One of the annoying things, when people think you're soft, is there's only one way to break it. Sometimes, even if you break it, you can unbreak it---Peyton Manning, somehow, went from extremely unclutch to, when he finally won a superbowl, clutch, to unclutch again as he's struggled to win another one.
Quarterback A, last 6 games: 10 TDs, 2 INTs, 1633 yards, 64% completion percentage
Quarterback B, last 6 games: 14 TDs, 3 INTs, 1479 yards, 70% completion percentage
It probably won't surprise you to learn that these are the two QBs in this weekend's matchup, or that Romo is QB A. I'm not saying Romo is better than, or as good as, Rodgers. He isn't. Nobody is. Maybe nobody ever was. But Romo has been playing the best ball of his life when the Cowboys need it the most.
Now, I understand Detroit fans being a little upset, although I think they're prognosticating a little bit harder than might be justified. One might say that when you get outscored 17-3 in the second half of a game, it's not entirely because of a bad foul call. One might say that when the other team converts on fourth down on both of their second half TDs, maybe stop those fourth down plays and then you won't have to worry about bad foul calls.
But there is nothing in any of that which means that Romo wasn't terrific. He started slow, very slow. 0-2 on the first drive. It turned into 1-3, 1-4, 1-6. By the end of the first quarter, he was only 3-8. Then 3-10. But then, suddenly, with 2:15 left in the half, on 3rd and 12, he threw a 76-yard TD pass.
Another TD on his second drive of the 3rd Q, on 4th down. Got a field goal out of the next one. TD on the next, including a conversion on 4th and 6, on the DET 42.
Plus, they won by 4 points. Which, if you're scoring at home, means that with the season down to its last half (give or take 2 minutes), Romo led the Cowboys to scores on 4 of his last 5 possessions, and the only one he didn't resulted in a missed FG. Since they needed every point they got, it means the season had shrunk to its last down twice. In which cases, Romo was 2-2.
It was a tremendously clutch performance. It will have been, no matter what happens this week. And it was something a lot of Cowboys fans always knew Romo could do if they ever got a line in front of him to take a little of the pressure off.
Whatever happens this week, this will all still have been true.
