DMN: Sherrington: Blame Cowboys' Tony Romo for an offense that isn't even BCS-caliber

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/cowboys/stories/092010dnsposherrington.10de2729d.html

ARLINGTON -- Now that we don’t have Alex Barron to kick around after another embarrassing Cowboys effort, who do we blame instead?

Column by KEVIN SHERRINGTON / The Dallas Morning News

Wade Phillips? His defense gave up too many big plays in a 27-20 loss to the Bears and didn’t make any.

Jason Garrett? His offense is averaging one touchdown a game.

Jerry Jones? Always your default position.

All of the above bear varying degrees of responsibility for a season that has gone from hopeful to incredulous to fading faster than Johnny Knox through the Cowboys’ secondary. Only finite column space prevents me from listing all culprits.

Or as Jerry described it, “It’s across the board.”

But in a one-man, one-vote system, my ballot goes to Tony Romo sits to pee, who just might have been the runner-up to Barron last week.

The numbers indicate that Romo sits to pee had a pretty good day against Chicago: 34-of-51 passing for 374 yards and a touchdown, with both interceptions on tipped balls.

He didn’t do anything as egregious as pitching to a running back when he simply should have taken a knee, either. But not all sins show up in the stats.

By now we’re well aware of what Romo sits to pee brings to the Cowboys and what he doesn’t. He’s creative, elusive and resilient, a quarterback with rare skills.

He can make a beautiful throw like the one to Miles Austin on the Cowboys’ next-to-last drive, feathering it over a defender into Austin’s out-stretched hands on the sideline for 20.

But when all Romo sits to pee has to do is hit Tashard Choice coming out of the backfield on a third-and-five on another important fourth-quarter drive, he’s suddenly all thumbs.

Now, no one’s going to be perfect on 51 throws. But much of the afternoon, it was like watching Mitch Williams trying to find a strike zone. Of course, no one was charging Mitch while he was throwing, either. That usually came after.

Anyway, asked what he thought of Romo sits to pee’s performance against the Bears, Phillips said, “He made some great throws. I wish he could have made all great throws.”

Here’s the deal: He doesn’t always have to be great. Most of the time, he just has to set his feet and give his receivers a chance to make a play.

Romo sits to pee doesn’t always do that. Bill Parcells used to say that his talented, excitable young quarterback sometimes pulled the trigger too fast. Someone’s saying it still.

“Sometimes the quarterback can throw it too quickly,” Martellus Bennett said. “It is the little things like that make the difference.”

Yes, they do.

Of course, different players have different perspectives. Romo sits to pee explained that he occasionally threw behind receivers to keep them from getting cold-****ed by Bears lying in wait in a deceptive zone defense. And it’s an excellent point. By occasionally throwing to back shoulders, Romo sits to pee facilitates the catch and allows his receivers to live to make another.

But there’s a difference between protecting a guy and flat missing him.

“I can’t think of one,” Romo sits to pee said, blinking.

He conceded he might think differently once he sees the films. Here’s betting he’ll run out of fingers to count them on.

As previously indicated, there’s plenty of blame to go around in a game like Sunday’s. Some of it is old stuff. Once again, the Cowboys piled up yards. Last season, they were second in the NFL only to the Saints in yards per game. But they were just 14th in scoring at 22.6. That number looks pretty good next to this year’s 13.5.

This is not a Super Bowl-caliber offense. It’s not even a BCS-caliber offense.

The offensive coordinator needs to call for a pass in the end zone once in a while. Offensive linemen must cut down on penalties. Players have to stop putting the ball on the ground.

But above all else, the quarterback has to avoid bonehead plays and make all the little ones. He doesn’t have to be great. After a start as sorry as this one, it looks like too much to ask of any Cowboy.

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I think some of us have been blaming stat-boy for years.

It's about getting the job done.