If Dallas Cowboys finish strong, Tony Romo has to be considered for MVP

IRVING — Tony Romo for MVP.

I shudder at the thought because Keyshawn Johnson said it best long ago, he is the most overhyped quarterback in the league.

You can also add the most googled, the most talked about and the subject of most paparazzi to the list.

And the quarterback most written about in books (thanks to Mac Engel) who has yet to do anything substantive.

He has two Pro Bowls and has already rewritten the Cowboys record books, but has yet to record a playoff win.

In a day and time when bling and sizzle are all that matters, this is what you get when you become an overnight sensation for America’s team and have a pop star girlfriend.

But listen closely, if the Cowboys finish this season in the playoffs, and that means probably going at least 3-1 over the final four games, how can you not consider Romo for the league’s most valuable player award?

Certainly, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is the front-runner for the award.

But the talk of Arizona’s Kurt Warner and New Orleans’ Drew Brees as viable candidates puts Romo in the cross hairs of consideration.

His raw numbers stack up with any of them despite missing three games.

Romo is first in the league in passer rating at 103.2. He is first in average yards per attempt with 8.5 He is tied for fourth in touchdown passes with 21, just three behind co-leaders Brees and Warner, who have 24.

But the thing that sets Manning, who will not win any statistical awards, apart is the same thing that separates Romo. Manning is 11-1 as a starter on the league’s best team. Well, Romo is 7-2 as a starter.

And if you didn’t know how valuable he was to everything the Cowboys do — offense and defense — then you learned it over the past six games.

The Cowboys were 1-2 when he missed three games with a broken pinkie and were seemingly left for dead with a 5-4 overall record.

It goes without saying that the Cowboys have been a different team ever since he returned, winning three consecutive games to get right back into playoff contention heading into Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh. The improvement on offense has allowed the defense to play better. You can get seven sacks as they did last Thursday when you are playing with a lead.

Romo has passed for more than 300 yards the past two games as the Cowboys offense has suddenly become explosive again. He has six 300-yard games in nine starts this season — one shy of the club record for a season he set last year.

If Romo breaks that mark, the numbers won’t be as hollow as they were in 2007, when he was basically competing against air. The Cowboys have historically had a run-oriented or balanced attack, so it doesn’t take much to break records in a pass-happy system.

Make no mistake about it, the Cowboys are a pass-first team under coordinator Jason Garrett and any success they hope to have is predicated on Romo playing at a high level and filling up the stat sheet.

And as well as Romo is playing right now — tight end Jason Witten says he is playing better than he ever has — he is going to have to continue this hot streak if the Cowboys are going to make a run to the playoffs and then do something in the postseason.

And if he does and they do.

How can you make a case that anyone had played as well or was more valuable to their team than Mr. Overhyped and Deservedly so himself.

Whatever happened to ...

Now indulge me for a minute while I channel my inner Blackie Sherrod and do a little scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Jacques Reeves.

Oh, yeah that was him Monday night playing for the Houston Texans, looking nothing like the toasted cornerback of Cowboys lore. Reeves had a pick and couple of nice pass deflections. All totaled, Reeves has four interceptions, 16 pass deflections and no suspensions so far this season. Can anybody in the Cowboys defensive backfield say the same? ...

The Cowboys better understand the task before them in the month of December, because going 2-2 and finishing 10-6 probably won’t be enough to get in the playoffs because of their poor conference record, that is unless they are in a wild-card tie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That would require Tampa Bay to go 1-3 over the final month and that ain’t likely happening.