The pressure is on Romo

Let's not forget that T.O. is 35 years old. A rapid decline in his game is very possible very, very soon. They gave up a ton for Roy Williams, time to see if can be an explosive and reliable #1 WR. Imo Roy Williams at age 27 can be as good of a #1 WR as T.O. at 35 would be so I don't see much of a dropoff for Romo in terms of weapons he can use. And without having to worry about forcing the ball to T.O. he should thrive in spreading the ball around. When you factor in the Marion Barber & Felix Jones combo I think Dallas' offense is going to really good.

"Romo is just an overhyped back up" ???

Let's look at the facts. I'll go ahead and grant 0-2 in the playoffs...just like Payton Manning for the first half dozen years of his career. I'll even hand you coming up lame in the Philly game last year, even though it wasn't Romo failing to catch balls or cover anyone. Anytime your Pro Bowl corner is getting repeatedly worked over by a rookie, that's not Romo's fault.

No, he hasn't proven to be *elite* yet, not like Brady, Manning, or Roethlisberger. That's the stuff people earn in the postseason. But fans of about three quarters of NFL teams would gladly trade their guy under center for Romo in an instant.

In three years, Romo has completed 63.6% of his passes, thrown 81 TDs vs 46 picks, and is running a 94.7 QB rating. His QB rating in the 4th quarter of games is 113.4. If there's any backup in the league capable of this kind of production, they're not backups anymore.

The logic of getting TO out of there makes *complete* sense for anyone who watched Dallas last year. Seeing TO struggle to get off the line, only to go "alligator arms" on slant routes and get Romo picked off, it just was sickening. So much of their offense seemed designed to keep TO occupied (line up in slot, in backfield, in motion) the way a second-grade teacher has to keep the ADHD kid busy.

When Sterling Sharpe retired, people thought Brett Favre was done. "What's he going to do without a real #1 receiver? Sterling made that crazy hick look so good." All Favre did was go on to win a Super Bowl and MVP awards. All Romo has to do is win a playoff game or two. He won't have to explain to TO why he threw to the OPEN receiver.

Cali hit the nail on the head, it is the offensive line that is worrisome. They are aging and none of the backups have shown any real promise. Flozell Adams at the all important LT position seems to be going downhill but there's no real replacement for him. If two linemen go down with injury then the season is probably over. This really should have been addressed in the draft but was almost completely ignored. JJ seems to have forgotten that the 3 rings from the 90s were the result of one of the best offensive lines ever, not just the triplets. The skill position players as a group are the best in the NFC East.

The 'boys are easy to hate, and I sure do that, but I also try to be fair. T.O. had value against the Pack last year..we pretty much shut him down, but unfortunately everyone else lit us up. I think T.O. is nuts, but that doesn't mean he isn't seriously good as a WR.

I don't know what the net will be having got rid of him. All I know is that the failure of the Cowboys in the playoffs has been more than a little surprising. That team has talent, including the QB. Man, I hate that, and will not be surprised in the least if that is evidenced by a serious run both at and possibly through the Super Bowl.

I knew my team was done last year after that game. That one hurt, alot, so props for that.

The mid-season story for the Cowboys is going to be who can they get to replace the production they lost from TO.

Matt - take a closer look at TO's stats especially last year and they are very hollow stats. Yes theyt look gaudy but look at his game by game numbers and they don't impress. He had a long stretch of zero 100 yard games - 10, longer if you go back to 2007 - and he blew up against the Niners and topped 100 yards against the Eagles in Week 17, but other than that, he wasn't a gamebreaker like in years past. He never had double digit catches. But he did have a lot of looks and passes thrown his way. I don't have the stats but a lot of passes were picked off that were thrown to TO.

I hope Dallas doesn't find someone who can drop as many passes as TO did last year - 36 - which led the NFL. I certainly won't miss that.

The real issue for the passing game is whether or not Roy Williams can earn double coverage; right now, most teams are probably scheming him man and focusing on stopping Witten. If Williams can draw doubles then it will be a good year for the Dallas passing game. TO really couldn't beat doubles unless the safety beat his lame double move. TO only seemed to try when he had a vertical route and could sprint. He can't beat press coverage and a safety with good coverage skills really neutralizes him.

Romo's big issue is ball security. I'm not talking about INT because those will happen with a QB like him. It's the sack-fumbles. He has to hold onto the ball with two hands and protect the ball in the pocket. With the INT, to me, you can't get all hyped up about Romo when he creates on the fly and hits the deep ball and then criticize him when he does the same thing but chucks an INT. Yes you'd like to avoid that, but that's his game. If the coaches are uncomfortable with that, then get somebody else in there.

Bottom line - TO gave Dallas some good years and increased popcorn sales. But Jones the GM finally learned that the best talent doesn't win titles, the best team does and convinced Jones the Owner that he could live without him. Frankly after the Deion interview, he should've been cut.

"Romo is just an overhyped back up" ???

Let's look at the facts. I'll go ahead and grant 0-2 in the playoffs...just like Payton Manning for the first half dozen years of his career. I'll even hand you coming up lame in the Philly game last year, even though it wasn't Romo failing to catch balls or cover anyone. Anytime your Pro Bowl corner is getting repeatedly worked over by a rookie, that's not Romo's fault.

No, he hasn't proven to be *elite* yet, not like Brady, Manning, or Roethlisberger. That's the stuff people earn in the postseason. But fans of about three quarters of NFL teams would gladly trade their guy under center for Romo in an instant.

In three years, Romo has completed 63.6% of his passes, thrown 81 TDs vs 46 picks, and is running a 94.7 QB rating. His QB rating in the 4th quarter of games is 113.4. If there's any backup in the league capable of this kind of production, they're not backups anymore.

The logic of getting TO out of there makes *complete* sense for anyone who watched Dallas last year. Seeing TO struggle to get off the line, only to go "alligator arms" on slant routes and get Romo picked off, it just was sickening. So much of their offense seemed designed to keep TO occupied (line up in slot, in backfield, in motion) the way a second-grade teacher has to keep the ADHD kid busy.

When Sterling Sharpe retired, people thought Brett Favre was done. "What's he going to do without a real #1 receiver? Sterling made that crazy hick look so good." All Favre did was go on to win a Super Bowl and MVP awards. All Romo has to do is win a playoff game or two. He won't have to explain to TO why he threw to the OPEN receiver.

Tony Romo is not the quarterback Jerry Jones or Cowboy fans think he is. I would rather have Tyler Thigpen at the helm. And that is no pun intended. Sadly, we will all get to watch the demise of Romo. At least I will. I have got my NFL sunday ticket. I am ready for some football. Too bad; the cowboys ending will be yet another disappointing season.

Tony Romo is not the quarterback Jerry Jones or Cowboy fans think he is. I would rather have Tyler Thigpen at the helm. And that is no pun intended. Sadly, we will all get to watch the demise of Romo. At least I will. I have got my NFL sunday ticket. I am ready for some football. Too bad; the cowboys ending will be yet another disappointing season.

Redskins get fine quarterback play. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I take Campbell over Romo every day of the week. That doesn't mean the Skins are going to be a playoff team or that Campbell's going to a pro bowl. Snyder and Cerrato would never let that happen. We refuse to address the real issues in DC. We prefer to scapegoat coaches and quarterbacks.

The offensive line is the weakest link, yet we roll out the red carpet for Haynesworth/Orakpo to add to a top-5 defense. To fix the offensive line we let everyone get another year older, bring in a 670 pounder that hasn't played football in 10 years and a guy who committed 53 penalties and allowed 38 sacks last year. When the Skins go .500 this year it won't be Campbell's fault.

How's this for a prediction? Redskins don't protect the QB, don't go to the playoffs and don't resign Campbell. Titans sign him and run VY out of town. The trophy goes to Tennessee.

Iconoclast, you said it all. Excellent post in response to an article written by someone who doesn't look beyond the headlines. I would simply like to add that the left side of the Cowboys' OL was absolutely atrocious last year; especially against the better defensive teams. How Big Flo keeps going to Pro Bowls, I'll never know.

Everyone talks about Romo's 0-2 record in playoff games. Well, to those "statistics" I will simply reply that Tony Romo, the QB, had the Cowboys in position to almost certainly win against the Seahawks in 2007. It was Tony Romo, the placement holder, that bobbled the snap at the most inopportune time. Then, in the 2008 playoff game against the Giants when "Romo" lost his second playoff game. As I recall, Romo did everything except run down field and catch his own passes that the receivers let sail through their hands, or failed to run the pattern to completion.

And finally, regarding the Cowboys dismal December record the past several years: how many of those losses belong to Bill Parcells and his QBs, Bledsoe and Testaverde?