Tony Romo gets past those 'why?’ moments

By RANDY GALLOWAY

rgalloway@star-telegram.com

With Tony Romo there’s been, of course, more than a couple of throws this season that resulted in a collective response of "WHY?"

And that’s strictly the PG version. Most responses were salty enough to peel new paint at Jerry’s Arlington yard.

But that was then, meaning the Giants’ loss here in Game 2, and the Denver loss up there two weeks later.

The now? On Sunday night, of course, a rejuvenated and suddenly forgiven Romo (at least forgiven at the moment) faces his biggest challenge since those "then" games.

It’s Philly on the road. No other details are necessary.

But if you were ranking the worst Romo WHY? moment over the previous seven games, and then making a comparison with now, I’d suggest looking past even all that happened in Denver.

The king of bad occurred late in the third quarter against the Giants. Cowboys with a 24-20 lead, good field position in NY territory, and Romo heaved a deep one in the direction of Sam Hurd.

Except a backpedaling safety, unnoticed by Romo, had sniffed out the call, and the throw went into double, even triple, coverage. There was an easy pick. The game changed right there.

Even the most ardent supporter of Romo (no names, but he’s a former player now on local TV) sighed afterward, "I thought Tony had advanced beyond making that kind of mistake."

It was one of three Romo interceptions in that Giants’ game, which led to debate and ridicule.

"Let Romo be Romo," or the counter, "Romo can’t be Romo, not if the Cowboys expect to win."

Even one precinct in Buffalo checked in with "the Cowboys didn’t have a T.O. problem, they have a T.R. problem."

One national columnist called Romo "the biggest quarterbacking fraud in football" after the Giants loss.

Fast-forward to the now.

Three consecutive wins coincided with three consecutive interception-free games for Tony, a career first for him.

Tony Romo is a better QB right now, probably better than he’s ever been, one reason being the emergence of Miles Austin. Another reason is it’s an offense with multiple choices in the passing game and run game.

But Romo is also "seeing things," in his words. That sounds like immense progress to me. "I’m not throwing and hoping any more," he added.

Even with one negative blip on this spread-the-wealth offensive concept — Roy Williams — the head coach — yes, Wade — had the most telling comment of last week. "No one is saying that we’ve got to get the ball to Roy Williams," coach Phillips noted. Translation: We’re moving ahead. It’s Roy who has to get his game going.

Wade, of course, is the same guy a season ago who preached weekly on "we’ve got to get the ball to [I’m bleeping out the name]."

As good as Romo was against a quality opponent like Atlanta, and if you doubted the Falcons actually being quality, their game in New Orleans last Monday night shut you up for now, I thought Tony’s Seattle performance spoke even louder about where he is, or where his head is.

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