Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo got support from an unexpected place on Monday when Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki tweeted words of encouragement. While it's nice for Romo to hear some kind words after an onslaught of negativity, it just adds one more person he needs to impress.
Romo threw two key second-half interceptions against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, which changed the course of the entire game. That led to numerous football analysts to pile on his decision-making ability and prompted Nowitzki to voice his support.
Rarely has a quarterback with such a consistent track record of strong play received as much heat as Romo. Perhaps it comes with holding the job of Dallas Cowboys quarterback, but when you step back and look at his stats, they're pretty impressive.
Romo has complied a passer rating above 90 during each of his six years as the starter in “Big D.” Even though he's never been able to get over the elite hurdle and into the 100s, a quarterback in the 90s should be good enough to win a lot of games if his supporting cast provides enough help.
He's battled a painful rib injury to pass for nearly 600 yards over the last two weeks. Those two pick-six returns overshadow that courageous play, though.
And that's why Nowitzki probably felt the need to defend a fellow superstar. At this point, it's like kicking Romo while he's down. He knows he made some bad mistakes against the Lions and would love to have them back. That's not possible, though, so ripping him will just hurt his confidence moving forward.
At the end of the day, football is a team sport. Romo can't win the game by himself, and he can't lose it, either. The interceptions yesterday were bad, but if he had a stronger running game to rely on when they have a big lead, maybe those throws never happen.
There is always an urge to pick out a scapegoat whenever a team loses a heartbreaking game. More often than not with the Cowboys, it's Romo. Fair or not, that's just the way it is.
Like Nowitzki mentioned in his tweet, he's heard it all before. Winning cures all problems and that should remain Romo's sole focus. He's never going to please all the critics, so he just needs to focus on getting healthy and doing the best he can.
The best he can has been pretty darn good for the best six years, whether the prognosticators want to admit it or not.
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