett, the Cowboys' head coach. "I think you see him move around. I think you see him extend plays in games. I think throughout his career you've seen him be a pocket passer, so it's not like he's ever been a runner, but he has always been someone with great feel in pocket, who can move around and find some space.
"Every so often, you'd see him run and make a play with his feet, but it was more about his ability to extend plays, keep his eyes up and throw the ball down the field."
Bottom line: All the Romo haters can relax because the dude we saw the past season is the one we can expect to see for the next two or three seasons -- as long as his back doesn't give out.
We saw the biggest difference in Romo's decision-making in part because of a run-heavy game plan. The Cowboys were 8-2 when Romo threw fewer than 30 passes the past season, and that's why Garrett has insisted he remains committed to running the ball at close to the 50 percent rate the Cowboys did then.
Time will tell, considering the Cowboys let DeMarco Murray, who led the league with 1,845 yards rushing, leave via free agency. Still, in the past five seasons, the Cowboys have invested three first-round picks in their offensive line, and they plan to lean on that line.
Romo took sacks the past season, whereas he might've forced passes into coverage in the past, but that's what happens when your teams plays from ahead and you trust your defense. Romo went 12-3 as a starter, and each of those losses had extenuating circumstances.
Against San Francisco in the opener, he had not established his Wednesday off-day routine, and he was awful, with three interceptions in his first 14 passes as the 49ers built a 28-0 halftime lead. Against Washington, he hurt his back and missed much of the second half, though he returned in the fourth quarter. In the Cowboys' 33-10 Thanksgiving Day loss to Philadelphia, it was the team's second game in four days.
"What I'm seeing is Tony Romo at his best," Jerry said. "I can't remember a camp when he was playing any better, looked any better, made me feel any better or made the coaches feel any better, as far as his execution and what he needs to do for us to win."
Even the oft-criticized owner understands winning is the only stat that matters when we're talking about quarterbacks.
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