Everyone seems to be criticizing Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo after his latest late-game meltdown.
Well, not everyone.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has no qualms about Romo’s effort during a two-turnover fourth quarter that caused the team to lose for the first time in franchise history while leading by 14 in the final 15 minutes.
“This may draw a little criticism, but I thought Tony played one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play,” Jones told KRLD-FM, via Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com. “You can make a big case that the way he played for three quarters was how we got there at the end and looked like for sure we were going to get the win. But he played outstanding.”
And Jones isn’t focused on the recent past, which includes Romo having a 1-7 record in his last eight starts. Jones thinks Romo can still help the team achieve the ultimate goal.
“He’s a winner,” Jones said. “We are going to rise and fall based on what Tony Romo’s about over the next several years, and I’m excited about that. We’ve got someone here that can, if we can get some other things together, we can have a team that gets us in position to have a shot.”
Jones disagrees with the notion that Romo isn’t a clutch player, but the facts are the facts. Romo fails in big moments, and until that changes the Cowboys won’t be as good as Jones wants them to be.
Until then, Jones can talk big all he wants, but the only stat that matters is the final score, and Romo’s “outstanding” performance resulted in a garden-variety loss.