The Dallas Cowboys had a 24-17 lead over the New York Jets, and the ball at the Jets’ 2-yard line, with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter on Sunday night. A touchdown would have been nice, but even a field goal likely would have sealed the win for the Cowboys.
And then Tony Romo’s nightmare began.
Romo tried to run for a touchdown himself when he couldn’t find anyone open in the end zone, and not only did he not score, but he fumbled, and the Jets recovered. That fumble — and an interception later in the fourth quarter when Darrelle Revis stepped in front of a pass Romo was trying to throw to Dez Bryant — allowed the Jets to pull off a miraculous 27-24 come-from-behind win on Sunday night.
The Cowboys appeared to have the game in hand before Romo’s fumble, and Romo had been having a good game up until that point. Romo’s final numbers — he completed 22 of 35 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns — look like the numbers of a quarterback who had a big game. But those two fourth-quarter turnovers were the difference in this game.
Romo is far from the only one who deserves blame for the Cowboys losing a game they led 24-10 with 12 minutes to play, but his turnovers are what we’ll all be talking about on Monday morning. Romo came up short in crunch time, and the Cowboys are 0-1.