It's possible.
Tony Romo's swagger has some teeth.
Telling Tom Brady in October he'd see him again in February, then tweeting this past week a film clip from "Major League" saying there's nothing left to do but "win the whole [expletive] thing..."
Ah, yes. I like a quarterback with confidence. And there is a precedent for a team overcoming a potentially crippling loss of a franchise quarterback for a lengthy stretch of a season and then winning a Super Bowl upon his return. Romo returns to the starting lineup for the Cowboys for the first time in eight games Sunday in the town where that miracle occurred.
The Miami Dolphins lost their future Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese with a fractured ankle in the fifth week of the 1972 season. He sat out 11 games and did not return until the AFC championship, where he steered Miami to victories over Pittsburgh and then Washington in the Super Bowl to deliver the Dolphins the first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
But there's a difference between the 1972 Dolphins and the 2015 Cowboys. A colossal difference.
Miami's backup Earl Morrall won all 11 of his starts to put Griese in the position to become a hero. Tony Romo's backups Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel lost all seven of their starts to hand Romo a season in tatters at 2-7. Morrall went to the Pro Bowl for his efforts and finished second in the NFL MVP balloting.
Weeden and Cassel also are MVP candidates -- most vulnerable player. They produced more turnovers (seven) than touchdown passes (five) during their seven starts and failed to generate a single offensive TD in three of the losses. The Cowboys released Weeden upon the return of Romo.
Now Tony Romo is again talking Super Bowl. Or tweeting such talk, anyway.
But 2-7 doesn't appear that distant in the NFC East, where the New York Giants and first place are a mere two losses away. So a division title looms almost as much a reality as a fantasy for the Cowboys.
Through all of the down years -- and there have been many since the Cowboys last hoisted a Lombardi Trophy in 1996 -- owner Jerry Jones continued to prattle about finding a way to get into the tournament. If you can just get there, he reasoned, you've got a chance.
Green Bay proved that in 2010 when the Packers sneaked into the playoffs as a wild card on the final day of the season -- and then became a rare sixth seed to capture a Super Bowl. But those Packers were 10-6 on the season. And they were 7-3 over the first 10 weeks to put themselves in position to salvage their season in the playoffs.
These Cowboys would have to win out just to finish 9-7 and hope it's good enough to win the division. The only 9-7 team ever to win a Super Bowl was the 2011 Giants -- and they sat a respectable 6-4 at the 10-game mark. The best the Cowboys can do after 10 games is 3-7.
There have been 49 Super Bowl champions in history. The worst record of any champion at the 10-game mark was 5-5 by the New England Patriots in 2001. But the Patriots were transitioning eras from Drew Bledsoe to Tom Brady that season.
Brady stepped in for an injured Bledsoe in the third week of the season after an 0-2 start. Brady then dropped two of his first five starts before anyone realized this quarterback wasn't supposed to lose games. Fourteen years later, Brady has four Super Bowl rings and the best winning percentage of any quarterback in the game's modern era at 78.2.
But Tony Romo is no Tom Brady -- and neither Brandon Weeden nor Matt Cassel was any Earl Morrall.
There are holes that surfaced on this team beyond the quarterback position these last seven weeks.
The offensive line has allowed three or more sacks in five of the losses, surrendering their 2014 billing as the best blocking front in the NFL. Defensively, the Cowboys have forced only six turnovers _ 17 fewer than the East-leading Giants -- and only three of those takeaways have come during this losing streak. The last interception by a cornerback was Orlando Scandrick 13 games ago.
The Cowboys are a team with problems. But Romo's return provides the hope for some solutions.
Tony Romo's swagger has some teeth.
Telling Tom Brady in October he'd see him again in February, then tweeting this past week a film clip from "Major League" saying there's nothing left to do but "win the whole [expletive] thing..."
Ah, yes. I like a quarterback with confidence. And there is a precedent for a team overcoming a potentially crippling loss of a franchise quarterback for a lengthy stretch of a season and then winning a Super Bowl upon his return. Romo returns to the starting lineup for the Cowboys for the first time in eight games Sunday in the town where that miracle occurred.
The Miami Dolphins lost their future Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese with a fractured ankle in the fifth week of the 1972 season. He sat out 11 games and did not return until the AFC championship, where he steered Miami to victories over Pittsburgh and then Washington in the Super Bowl to deliver the Dolphins the first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
But there's a difference between the 1972 Dolphins and the 2015 Cowboys. A colossal difference.
Miami's backup Earl Morrall won all 11 of his starts to put Griese in the position to become a hero. Tony Romo's backups Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel lost all seven of their starts to hand Romo a season in tatters at 2-7. Morrall went to the Pro Bowl for his efforts and finished second in the NFL MVP balloting.
Weeden and Cassel also are MVP candidates -- most vulnerable player. They produced more turnovers (seven) than touchdown passes (five) during their seven starts and failed to generate a single offensive TD in three of the losses. The Cowboys released Weeden upon the return of Romo.
Now Tony Romo is again talking Super Bowl. Or tweeting such talk, anyway.
But 2-7 doesn't appear that distant in the NFC East, where the New York Giants and first place are a mere two losses away. So a division title looms almost as much a reality as a fantasy for the Cowboys.
Through all of the down years -- and there have been many since the Cowboys last hoisted a Lombardi Trophy in 1996 -- owner Jerry Jones continued to prattle about finding a way to get into the tournament. If you can just get there, he reasoned, you've got a chance.
Green Bay proved that in 2010 when the Packers sneaked into the playoffs as a wild card on the final day of the season -- and then became a rare sixth seed to capture a Super Bowl. But those Packers were 10-6 on the season. And they were 7-3 over the first 10 weeks to put themselves in position to salvage their season in the playoffs.
These Cowboys would have to win out just to finish 9-7 and hope it's good enough to win the division. The only 9-7 team ever to win a Super Bowl was the 2011 Giants -- and they sat a respectable 6-4 at the 10-game mark. The best the Cowboys can do after 10 games is 3-7.
There have been 49 Super Bowl champions in history. The worst record of any champion at the 10-game mark was 5-5 by the New England Patriots in 2001. But the Patriots were transitioning eras from Drew Bledsoe to Tom Brady that season.
Brady stepped in for an injured Bledsoe in the third week of the season after an 0-2 start. Brady then dropped two of his first five starts before anyone realized this quarterback wasn't supposed to lose games. Fourteen years later, Brady has four Super Bowl rings and the best winning percentage of any quarterback in the game's modern era at 78.2.
But Tony Romo is no Tom Brady -- and neither Brandon Weeden nor Matt Cassel was any Earl Morrall.
There are holes that surfaced on this team beyond the quarterback position these last seven weeks.
The offensive line has allowed three or more sacks in five of the losses, surrendering their 2014 billing as the best blocking front in the NFL. Defensively, the Cowboys have forced only six turnovers _ 17 fewer than the East-leading Giants -- and only three of those takeaways have come during this losing streak. The last interception by a cornerback was Orlando Scandrick 13 games ago.
The Cowboys are a team with problems. But Romo's return provides the hope for some solutions.
