QB Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys

HT: 6-2, WT: 219, Born: 4-21-1980, College: Eastern Illinois, Drafted: ---

2013 Projections

Average draft position

Current as of May 6th. [Full ADP list]

Overall: S Smith (68), J Jones (69), Tony Romo (70), R Mendenhall (71), S Johnson (72)
Position: A Luck (65-QB10), R Griffin III (66-QB11), Tony Romo (70 - QB12), E Manning (89-QB13), B Roethlisberger (104-QB14)
Click here for a comparison of these players.

Latest News

Cowboys | Want quarterbacks engaged and involved (Fri May 17, 02:31 PM) - Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said he wants quarterback QB Tony Romo engaged and involved in communicating between the coaches and the players. 'The thing that we want from our quarterbacks is we want them to be engaged and involved,' Garrett said. 'Tony has always been that. Communication between all of our players and coaching staff is critical. It's certainly critical with that position."

Cowboys | Tony Romo's role not changing (Thu May 16, 01:03 PM) - Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett has downplayed the fact that owner Jerry Jones said QB Tony Romo will have a significantly larger role in the offense this season. 'It's really been similar to every quarterback situation that I've been involved in with every team that I've been involved in,' Garrett. 'In every place in this organization and in others, you're trying to get that kind of rapport between your starting quarterback and the coaching staff, and we've had it, and we'll continue to have that.'

Our View: Garrett is trying to downplay the situation here but if Jones wants more Romo then Jones will eventually get just that. We'll be able to see if Romo has more control over the offense when the team gets to the regular season.
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Cowboys | Tony Romo to be more involved (Wed May 15, 04:32 PM) - Dallas Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said that QB Tony Romo will have more involvement than any player since QB Troy Aikmen. Head coach Jason Garrett said it will be no more than any other veteran quarterback.

Our View: Perhaps more freedom for Romo will increase his comfort as a passer. Fantasy owners can wait until the top of round eight to nab Romo as his current ADP is QB12.
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Cowboys | Tony Romo playing less golf (Tue May 7, 08:44 AM) - Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo has passed on several golf tournaments he usually plays in during the offseason. He has been heavily criticized in the past for his golf commitments.

Our View: Tony Romo threw eight interceptions while under duress last season, most in the NFL. We'll see if the upgrades on the O-Line can protect him better this year. Romo needs to play better under pressure if the Cowboys want to make a serious run at the playoffs.
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2013 Schedule

2012 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Tony Romo was almost perfect against the Giants on opening night and took apart the Giants secondary that was suffering with injuries. Romo broke out his amazing chemistry with secret weapon WR Ogletree and connected on many slant patterns that broke the Giants back on third down and was a good go-to play when a conversion was needed. Romo was patient in the pocket, trusted his offensive line at times but also mobile and ran outside when needed. He was very aware of the situation, took what the defense gave him but made them pay when they made a mistake. Romo did have one mistake early, throwing an interception. Romo got pressured early and threw a very poor pass up in the middle of the defense, that was easily picked off by LB Boley and almost returned for a touchdown. Romo shook this off after and proceeded to pick apart the NYG. Romo found WR Bryant a lot, including a deep terrific sideline pass to set up a touchdown for DAL. He also used Bryant on slants against man coverage to take advantage of the depleted NYG secondary. Romo was able to roll out of the pocket and buy time for his WR Ogletree to uncover from the defense. Ogletree beat his man on a double move and Romo threw a perfect pass for the touchdown. Romo found Ogletree again over the middle of the defense in the redzone as he was matched up against a LB, giving the Cowboys a very easy opportunity for the touchdown. Romo also found WR Austin deep down the field for this third touchdown; Romo threw a good pass down the sideline to Austin who simply let the NYG defenders completely misplay the ball before walking into the endzone untouched. Romo sealed the game with a first down on a slant play to Ogletree and the Giants made too many mistakes for Romo to see and capitalize on.

Week 2 - Facing a 10-point deficit, in one of the more hostile environments against one of the league’s better defenses, Tony Romo and the Dallas offense really struggled on Sunday. Romo’s pass catchers did little to help the offense either, especially normally sure handed all-pro TE Jason Witten. Romo’s best results can essentially be summed up in one drive. Starting on their five-yard line, Romo appeared to get the offense going on the lone scoring drive (and like the week prior came after a bad INT the drive before). Romo found Witten up the seam for 17 yards on 3rd down (the first of four 3rd down conversions on the drive). The next play, Romo did a nice job spinning out of a blitz, but slightly underthrew a wide-open Witten who did little to box out the scrambling K.J. Wright as the pass fell through Witten’s arms and to the ground. However, Romo responded well to the drop, converting another 3rd down to backup TE John Phillips. A botched snap in Seattle surely to bring up bad memories for Cowboys’ fans had Romo staring another 3rd and long in the face, but Romo again delivered, finding safety blanket Miles Austin over the middle for 17 yards. Witten broke free alone up the deep seam and Romo found him, but again was let down as the pass bounced off Witten’s hands and fell incomplete. Romo would convert another 3rd down on a dump off before hitting Austin on a hitch and go for a 22-yard TD to finish off the only scoring drive for the Cowboys. However, as the score would indicate, Romo really struggled to muster any consistent offense. Certainly his pass catchers let him down, but Romo had his struggles too. His lone INT was an awful pick, double clutching as Witten crossed the middle, rolling to his right and throwing back across his body to his left. Brandon Browner easily stepped in front of the pass and nearly returned it for a TD. Romo could have thrown two more INTs, as one appeared to be a miscommunication (there was a lot of that for Romo and his WRs) with Witten who didn’t cut the route on a Seattle blitz and only a tip at the line saved a pick-six. Later, in an effort to hit a streaking Austin up the seam, Romo completely missed K.J. Wright sitting in a cover 2 and only a drop from Wright prevented the house call. It was an all-around bad day for the Dallas offense, as drops, poor decisions, miscommunication and great Seattle defense held the Cowboys in check.

Week 3 - Tony Romo had a nice day under center for the Cowboys in week 3. Despite not scoring an abundance of points, the Dallas offense was able to move the ball consistently and keep the Tampa Bay secondary in reaction mode. Romo's passes were crisp and on target and he showed excellent patience in spreading the ball around. He targeted Miles Austin, Kevin Ogletree, and Dez Bryant all over the field and was keen to recognize which receiver was in man-coverage and which receivers were being double-covered. Romo had an early interception on a pass where Miles Austin didn't recognize a fast-breaking cornerback. Otherwise he was on-target with most of his passes. Romo did face a very effective Tampa Bay pass rush, particularly in Mike Bennett, who viciously sacked him twice. The Cowboys' line was effective at blocking the rush up the middle but had trouble handling the edge rush in both the passing game and running game. As a result, Romo was at his best when he stepped up in the pocket and used his feet to buy time as his receivers worked to get open. His best throw came on a deep pass down the sideline to Miles Austin. On the play, Romo set his feet and lofted a high arcing ball to a place only Austin would be able to catch it.

Week 4 - Tony Romo played the part that Jay Cutler played two weeks ago in the big Thursday night game against the Green Bay Packers. Although Romo never looked like he lost his composure, and he continued to lead his team on long sustained drives with multiple pass completions, he was never able to come up with the big play when the Cowboys needed it, and the five interceptions were the icing on the cake. Romo’s first interception wasn’t even his fault – Dez Bryant didn’t recognize the coverage and while Romo threw the pass expecting an eight yard curl, Bryant broke down the field, leaving Charles Tillman all alone for the easy interception and TD. The next pick didn’t come until the third quarter – when Kevin Ogletree couldn’t handle a crossing pass and the ball popped out of his hands, into the waiting arms of Major Wright. On the next series, Romo again was the victim of a pick-six, where Henry Melton penetrated up the middle and punched the ball out of his hands. It flew straight to Lance Briggs who returned it 74 yards for another defensive TD and really put the game on ice for the Bears. The next two picks were desperations throws, where Romo was clearly just trying to make something happen, but didn’t read the defense properly and the defenders were able to make a good jump on the ball. For the game, Romo seemed to have time on most of his passes, and he made smart throws aside from the picks mentioned above. Despite several key drops by Dez Bryant, Romo Continued to work with him on the sidelines, and feeding him the ball to keep the young receiver from getting too down on himself. In the end though, all anyone will remember is the five picks and yet another prime time failure.

Week 6 - Romo was predictably uneven against the vaunted Ravens defense. On the one hand, he did an excellent job reading coverages and spreading the ball around. On the other, he missed some wide open receivers in the middle of the field choosing to take deep shots in the hope of a big gain. His best throw came on a 35 yard pass to Jason Witten. On the play, Romo bought time by moving to the right side of the pocket. With Witten leaving the line from the right side of the line and crossing to the left sideline, Romo threw a high arcing pass off his back foot, over Witten's back shoulder allowing his tight end to turn upfield for a large gain before being pushed out of bounds. Romo's passes continue to look crisp although his touch is sporadic, as evidenced by a failed two point conversion pass that would have tied the game. On the play, Romo quickly found an open Dez Bryant in the end zone and threw a pass that was perhaps too hard for the situation.

Week 7 - Tony Romo played a sensible game and should have had an even more productive day in the box score. At one point, Romo – who was flustered by the pass rush on the play – completely failed to see Jason Witten sprinting down the middle of the field unopposed. A simple pass would have resulted in a 40+ yard score. Romo dealt with pressure well for the most part – when it came, and it did not come often. The Panthers’ pass rush was unable to get to the QB. Romo escaped the pocket and improvised very well, but for the most part he didn’t have to. He found consistent success over the middle of the field with Jason Witten getting open against the Panthers’ zone coverage. Romo attacked rookie CB Josh Norman, matched up against Miles Austin to good effect. His lone touchdown pass of the day came on a beautiful pass with that very match-up, in fact. Romo lofted a gorgeous pass to the left corner of the end zone with Norman in decent coverage, but the pass landed right in Austin’s hands, who had nothing to do but secure it. It was a professional display overall from Romo, but there were some plays he missed that could have resulted in a bigger day for him and Dallas.

Week 8 - Tony Romo had one of the most bizarre performances you will ever see from a QB. Romo had a lot of turnovers but kept his team in the game and had a good shot to win the game, just falling short at the end. Romo started off the game with an interception early on first drive. Romo threw an in pattern to WR Bryant on an adjustment but Bryant noticed this too late and the ball was easily picked off by S Brown. Romo then threw another interception deep down the field as he tried to get the ball to WR Austin. Romo threw to the wrong shoulder for Austin and the pass was picked off by CB Webster who was in perfect coverage for the play. Romo did not get help from his teammates consistently and had to deal with a terrible snap that was hiked over his head. Romo then underestimated the athletic abilities of DE Pierre-Paul. JPP was able to bat and intercept a screen pass attempt from Romo and race down the field for the touchdown and third turnover form Romo. Romo began to play better from this moment on however and the Giants struggled to contain the Cowboys passing game. Romo spotted a wide open Bryant streaking down the field due to busted coverage from NY for a big play but a better throw could have resulted in a touchdown. Romo connected deep on multiple occasions to Bryant/Austin, picking them out on the sideline and floating in a perfect pass over the top for the gain. Romo scored on a 4th and 1 play on the goal line, completely out guessing the defense while he scrambled on a roll out play for the touchdown. Romo scored again after a nice drive, forcing the defense to choose between covering his TE Hanna or trying to tackle Romo on another play outside of the pocket for another touchdown. Romo found a lot of success against the Giants on short-intermediate timing route patterns. Romo’s receivers did a great job getting inside leverage against the Giants DB’s and giving Romo big spaces to throw the ball into. Romo’s 4th INT came on 4th down as he threw a simple ball up high in an act of desperation that was easily picked off by Giants safety. Despite all these errors, he still drove the Cowboys down the field with ease at times and moved the football very efficiently. Romo almost found WR Bryant in the back of the endzone as the game looked to be over but Bryant was ruled out of bounds just barely and the pass was incomplete.

Week 9 - Tony Romo once again will receive the blame for the Cowboys coming up short against a quality opponent. That said, Romo did not turn the ball over and was sacked only once on his way to passing for 321 yards (9.2 yards per attempt) and completing over 2/3rds of his passes. Romo's throws were crisp and on target all night despite facing a fierce Atlanta pass rush. His best throw came on a fourth quarter touchdown throw to Kevin Ogletree to pull Dallas within three points midway through the fourth quarter. On the play, Romo was flushed from the pocket to the right. He scrambled towards the sideline while directing his receivers with his free hand. At the last possible moment he threw a dart to Ogletree for the score. Romo also completed a well-thrown pass to Ogletree for a 65 yard gain down the right side of the field in the first quarter. Romo did have one pass intercepted but the play was called back on a defensive holding penalty. For all the criticism Romo receives, his play against Atlanta was poised and his decisions were sound. The Atlanta defense worked hard to keep Dez Bryant and Miles Austin from being open downfield, often limiting Romo to underneath passes to Felix Jones and Jason Witten. Despite the Falcons coverage and pass rush, Romo was able to find open receivers throughout the game. Unfortunately, the Cowboys were only able to convert three of ten third downs and were unable to sustain many drives due to their third down execution.

Week 10 - For the second game in a row, Tony Romo was efficient in leading the Dallas offense. The difference in this game came from timely third-down conversions and help on the defensive side of the ball to score points. Romo was efficient in completing 73% of his passes for eight yards per attempt and two touchdowns. His first touchdown pass came on a short screen pass to the left to Felix Jones. His second touchdown pass came on a long completion to Dez Bryant. The play was challenged and upheld. Even more impressive was that Bryant was interfered with by the Eagles' defender yet still caught the ball. Romo's best pass came on a 49 yard completion to Dez Bryant in to double coverage deep in the Eagles' territory, ultimately leading to a Dallas field goal and early lead. Romo was most successful on quick passes to the flats as the Philadelphia defense was playing off of Bryant and Miles Austin to the outside much of the game. Romo's passes to the middle of the field appeared to be on designed quick passes between the hashmarks with the intent of getting the receiver the ball on the run. Romo was sacked three times but did not turn the ball over. The Cowboys only converted 5 of 13 third downs but Romo was able to pick up yardage when it seemed to count the most. His two deep completions to Bryant and a 25 yard pass to Miles Austin were his only completions over 20 yards all day. That said, he looked poised in the pocket and generally did an excellent job getting rid of the ball before the Eagles varied pass rush could get in to the backfield.

Week 11 - It took a forgettable first half for the Dallas offense, especially Romo, but came alive to finish with a productive fantasy day and the overtime win. Romo was sacked seven times and flushed from the pocket numerous other times, which delayed taking advantage of the Joe Haden-less Cleveland secondary. Romo yelled at his offensive line and Felix Jones throughout the game. After just 85 total yards in the first half, the lowest for Dallas in five years, the Dallas passing game came alive to open the third quarter. Romo focused on shorter routes to take advantage of the poor Cleveland coverage which was masked by pressure early in the game. In the third quarter alone, Romo was 9-for-9 for 98 yards after just 10 completions and 74 yards in the entire first half. Romo missed deep targets more than once, including an underthrow to Dez Bryant on a likely touchdown and Miles Austin in overtime. Romo had with a decent fantasy day on volume alone. He had a whopping 50 attempts, going just 4-for-14 on third downs. The offensive line is the main reason for concern with Romo as his three main weapons (Bryant, Austin, Witten) are all healthy and a matchup problem for any secondary in the league.

Week 12 - Tony Romo was not in anything close to an enviable position on Thanksgiving in Dallas. His offensive line essentially took the day off, leaving him to run for his life on every pass play. One of his star receivers got injured in the first quarter. The Cowboys’ run game was laughably ineffectual. Their defense, coached by Rob Ryan and supposedly fearsome, got hoodwinked and battered by a rookie they had never faced. The Cowboys, facing a twenty-five point deficit at the half and an owner in Jerry Jones with steam coming from his ears like a Looney Tune, needed to mount a comeback. This attempt fell to Tony Romo, and that comeback fell short. 

Romo attempted a whopping sixty-two pass attempts against the Redskins as the running game was non-existent and the Cowboys were essentially in hurry-up mode the entire second half. Accumulating four hundred and forty-one passing yards, Romo led the Cowboys hither and yon in Cowboys Stadium in a series of dink-and-dunk drives, three of which resulted in touchdowns, including an eighty-five yard catch-and-run to Dez Bryant, an eleven-yard end zone pass to Bryant again, and a ten-yard floater to Felix Jones that the halfback took in for a score. Romo ran the ball in himself after the Jones touchdown for a successful two-point conversion. However, with the good, came the back, as Romo found himself picked off twice – on a second-and-ten seam route pass to Cole Beasley in which the receiver and quarterback were not on the same page, and later on another pass to Beasley in which Redskins linebacker London Fletcher let tight end Jason Witten curl and then anticipated Romo’s pass to Beasley. 

Credit goes to Romo for bringing the Cowboys within a touchdown of the Redskins after being left for dead at the half, especially with an offensive line that did Romo no favors, giving him no time to throw and repeatedly forced him to throw the ball away or throw on the run. The Washington secondary might not make the 49ers practice squad, and Romo did his best to exploit matchups in a soft zone coverage that did not wish to give up the big play, but the Cowboys’ halftime deficit was too much to overcome. Romo did his level best with the deck stacked against him.


Week 13 - Romo had perhaps his best game of the season on Sunday night against the Eagles. He was in command of the offense throughout the contest and managed to make a number of great plays after the pocket had broken down. His best throw came on a pass to Dez Bryant down the right sideline. On the play, Romo delivered the ball low and to the outside where only a tightly guarded Bryant could make a play on it. Romo also had an excellent completion to Bryant for a touchdown after he had been flushed from the pocket to the right. Romo threw back across the field to Bryant who was able to turn upfield for a touchdown. Romo's passes were crisp and on target throughout the game and he was very smart in choosing to throw the ball only to receivers who were single-covered or who had broken free of the defender completely. Romo finished the day completing 22 of 27 passes for three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Romo was sacked twice as well.

Week 14 - Tony Romo had a fairly up and down day, finishing with a line of268 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception on 25 of 43 passing. Romo started the game 5 for 5, taking what was given to him, and looked to be on his way to a decent day. However, he went 2 for 8 on his next few series thanks to a few key drops to be discussed later. Romo's offensive line held up decently considering the tough matchup up until about the 2 minute warning of the first half, then had him running for his life for the rest of the day. Romo's escapability helped the Cowboys out on several plays, but he also had about three passes that should have been intercepted by Bengals defenders that clanged off their hands or chests. Romo's one interception was on an odd jump ball to Dwayne Harris after scrambling around. Had Romo not been pressured off the bat, Harris had his defender beat. Romo's touchdown came on a very nice crossing route to Dez Bryant. Coincidentally, the prior two completions were also crossing routes on chunk plays to Kevin Ogletree and Miles Austin, so the playcall was a smart one. Romo played his best when it mattered, however, and set the Cowboys up for the game winning field goal for a 1 point win. It's also worth noting that because of the aforementioned pressure, DeMarco Murray was targeted 6 times on the day, while Jason Witten and Dez Bryant only had 4 and 6 targets respectively.

Week 15 - Outside of one play, Romo wasn't under pressure in the pocket early on against the Steelers. Because of that, he was able to easily pick apart the Steelers' overmatched coverage. After settling for a field goal on their first drive, and a Demarco Murray fumble at the goalline ended their second, Romo correctly identified the Steelers' undrafted rookie playing safety and took advantage of his hesitation in coverage against play action. That led to a wide open touchdown reception for Jason Witten. Romo was making plays consistently against a suspect Steelers' secondary. He did take one huge sack from Lawrence Timmons, but managed to convert a second and 23 before hitting Dez Bryant on a back shoulder fade with a beautiful pass in the endzone for his second touchdown. Romo drove his team down to the goalline before DeMarco Murray ran the ball in for the game-tying touchdown, but couldn't put his team in field goal range when he slightly overthrew Jason Witten in the dying moments of regulation.

Week 16 - Tony Romo had a rock solid day, but was ultimately let down by a couple critical plays and atrocious play by his defense. Romo threw for over 400 yards and 4 touchdowns while keeping his stat line turnover free. Romo was accurate for most of the day, while pressure from the Saints defensive line was about what you'd expect. Romo's first touchdown was a 58 yard bomb to Dez Bryant which Bryant snatched beautifully out of the air to burn his 1 on 1 coverage. Amusingly, Romo's second touchdown was also a 58 yarder to Bryant, although this one was all Dez breaking tackles and getting some serious yardage after the catch. Romo's third touchdown of the day was a nice back shoulder throw to Dwayne Harris that only Harris had a chance at. The last touchdown of the day was easily the most dramatic, as it tied the game up with 15 seconds left in the 4th quarter on 4th and 10. The throw was an accurate one to Miles Austin that Austin caught while on his knees. Once again, the ball was placed very well by Romo. Romo's receivers dropped at least 4 or 5 catchable balls, including 2 crucial drops by Miles Austin late in the game. Luckily, Austin redeemed himself with the touchdown grab. Romo only had 1 or 2 bad throws that could have been picked off. All in all, a solid day for the Cowboys QB.

Week 17 - Tony Romo will end another underwhelming Dallas Cowboys season as the team’s whipping boy, regardless of whether the criticism of him is valid or not. The veteran quarterback completed twenty of his thirty-seven pass attempts for two hundred and eighteen yards. Romo’s performance against the NFC East rival Redskins was perhaps his worst of the season. Two of Romo’s three interceptions came in the Washington red zone – one a pass that floated over the head of wide receiver Kevin Ogletree and into the hands of Redskins cornerback Richard Crawford, the other a deep go-route pass that Romo underthrew, permitting Redskins cornerback Josh Wilson to cut off Miles Austin and pick off the pass. Romo’s third pick came on a late fourth quarter swing pass attempt to DeMarco Murray. Redskins linebacker Rob Jackson fooled Romo into thinking he was blitzing, then followed Murray, jumped in front of him, and intercepted the pass. It was the Redskins’ perpetual blitzing that kept Romo off balance all night, and the Cowboys’ leaky offensive line did its quarterback little favors, forcing desperate throws and less-than-desirable reads from the pocket by Romo.

The veteran quarterback did throw two touchdowns against Washington’s fairly generous pass defense, a nine-yard score to tight end Jason Witten – in which Romo extended the play from the snap for a whopping eight seconds – and a ten-yard score to wide receiver Kevin Ogletree off a timing-based corner route. Romo also hooked up with wide receiver Dwayne Harris for a successive two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter. His perfectly placed pass to Harris – a throw behind Harris in which the receiver extended his arms at the right time – brought Dallas to within three of Washington as the clock wound down. 

Postgame reports revealed that Romo suffered a cracked rib in the second quarter, which he played through in the loss. He lost wide receivers Miles Austin, Cole Beasley, Dez Bryant, and Dwayne Harris at one point or another during the game, giving him very few playmakers on offense. The Redskins’ constant blitzing and Dallas’s pass protection woes gave Romo fits all evening, and forced him into making bad throws to get rid of the ball – thus, the blame cannot be placed on Romo’s interceptions solely on the quarterback. Still, Romo will be the scapegoat for another disappointing season for the Dallas Cowboys and their fans, even if placing the blame on Romo for the Cowboys’ performance is misinformed and short-sighted.