The Dallas Morning News[/caption]The Dallas Cowboys and quarterback Tony Romo agreed to a new deal, a really big deal. The new deal is for six years, $108 million with $55 million guaranteed. That's elite quarterback money, and in my opinion, Romo is not an elite quarterback.
Romo will now almost certainly finish his career as a Cowboy, just as owner Jerry Jones wants. Joe Flacco was criticized for his huge contract that included $52 million in guaranteed money, and now the Baltimore Ravens are losing Pro Bowl players because of it.
But at least Flacco earned it, who has nine playoff wins, a Super Bowl title and a Super Bowl MVP to his name. Romo has had some really memorable moments with the Cowboys, but nothing to warrant this kind of a blockbuster deal.
He was a feel-good story because he was undrafted and he took over "America's Team" with nothing to lose. His regular season stats are great, that's undebatable. Romo holds almost every Cowboys passing record from yards to touchdowns to passer ratings.
He averages 212.7 passing yards per game with a 95.6 passer rating. His passer rating is the fifth highest in NFL history. He has 177 touchdowns to 91 interceptions. However, the problem is you don't win championships in the regular season. Romo crumbles at the end of the season. For whatever reason, he just does; I don't know why.
He bobbled the snap of a simple field goal against the Seattle Seahawks. He lost to the New York Giants at home while his offense scored zero points in the second half. After finally winning a playoff game, he led Dallas to three total points against the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the playoffs.
He is 1-6 in "win or go home" games. Every year, except 2009 , Romo's falters at the end of the season. Let's take a look:
2006 (lost three of last four games): Romo bobbles snap against Seahawks.
2007 (lost two of last three games): Cowboys were No. 1 seed, no playoff wins.
2008 (lost three of last four games): Missed playoffs, lost 44-6 in final game of the season.
2009 (won final three games): Only playoff win of Romo's career.
2010 (injured): Injured in Week 7.
2011 (lost four of last five games): Three of last four opponents were in their NFC East division; they lost to them all.
2012 (lost last two games): Had chance to clinch division in Week 17.
Again, as you can clearly see above, Romo loses games at the end of the season at a very high rate. Why? I don't know. Maybe because it gets colder at the end of the season; the season does end in January after all.
With this new huge contract, the Cowboys can't help other big time issues such as their offensive line or secondary. Or getting a head coach for that matter.
