|
It was interesting to listen to Danny White talk the other day on Sirius/XM radio about Tony Romo. White and Romo are similar in some respects. White failed to get his team to a Super Bowl, despite three consecutive trips to the NFC title game in the 1980s. Romo has yet to get his team past the second-round of the postseason.  Romo has better numbers than White, because he plays in a pass-happy era.
But here was White on Wednesday talking about how Romo is the perfect fit for this Dallas Cowboys team and that blame shouldn’t be placed solely on No. 9 for the failures to reach the postseason the past four seasons. “I don’t know if there’s ever been a more athletic quarterback,” White said. “People keep saying they need to get somebody else, I don’t think there’s another quarterback in the league that would be a better fit for the Cowboys and what they need, because he has to be able to move. He has to be able to improvise, with the offense he’s got.” White had a six-year stretch where he led the Cowboys to three NFC title games, two division titles and two years of missing the postseason, 1983 and 1984. Romo, since becoming a starter in 2006, has missed the postseason five times, won two division titles and is 1-3 in the playoffs. Would you prefer Romo’s resume over White’s? Overall, White went 62-30 in replacing Roger Staubach and finished his career with 12 fourth-quarter comebacks and 16 game-winning drives. Romo is 63-45 as a starter, is the franchise-leader in touchdowns thrown, and is second to Troy Aikman in completions and yards. White’s praise of Romo stems from watching him for several years as a radio analyst for Dallas games. White, of course, understands the pressures of the quarterback position for the Cowboys. For White, he replaced a Staubach, a Hall of Famer, a legendary figure in the NFL. Romo didn’t replace a legendary figure, just an aging one. He took over for Drew Bledsoe. Yet, the expectations to succeed at quarterback for the Cowboys are very high. Staubach won two Super Bowls and Aikman three. Any other quarterback after them is judged by that standard. Romo can’t get to the postseason, let alone a Super Bowl. “It’s just a matter of putting a few pieces together, and Romo is certainly as capable as anybody of getting that team to the Super Bowl,” White said. “The one thing that they have made a point of is making sure that he’s paid what he’s worth, and I don’t think there’s any question that Tony’s laughing all the way to the back on that one.” While Romo has the better numbers than White, his resume is lacking something: More playoff wins. He doesn’t have enough. Until he can do better in that area, White’s career should be viewed in a better light than Romo's.
|
