McNabb, recepient of a 5-year, $78-million contract from Washington in 2010, criticizes Dallas’ extension of Romo worth $108-million over six years.

When I saw McNabb’s tweet, only because one of those whom I follow retweeted it, not that I follow McNabb, I quickly went off on him:

@donovanjmcnabb You want to talk about choke artists. You exemplify it, sir.

@mikegianella Don’t let @donovanjmcnabb fool you. He played in 7 OT games prior to 2008. He knew the rules.

@donovanjmcnabb 13/54 when it came to pulling off a 4th quarter comeback. Romo is 18/43, which is second most is team history.

@donovanjmcnabb Tell us how Vick took your job in Philly and then Shanahan benched you for Rex Grossman in Washington. Something to Ponder?

Romo has 10 road comebacks to @donovanjmcnabb’s 5.

@donovanjmcnabb Tell us how you had to leave and miss games with bruised ribs, while Romo played through broke ribs #ftw.

After reviewing the facts, I got some of them wrong, because I was recalling them from memory as I tweeted back at stoplights and intersections. But the overall gestalt of my raving remains true: Donovan McNabb has no validity with which to criticize Romo’s extension using a metric that is used to evaluate a team. This isn’t the NBA where it’s half the players playing both ways. Football is the ultimate team game. You can be an accomplished individual and still get nowhere a championship, as Hall of Famers Dick LeBeau, Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers, Lem Barney, Jack Butler, Dan Dierdorf, Ernie Stautner, and Sonny Jurgensen all did. Each of those Hall of Famers either lost their lone career playoff game (i.e. LeBeau, Jurgensen) or never even played in one (i.e. Sayers, Butkus). So you can be like failed Cowboys beat writer Josh Ellis and say McNabb has “scoreboard” on Romo, or you can be an informed observer with depth and take a look at Romo in the clutch versus McNabb.

My information comes from that exhaustive three-parter I did a couple of weeks ago on Romo’s comebacks versus over 35 other quarterbacks’ comebacks, both historical and contemporary. How I retrieved it was by going through all of their game logs at Pro-Football-Reference.com and seeing whether or not a comeback was possible. I determined a comeback was possible if the final score was anywhere between 1-8 points.

How I determined who got credit for wins and losses was nuanced. For instance, Romo gets no credit for the Cowboys 11/11/12 win over the Eagles, because it was Dwayne Harris’ punt return and Brandon Carr’s scores that gave the Cowboys the lead. Similarly, I don’t blame the Eagles defense as having given up the lead in the Eagles’ 2005 home match with the Cowboys. They were ahead by 6. McNabb threw a picksix – his fault. He gave up the lead. Also, I lumped the defense and special teams together as a singular unit for the purposes of determining who gave up leads. That’s why there are bolded portions and numbers to the right of each season, indicating the margin gave up for the respective games.

There are three games of note I’d like to point out before showing you the statistics. Firstly, that’s Romo’s 2008 encounter with the Cardinals. A blocked punt returned for a touchdown in overtime was the cause for that loss, so it incontrovertibly can’t be blamed on Romo. Secondly, I am including the 2012 season finale, even though it breaks my 1-8 margin rule, just because it’s the most striking example for Romophobes of how he isn’t quality in the clutch or whatever mediot spin they’re parroting. Finally, Pro-Football-Reference lists McNabb’s 2008 tie in Cincinnati as a “comeback,” but I don’t because getting the win is what makes a comeback a comeback. Would NFL Films hail Roger Staubach as “Captain Comeback” if half of his comebacks ended in ties?

Without further ado:

Tony Romo:

2006 – @CAR, CLT, DET(L), @SEA(L) 1, 7
2007 – @BUF, @DET, PHI(L), NYG(L) 3
2008 – PHI, WAS(L), @CRD(L-OT), @WAS, @PIT(L) 10
2009 – NYG(L), @DEN(L), @KC(OT), @PHI, WAS, @NYG(L), SD(L) 4, 3
2010 – @WAS(L), TEN(L), @MIN(L)
2011 – @NYJ(L), @SF(OT), WAS, DET(L), @NWE(L), @WAS(OT), MIA, @CRD(L-OT), NYG(L) 14, 13, 3, 7, 12
2012 – @BAL(L), @CAR, NYG(L), @ATL(L), CLE(OT), WAS(L), PHI, @CIN, PIT(OT), NO(L-OT), @WAS(L) 1

Donovan McNabb:

1999 – WAS, @WAS(L-OT), @CRD(L) 10
2000 – @GB(L), WAS(L), DAL(OT), @PIT(OT), TEN(L) 1
2001 – RAM(L-OT), CRD(L), @NYG, NYG, @RAM(L) 6
2002 – @TEN(L), @JAX(L) 11
2003 – @DAL(L), NYJ, @GB, SF(L-OT), GB(OT) 1, 1
2004 – @CLE(OT), DAL, NE(L)
2005 – @ATL(L), @WAS(L), DAL(L)
2006 – NYG(L-OT), @NO(L), @TB(L), JAX(L) 17, 7, 1
2007 – @GB(L), WAS(L), CHI(L), @WAS, NYG(L) 3, 4
2008 – @DAL(L), @CHI(L), WAS(L), NYG(L), @SF, @CIN(T), @WAS(L), @CRD(L) 6, 1
2009 – @RAI(L), DAL(L), @SD(L), @CHI, WAS 3
2010 – HOU(L-OT), GB(OT), CLT(L), @TEN(OT), MIN(L), TB(L) 10, 1

Tony Romo’s comeback rate is 18/43, which is 42%. Compare that to McNabb’s 16/54, which is 30%. In order for McNabb to have a better percentage, he would have needed to win 7 more games. Maybe recognizing Kelly Rowland’s boyfriend in a Cover 3 would have helped. Similarly, for Romo to be as bad as McNabb, Romo will need to lose the next 17 fourth quarter comeback attempts.

Admittedly, Romo has only played in 95 games compared to McNabb’s over 170 games. Still, if you cropped it to include McNabb’s first 95 games, he would be 7/33, which is 21%. Even if you decided to start at the end of McNabb’s career and work backwards, it would be 9/26, which is 35%. McNabb’s fourth quarter comeback prowess is light in the loafers, no matter how you slice it.

Another glaring truth is McNabb was never tasked to do as much as Romo. You’ll notice in 2008 that McNabb had 8 comeback attempts. Compare that to Romo’s record-setting 11 in 2012. Furthermore, the most comebacks McNabb ever had in a season were 3 in 2003. Romo had nearly double that this past season, which led the league in fourth quarter comebacks. In 2003, Jake Delhomme had the most fourth quarter comebacks with 5, and never in McNabb’s career did he ever lead the league in comebacks. In fact, “Cheesecake Factory” led the league in fourth quarter comebacks in his wasted career.

“Well, it’s all about the playoffs anyway,” you, the neuron-deficient schmuck who chews on his shirt collar, may say. To that, you need to examine their playoff games, especially what the rest of the team was doing. For instance, in McNabb’s playoff wins, the Eagles defense forced two sacks and two turnovers on average. Compare that to the Cowboys defense forcing three sacks and only one turnover on average in “Romo’s playoff losses.” And I haven’t even explored defensive scoring either, which Jim Johnson’s Eagles did in the playoffs. You want to know the last time the Dallas Cowboys scored a defensive touchdown in the postseason? The 1996 wild card playoffs against Minnesota when George Teague picked off Brad Johnson; go watch that on the Cowboys history DVD sometime.

So the defenses have blame and have credit for these two quarterbacks’ respective careers. In Romo’s 25 failed comeback attempts, 13 of them have been the defense surrendering a fourth quarter lead. That’s 52%. For McNabb, 16/38 (42%) of his losses were due to the defense surrendering a fourth quarter lead. But six of those were due to coordinators not named Jim Johnson. Even when adjusted for Jim Johnson’s sole presence, McNabb’s “blown-leads-by-defense” percentage drops to 31%.

The one error I made, which was retweeted as fact, was Romo’s road comebacks versus McNabb’s. McNabb actually has 8 road comebacks, but Romo still has 10. Still, half of Romo’s comebacks were against teams with winning records at the time. Only three of McNabb’s road comebacks came against teams with winning records.

Then we’ve got overtime too. Romo is 5-3 in overtime, while McNabb was 6-5-1. In the past two seasons, Romo has played in 6 overtime games. It took the last seven years of McNabb’s career to play in 6 overtime games.

Here’s another interesting thread. Do you want to know what the Cowboys’ record is when Romo is out of the lineup or playing through injury? 6-9. McNabb was injured and missed games in 4 seasons. The Eagles were 16-20. They not only made the playoffs in 2002, but won a playoff game in 2006 – all without McNabb! The Dallas Cowboys have yet to make the playoffs in Romo’s injury-riddled seasons.

Romo deserved that $108-million contract because he is that valuable to this team, in spite of the paltry 1-3 playoff record that is solely attributed to him. Now that we’ve got our quarterback for now, let’s build a better team to go with him.

Things were different now. It was a new era.

Even though Wade Phillips was still the head coach and virtually no one lost their job over the 44-6 fiasco, there was a new attitude heading into Philadelphia on November 8th, 2009. The 5-2 Cowboys were facing the 5-2 Eagles on NBC Sunday Night Football with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth calling the action. This was a very much anticipated contest for NBC Sports.

Probably more important than even winning the game against the Eagles was just putting up a respectable performance. Yes, this was a matchup against two 5-2 teams for first place in the NFC East. It helped that Philip Rivers pulled out a comeback against the Giants for the Chargers to put the G-Men at 5-3. This battle was for undisputed first place. Yet, the storyline was for the Cowboys to “get their man back,” as Michael Irvin put it on sports talk radio during the week. This is how far the Cowboys had fallen: instead of talking about beating the Eagles, the dialogue was just not getting creamed by them.

The Dallas Cowboys had an inconsistent start to the 2009 season. After beating the Buccaneers soundly on the road on Opening Day, they opened up Cowboys Stadium with an infuriating loss to the Giants that they still haven’t recovered from in the New York series to this day. Then, they spanked the Panthers only to lose their breath in Denver. Three straight wins, each punctuated by big games from fourth-year receiver Miles Austin, propelled the Cowboys to 5-2 and looking prime to start November off in their customarily successful fashion. After all, up to this point, Tony Romo was 12-1 in the month of October. He couldn’t lose. It was Cowboys time.

For the Philadelphia Eagles, they had some inconsistencies to work through, like losing to the Raiders with a pigeon on their kickoff coverage unit and Donovan McNabb getting a little sauce to go with his ribs in the season opener. Nonetheless, the Eagles built a nice winning streak in the past couple weeks with more convincing wins. Whereas the Cowboys had beaten the Falcons and Seahawks at home in the previous two weeks, the Eagles had beaten the Redskins on the road and then the Giants to the tune of 40-17.

The contest started favorably for Dallas. After taking the ball to start the game, the Cowboys picked up one first down before punting to the Eagles. On 3rd and 5 from Philadelphia’s own 26, Donovan McNabb threw a pass to rookie wide receiver Jeremy Maclin that was tipped and then intercepted by Cowboys free agent strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh. What was spectacular about Sensabaugh’s pick was he did it with a cast on his arm.

On the Cowboys’ first play of the drive, fullback Deon Anderson committed holding and pushed the ball back to the Eagles 47. The Cowboys offense overcame the mistakes, including a Marc Colombo false start, to take the ball to the Eagles 2 yard line thanks to a 21-yard pass to undrafted free agent Kevin Ogletree. With 1st and Goal from the Eagles 2, the Cowboys ran Tashard Choice in the wildcat up the middle to go ahead 7-0 in Philadelphia.

The Eagles and Cowboys traded possessions two times each before the Eagles took possession for the third time in the quarter to end it. Their drive continued into the second quarter and concluded with a 45-yard David Akers field goal. On the Cowboys’ next possession, they went 13 yards from the Cowboys 25 to the Cowboys 48 before Jason Babin sacked Tony Romo and killed the drive.

On the Eagles’ next drive, it was a classic case of “same old Cowboys.” On a 3rd and 2 from the Eagles 24, Donovan McNabb couldn’t complete a pass to Jason Avant to keep the drive alive. However, Alan Ball’s undisciplined play forced a defensive pass interference call did keep the Eagles drive alive. The Eagles kept melting clock and eating up yards until it all culminated in a 48-yard David Akers field goal to close the Cowboys’ margin to 1 point.

With 1:32 left in the half and starting at his own 19 yard line with two timeouts, Tony Romo led the Cowboys offense to the Philadelphia 4 yard line to have Nick Folk nail a 22-yard field goal before halftime to give the Cowboys a 10-6 lead.

The Eagles received the second half kickoff and stormed down to the Dallas 15 thanks to a 45-yard screen to rookie runningback LeSean McCoy. Within two plays, the Donovan McNabb put the Eagles on top 13-10 with an 11-yard touchdown pass. On the Cowboys’ ensuing possession, Tony Romo threw his fifth interception of the year to Sheldon Brown. Thankfully, the Eagles weren’t able to do anything with the turnover. When the Cowboys got the ball back, they weren’t able to score with their drive, only rack up yards and waste clock. When the Eagles got the ball back, on their first play, McNabb threw a pick to Mike Jenkins at the Cowboys 43. A facemask call on Jeremy Maclin put the Cowboys’ first play at the Eagles 42. The only points the Cowboys were able to manage were three points thanks to a 33-yard Nick Folk field goal in the second play of the fourth quarter.

The game was tied 13-13.

The next series was very critical. Mike Jenkins committed an illegal contact penalty that moved the ball from the Eagles 28 to the Eagles 33. McNabb threw it incomplete to DeSean Jackson and then only gained three yards on a pass to LeSean McCoy. On 3rd and 7, Eagles tackle Winston Justice, the same Winston Justice who gave up 6 sacks in a 2007 match against the Giants, committed a false start. It was now 3rd and 12, the scariest of all downs if you’re a Cowboys fan. On this play, McNabb tossed it to rookie Jeremy Maclin for 15 yards. Is it worth mentioning that Terence Newman was on the coverage?

From the Eagles’ own 46, McNabb threw a 9-yard pass to DeSean Jackson. On 2nd and 1 and 3rd and 1, LeSean McCoy wasn’t able to gain any yards whatsoever. With 4th and 1 and the division lead on the line, Andy Reid called for a quarterback sneak. The referees ruled that Donovan McNabb didn’t gain a solitary yard, and the possession was awarded to the Cowboys. When the chain gang measured it and showed the clear margin of defeat, the Cowboys defensive players jumped around in celebration with Anthony Spencer triumphantly swinging his arm in a first down motion towards the Eagles’ end zone.

Andre Gurode committed a holding penalty that pushed the Cowboys back to their own 45. A shotgun handoff to Marion Barber lost four yards for the Cowboys and set up a 2nd and 24. A quick pass to Patrick Crayton gained 10 yards for Dallas and gave them a 3rd and 14 from the Philadelphia 49.

One thing Cowboys fans say about Tony Romo is that, unlike other QB’s who throw for yards, he throws for Miles. On 3rd and 14 when the Cowboys really needed to have it, Miles Austin beat a double coverage on a go route and took it right to the house. For his touchdown celebration, he threw the ball straight to a Cowboys fan in the front row, not against the Eagles’ logo in an act of Brandon Jacobs-esque defamation.

Miles Austin asks Sean Jones if he’s “mad bro.” Matt Slocum — AP

It was 20-13 Cowboys with 8:04 left.

The Eagles were able to drive to the Dallas 33. McNabb threw two straight incompletions. Then, on 3rd and 10, rookie outside linebacker Victor Butler, who made a splash in the Carolina game earlier in the year with a couple sacks and a forced fumble, sacked Donovan McNabb and forced Andy Reid into a puzzling decision that enrages Eagles fans to this day. Rather than going for it, because there were only about five minutes left, the Eagles were in Cowboys territory, and two timeouts, Andy Reid sent David Akers out to try a risky 52-yard field goal. Of course, Akers was accurate and cut the Cowboys’ lead to four points at 20-16, but the Eagles never got the ball back. Marion Barber gained a total of 23 yards, and Romo converted a key 3rd and 3 to Witten to get to the two-minute warning and take a knee. Curiously, Andy Reid didn’t use any of his two remaining timeouts. Maybe because he knew Tony Romo was no Joe Pisarcik. Either way, it’s like Andy Reid gave up.

Dallas went to 6-2 on the year and took a commanding lead of first place in the NFC East. Tony Romo went 21/34 for 307 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. He wasn’t statistically great, but he was great enough to help the Cowboys get into first place. DeMarcus Ware didn’t register a single sack, but Jay Ratliff had two sacks and Ware’s backup, Victor Butler, forced a critical sack that made Andy Reid make a head-scratching decision to kick the field goal.

On this night, the Dallas Cowboys got much more than “their man back.” They got the first place in the NFC East. This wouldn’t be the end of the Cowboys and the Eagles. Both would go on similar winning streaks and slides throughout the season until it all culminated in a Week 17 encounter in Arlington. Just like in 2009, it was the Cowboys and the Eagles for a playoff spot: for whom would be the home team and who would be the visiting team in a wild card rematch the next week. The Cowboys delivered to the tune of 24-0 and forced the Eagles to come back 6 days later to “sting they @$$,” in the infamous words of DeSean Jackson, 34-14. The Cowboys sent Andy Reid on a 3-year playoff win drought and McNabb to the Eagles. The Dallas Cowboys effectively dismantled the Andy Reid era in those two weeks, and it all began by winning in Philadelphia on November 8th, 2009.

We need someone to actually get to this guy (US Presswire).

As I have stated before, the Cowboys need great football players in the upcoming draft. This seems a bit simplistic, yet Jerry and Co. routinely draft the flashiest or most troubled player and attempt to “fix” them. Or, the Cowboys organization picks for a specific need (lately it’s been skill positions) and get burned drastically when that player does not pan out (Bobby Carpenter comes to mind).

I understand Jerry’s desire to “make history,” as he has often put it or his wont to make headlines by doing things differently. In this draft, however, the Cowboys need to stick to the script. The rest of the division has long since passed the Cowboys in terms of talent with the exception of the woeful Redskins. The 2007 Cowboys are a distant memory and if we’re all being honest with ourselves, the 2007 defense wasn’t very good and the team had the benefit of a favorable schedule. The 2009 Cowboys also benefited from a favorable schedule and the decline of Donovan McNabb. (more…)