The Cowboys lost to the Broncos Sunday 17-10, falling to 2-2. Tony Romo didn’t throw a touchdown pass in the game for the second straight week, the first time in his career that has happened (of course this happens when I draft him as my QB in the Coors Light Fantasy League, luckily I started Carson Palmer instead). Outside of week one against Tampa Bay, Romo hasn’t looked too good in general. That was the case against the Broncos — the stingiest defense in the NFL this season — who sacked him five times and forced two turnovers. Despite all that, Dallas had a chance to win the game after Romo’s passes brought them from the 20 all the way down to the 8 with 27 seconds left. The Cowboys had three shots and they took it to the two on a six yard pass to Patrick Crayton. On second down, Romo spiked the ball to stop the clock. On third down, Romo went one-on-one to Sam Hurd and the pass was broken up by Champ Bailey. The same exact thing happened on 4th down with a second left on the clock. Even though Dallas had turned the ball over on downs, Tony Romo apparently thought they’d have another play to run because there was still a second left on the clock. Here’s the description from Cowboys Corner via PFT:
Following the final incomplete pass to end the Cowboys hopes, a video caught on KDFW Fox-4 shows Romo seemingly telling his linemen to line back up. He then flashes three fingers to one of the game officials. After hearing the response, Romo screams and walks off field.
I was searching for this video but wasn’t able to find it to determine things for myself. From the sounds of things, Romo may have forgotten he spiked the ball to stop the clock on 2nd down, leaving just two plays for the offense to punch it in. With no timeouts, the Cowboys were forced to throw or risk having the clock run out for them. They twice went to Sam Hurd in a one-on-one matchup and Champ Bailey won both. If Roy Williams hadn’t been knocked out of the game earlier you figure they would have gone to him, but they were left with Hurd as the best option. One of the biggest problems for Dallas is that they have struggled to throw for TDs in the red zone. Big time. If this story is true, then it should be treated the same way the Donovan McNabb/overtime story was treated — the team had chances but didn’t accomplish its goals. The only difference is having that piece of missing information might have forced some “urgent button” to click in their heads, telling them to make a play at all costs.
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