Last night on the Ticket. . .

Last night on the Ticket, there was a caller that brought up something that I have been pondering over today. The caller asked whether it was possible that Tony Romo might be another Danny White. Meaning that Romo might get you into the playoffs, might even win a game or two, but won't get you to the Super Bowl.


1980 NFL NFC Championship 12 - 4
1981 NFL NFC Championship 12 - 4
1982 NFL NFC Championship 6 - 3
1983 NFL NFC Wild-Card Playoff 12 - 4
1984 NFL 9 - 7
1985 NFL NFC Divisional Playoff 10 - 6
1985 NFL NFC Divisional Playoff 10 - 6
1986 NFL 7 - 9
1987 NFL 7 - 8

This is a snapshot of a portion of Danny White's career. Some of these years, mainly the poorer record years, Danny did not take all the snaps as QB. For the years he did take all or most of the snaps, the Cowboys had a winning record and went at least to a divisional playoff game, with three appearances in the NFC Championship game. But, of course, what's missing is that Super Bowl appearance. Whether it was Danny's fault or not, he must carry the rep of being the QB that just couldn't get you there.

Personally, I have always been a huge fan of Danny White. Until this season, he had held the single season passing yardage record for the Cowboys organization. Romo surpassed that record this season. Danny was a good quarterback and excellent leader. But he didn't win the big one.

Now, I haven't checked planetary arrangements or horoscopes or birthweights or anything like that to prove up some theory that Romo is just the next Danny White.

It's a different game now than it was in Danny's day. Faster, bigger players are involved. Rules are different. Even the playoff scenario is different now. Equipment is better now, affording better protection to the players. And, of course, there's free agency. All of these things could affect what Danny would do these days, so it is impossible to know how Danny would play under today's circumstances.

We do know a little more now about how Tony Romo plays. A full season this year and roughly half of last regular season has show us that he can be competitive. It has also shown us that for some reason or another, his performance appears to degrade as the season goes on.

We've watched him in two playoff games. Both have been losses. Both have ended with a last ditch effort involving Tony Romo as one of the ball handlers on the last play. You have to give Romo credit for having the Cowboys in position to potentially win the game, no doubt. But you have to wonder if he's getting rattled from the pressure of such a game. Slick ball last year was the excuse/reason. Receiver cut too early this season seems to be the concensus of opinions as to this year's failure to score.

But the bottom line is that no Tony Romo led Cowboys team has won a playoff game yet. The Cowboys probably wouldn't have been in those playoff games without Tony Romo. But both games were losses.

Now, as to the caller's question about Romo being the next Danny White. No, I don't think he is. I think he's the next Tony Romo. And I don't think we all quite know what that is yet. I still contend that it's much too early to start casting his hall of fame bust. Probably more people believe that this season, after yesterday's loss. Tony needs to show us he lead this team to a playoff victory. Then he can worry about the NFC Championship and finally the Super Bowl. But right now, all we know is he can get the team into the playoffs. He hasn't even shown us he can get the team into playoffs with some momentum going their way yet.

At this point, though, I would say that Tony Romo needs to provide us with more stats before we could call him the 2nd Coming of Danny White. But it's an interesting concept, regardless.

Rod