Darren Woodson became the 21st member of the Cowboys Ring of Honor on Sunday. In his honor, the defense produced its first turnover in more than a month.
Is there any reason not to induct Tony Romo this Sunday against Philadelphia? The offense might feel emboldened to score a touchdown.
In fact, while there are news reports of Romo throwing on the side now in practice, I think a setback that holds him out until December would be enough to enshrine him in Canton, Ohio.
The longer fans go without seeing Romo, the closer to Staubach-Aikman status he climbs. Who's the last person to disappear and become this much more interesting?
Amelia Earhart? Elvis? Tupac?
(Just give me your age, I'll throw a reference at you.)
The Cowboys have been forced to play without Romo before, but they have never wheezed and sputtered quite like this. In fact, nobody really does.
Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, even Cleveland, have won games with backup quarterbacks this season. You could argue that the Jets and Washington, second-place teams at 4-3 and 3-4, respectively, have played all season with quarterbacks who were expected to be backups this summer.
It's not impossible. It's not a season-ender to lose your starter.
When Tom Brady was lost for 2008 in the season opener, the Patriots still posted an 11-5 record. I believe Matt Cassel was their quarterback.
The Cowboys were 6-9 without an injured Romo coming into this season. That record now sits at 6-14 as this team has settled into the NFC East basement with its inability to achieve even the most modest success without their leader.
As tight end Jason Witten said of Romo on Sunday, "There's no denying what kind of player he is, but we should still be able to go out and win games."
Or how about a game? Singular.
There is this general sense in the NFL that with 32 teams, no one has great backups. Steve Young doesn't wait patiently on the 49ers bench for something to happen. Craig Morton doesn't get taken with the fifth pick in the draft and then wait until his sixth season to grab the starting job (and get it then only because Don Meredith retired suddenly after the 1969 season).
We don't live in that era. The belief is that if you have to play your backup more than two to three weeks, you're finished anyway, so why overspend for a luxury that in many cases you won't use at all?
But we have seen the reverse of that this season. The Cowboys already have played five games without Romo. Had they figured out a way to win one of them -- just one -- and they have been tied or ahead in the fourth quarter in all but the New England game, they would be a half-game out of first in the East.
Instead, they have a five-game losing streak, and we keep shifting the floor on how far this team can fall and stay in the race in a weakened division.
Of course, Romo to the rescue is scheduled to begin in Miami in two weeks. Suddenly, those first two games -- (at Miami, Carolina on Thanksgiving) -- look more formidable than they did a month ago, not to mention the simple physical challenge Romo will face in playing so much football so quickly after two months of baking "crownies" or whatever he's been up to.
The falsehood is that all will be well when this team regains its quarterback. Do we really know that or even have reason to suspect it?
This was consistently an 8-8 team until it got an uncommon burst of production from DeMarco Murray in 2014. Joseph Randle not only didn't dominate this year, he lost his job here Tuesday. But even with Darren McFadden having taken over as the lead back, it's hard to see him duplicating the Murray role that was critical in limiting what Romo had to do from week to week.
On top of that, Dez Bryant also had a record-setting season with 16 touchdown catches in 2014. He hasn't thrown up the X since the 2014 season finale in Washington and has 60 receiving yards this season. You expect him to regain his role eventually, but receivers' production can fluctuate considerably from year to year.
And so we wait. Two more weeks and then Romo returns as the conquering hero with the expectation that he will deliver this team from whatever self-inflicted wounds it has incurred.
And you thought he was an MVP candidate in 2014.
Is there any reason not to induct Tony Romo this Sunday against Philadelphia? The offense might feel emboldened to score a touchdown.
In fact, while there are news reports of Romo throwing on the side now in practice, I think a setback that holds him out until December would be enough to enshrine him in Canton, Ohio.
The longer fans go without seeing Romo, the closer to Staubach-Aikman status he climbs. Who's the last person to disappear and become this much more interesting?
Amelia Earhart? Elvis? Tupac?
(Just give me your age, I'll throw a reference at you.)
The Cowboys have been forced to play without Romo before, but they have never wheezed and sputtered quite like this. In fact, nobody really does.
Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, even Cleveland, have won games with backup quarterbacks this season. You could argue that the Jets and Washington, second-place teams at 4-3 and 3-4, respectively, have played all season with quarterbacks who were expected to be backups this summer.
It's not impossible. It's not a season-ender to lose your starter.
When Tom Brady was lost for 2008 in the season opener, the Patriots still posted an 11-5 record. I believe Matt Cassel was their quarterback.
The Cowboys were 6-9 without an injured Romo coming into this season. That record now sits at 6-14 as this team has settled into the NFC East basement with its inability to achieve even the most modest success without their leader.
As tight end Jason Witten said of Romo on Sunday, "There's no denying what kind of player he is, but we should still be able to go out and win games."
Or how about a game? Singular.
There is this general sense in the NFL that with 32 teams, no one has great backups. Steve Young doesn't wait patiently on the 49ers bench for something to happen. Craig Morton doesn't get taken with the fifth pick in the draft and then wait until his sixth season to grab the starting job (and get it then only because Don Meredith retired suddenly after the 1969 season).
We don't live in that era. The belief is that if you have to play your backup more than two to three weeks, you're finished anyway, so why overspend for a luxury that in many cases you won't use at all?
But we have seen the reverse of that this season. The Cowboys already have played five games without Romo. Had they figured out a way to win one of them -- just one -- and they have been tied or ahead in the fourth quarter in all but the New England game, they would be a half-game out of first in the East.
Instead, they have a five-game losing streak, and we keep shifting the floor on how far this team can fall and stay in the race in a weakened division.
Of course, Romo to the rescue is scheduled to begin in Miami in two weeks. Suddenly, those first two games -- (at Miami, Carolina on Thanksgiving) -- look more formidable than they did a month ago, not to mention the simple physical challenge Romo will face in playing so much football so quickly after two months of baking "crownies" or whatever he's been up to.
The falsehood is that all will be well when this team regains its quarterback. Do we really know that or even have reason to suspect it?
This was consistently an 8-8 team until it got an uncommon burst of production from DeMarco Murray in 2014. Joseph Randle not only didn't dominate this year, he lost his job here Tuesday. But even with Darren McFadden having taken over as the lead back, it's hard to see him duplicating the Murray role that was critical in limiting what Romo had to do from week to week.
On top of that, Dez Bryant also had a record-setting season with 16 touchdown catches in 2014. He hasn't thrown up the X since the 2014 season finale in Washington and has 60 receiving yards this season. You expect him to regain his role eventually, but receivers' production can fluctuate considerably from year to year.
And so we wait. Two more weeks and then Romo returns as the conquering hero with the expectation that he will deliver this team from whatever self-inflicted wounds it has incurred.
And you thought he was an MVP candidate in 2014.
