Tony Romo, long time Dallas Cowboys’ Quarterback, has retired at the age of 36 to pursue a career in sports broadcasting with CBS.
Romo, a native of San Diego, had been the Cowboys’ starter ever since taking over from Drew Bledsoe in the 2006 season. This past season, Romo was sidelined due to injury and the emergence of rising star Dak Prescott at the position. Romo’s career was an enigma, to say the least. Let’s examine some of his successes and failures throughout.
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His failures all began Jan. 6, 2007 in the Wild Card game against Shaun Alexander, Matt Hasslebeck and the Seattle Seahawks. Leading the field down for a touchdown, all Romo had to do was handle the snap cleanly and the Cowboys would advance. Alas, the snap slipped through Romo’s hands and the Cowboys went home packing in Romo’s first season as starter.
It was week 17 and the Cowboys were playing the Philadelphia Eagles in a (playoffs) affair Dec. 28, 2008. Romo laid an absolute egg throwing for just 183 yards with a passer rating of 55.8. The Cowboys got rocked 44-6. It was never even a game. Enough said.
The Cowboys returned to the playoffs in 2010 and got promptly annihilated by Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers 34-3. Romo once again threw no touchdowns and for under 200 yards in what was an embarrassing defeat for America’s team.
2012, week 17, my personal favorite. The Cowboys played the Giants, and once again, it was not even close, as the Cowboys fell miserably to the Giants in a 31-14 thumping by Eli and Co.
Week 17 of the following season and the Cowboys were in yet another win and were up against the Washington Redskins (starting to notice a trend here?) Romo threw three interceptions, including a game-clinching one at the end of the fourth quarter. The Cowboys fell short again.
For his career, Romo holds a 2 and 4 record in the playoffs as well as a 0-3 record in other win or go home games. This, paired with Romo’s lack of durability throughout his career and failure to ever even reach a Super Bowl, casts a dark light on the career of the quarterback who was supposed to bring America’s team back to the promised land.
