Troy Aikman: Tony Romo has had a sensational season but still has incomplete business in the playoffs
Considering that back problems caused him to retire at the age of 34, former Cowboys quarterback and Hall of Famer Troy Aikman has taken a personal interest in Tony Romo’s back surgeries the past two years.
He has long been a fan of Romo but believed that the current Cowboys quarterback would be hard-pressed to continue to play at high level at the age of 34 following a second back surgery in as many off seasons.
After watching Romo have the best season of his career in 2014 _ leading the league in passer rating, completion percentage while throwing 34 touchdowns to just nine interceptions _ Aikman is happy to be wrong.
“He came out at the start of the year that he felt the best season was ahead of him. I didn’t agree with that,” Aikman said. “One reason was because of the back injuries. The defense was poor as we know. I didn’t know how much improvement was going to be on that side of the ball. And if you are playing from behind then you have to throw the ball and then you are getting hit and you got the back, I thought it would be challenging not because I didn’t think he had the talent. A lot of things have happened. Obviously, the commitment to the running game, which they could have done last year but chose not too, was key. The defense has been better. Those parts have helped. But yeah, (Romo’s year) has been sensational.”
Aikman also believes Romo has the best chance of quieting critics with a long post season run in 2014. He said this Cowboys team is better than the 13-3 squad that lost in the divisional round of the playoffs in 2007 and is heading into the playoffs playing as well as any team in the league.
The Cowboys (12-4) host the Detroit Lions (11-5) in the NFC Wild Card playoffs on Sunday.
“As he goes into the postseason this year, this team goes in with as much confidence and hitting their stride more than any team he’s been on,” Aikman said. “They are going to have to go on the road if they get past Detroit . That hasn’t fazed this team. They are playing as well as anybody in football.”
Aikman, however, doesn’t shy away from the notion that Romo, who owns almost all of the Cowboys passing records and surpassed him in career yards in 2014, has some incomplete business to his legacy.
“The reason Jerry Jones pays anyone in this locker room the amount of money he pays them is not so they can win division titles,” Aikman said. "It wasn’t why he paid me. There’s more to it than that. Historically for quarterbacks and coaches our legacies are defined by what we have done in the post season. This has been a heck of ride for him but there is incomplete business."
Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin is agreement with his former Cowboys teammate in saying this is Romo's best chance to win and this team has as good a chance as any in the league to reach the Super Bowl.
"In Week One, preseason, my Super Bowl picks were Seattle and New England," Irvin said. "I still hold onto my Super Bowl picks being Seattle and New England. But I have said this, if anyone can crash that party, or the only one that I believe can crash that party is Dallas. Dallas is the only team that has the ability to go into Seattle and beat Seattle. I know we’re looking past going into Lambeau and beating Green Bay, but they can do that too. They have a shot to crash this party, man. And you feel they have that sense of confidence that everyone may be saying that it’s a little early, but we can prove them wrong."
Irvin said compares the Cowboys recent hot streak to his 1992 team that came out of nowhere to win the first of three Super Bowl titles in 1990s.
Some people believe the Cowboys should be pleased with the progress they made from 8-8 teams of the last three years and build toward a run next year but Irvin said they can do it now.
"It does. It reminds me of the first year we won," Irvin said. "It was a little early, everyone thought we would lose to San Francisco and we were ready to count _ we meaning you guys, everyone else was ready to count that as a good year _ except in that locker room, that was unacceptable. We knew it. We felt it. And that’s what you sense here. Especially the last couple of weeks. We have been putting 40 points on the board. It’s almost like they said OK, now we’re here and we’re going to show it, we’re going to prove it. There’s a great opportunity there."
This story was originally published January 2, 2015 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Troy Aikman: Tony Romo has had a sensational season but still has incomplete business in the playoffs."