Same ol' Romo: Big Plays and Big Errors
Albert Breer - SportingNews.com
Sep 21, 2009
Crushing loss. Depressed locker room. And there's Tony Romo, the quarterback to which this franchise's hopes are pinned, at his stall, slowly getting dressed and trying to take in where it all came undone.
This time, it so happened to occur during the grand opening of the new $1.15 billion home, against the team that took NFC East title from the Cowboys last year. On a night Jerry Jones and his franchise tried to make extraordinary possible, the manner of losing was strikingly ordinary for Dallas.
Romo made big mistakes, and the team paid for them. His three interceptions were the biggest reason why the Giants hung in to finally throw the knockout blow in a 33-31 win. Just like his big mistakes cost the team dearly in losses last December to Pittsburgh and Baltimore that knocked Dallas out of the playoff picture.
"Our team played some really good football, and I think that my mistakes put us in a hole and allowed them to capitalize on some things," Romo said. "I thought the defense played great for us. I think offensive line played wonderful. We had some guys who made some plays tonight.
"I really cost us this one."
And here's how:
* Romo's first interception, which he threw behind and over the head of Patrick Crayton, was intercepted by undrafted rookie Bruce Johnson and retuned for a touchdown, giving the Giants a 10-7 lead.
* His second interception was a throw behind Jason Witten that he barely got a hand on and then bounced off Witten's foot and into the hands of Kenny Phillips inside the Dallas 30. If the referee hadn't had a quick whistle, Phillips would've had a touchdown, too. Three plays later, the Giants scored anyway, to take a 20-14 lead.
* Phillips -- whom Romo said he didn't see -- fielded the third interception as if it was a punt, as the quarterback floated the ball deep to Sam Hurd. The line of scrimmage on the play was the Giants' 46. It was first-and-10, and the Cowboys led 24-20. And the Giants took the ball and went 73 yards in four plays to score and regain the lead.
So, to summarize, the Cowboys held a lead as Romo threw each of his three interceptions, and the end result of all three was Dallas losing that lead. And, as the quarterback said, it's not as if the Cowboys weren't battling through the problems. It's just that, eventually, those catch up with a team.
"It doesn't feel like a wasted effort, man," Cowboys wide receiver Patrick Crayton said. "Just have to eliminate turnovers. That told the tale of the ballgame."
At the end of the game, the two sides traded blows. The Giants pushed the lead to 30-24 with a field goal, the Cowboys responded by going 71 yards in seven plays for a touchdown, and the Giants finally finished Dallas off with an 11-play, 56-yard drive to set up the game-winning field goal.
But both sides knew how they got there. The Cowboys controlled the line of scrimmage with surprising ease, rushing for 251 yards and holding the Giants' running game in check.
The difference was plain and simple.
"We knew coming in they were an explosive offense, and we had to get turnovers," Giants quarterback Eli Manning said. "(The defense) did a great job scoring and getting those interceptions."
If there's an upside for Dallas, it's that Romo took the problem head on, saying, "I'm really not OK with it, and I'll try to rectify it tomorrow and get better and improve."
Simple enough to say that.
As history shows, it's much harder to actually do it.
Staff writer Albert Breer covers the NFL for Sporting News. E-mail him at abreer@sportingnews.com.
----
Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion
Copyright 2012 by SportingNews.com
