Thank You Jerry Jones!

If you play fantasy football, you just have to love Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys! Jones gets where we fantasy fanatics are coming from. Those of us who are not naturally fans of the Dallas Cowboys could care less if they win or lose. We don't care that they haven't been to the playoffs since the 2009 season. We don't care that Tony Romo has only won one NFL playoff game. If anything, we appreciate the fact that the Cowboys put out these really solid statistical players during the regular season, and then rub it into our friends that are Cowboys fans that while I won a fantasy championship with Dez Bryant, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Miles Austin, etc, the Cowboys didn't even make the NFL playoffs.

 

It's one of the secret "inner" joys we have as fantasy enthusiasts.

 

Jerry Jones has a history of paying more money to some players than he needed to, and yesterday's signing of QB Tony Romo to a 6 year, $108 million extension is another example of that. While the average of $18 million is less than what Joe Flacco got, it also included a whopping $55 million guaranteed (which is $3 million more than Flacco). While Romo has put up some very good statistical numbers, for a QB who hasn't guided the team to the playoffs in any of the last 3 seasons, owns a 55-38 record as a starting QB, and has won just 1 playoff game, surely Romo and his agents would have accepted less than this generous blunder by Jones?

 

Now while I point out the negative aspects of Romo, it does need to be remembered that winning and losing are based not just on offensive output, but also the ability of the defense to prevent opponents from scoring points.

 

In 2012 only 8 teams allowed more points to be scored against them the Dallas Cowboys. In 2010, only 2 teams allowed more points. In 2009, the last year they made the playoffs, only one team allowed fewer points against them than Dallas.

 

So it does need to be noted that the defensive side of the ball hasn't usually helped out much in the winning percentages.

 

As a QB, purely based on numbers, Romo has been one of the better QB's the last several years. Since taking over for Drew Bledsoe as the Cowboys starting QB in 2006, Romo has produced 25,475 passing yards, 174 passing TD's, 88 interceptions, 501 rushing yards, 5 rushing TD's, and 22 fumbles lost. All in 93 starts. That comes to an average per start of 273.9 passing yards, 1.87 passing TD's, 0.95 int's, 5.38 rush yards, 0.05 rush TD's, 0.24 fumbles lost. In terms of QB production, those are pretty good numbers.

 

But one thing numbers can't do for you are tell the story of the man himself. Romo has been inconsistent in being able to lead his team on game winning drives. Sometimes he's been successful; more often he hasn't. It is within these times that he seems to have the knack for making the "anti-play" where he throws a bad pass for an interception, bounces the ball at his receiver's feet, overthrows his receiver by a mile, takes a critical sack, and/or fumbles the ball. While from a fantasy perspective, I see Tony Romo as a top 10 fantasy QB more often than not and a guy you can win fantasy championships with, from the NFL perspective, Tony Romo is guy you usually don't want at the helm on a big drive at the end of a game. He's a guy who more often won't make the play other big time QB's make to help their teams win. In the NFL, Tony Romo is a QB who has the feel of a guy who can't win you a championship.

 

So, I have to say I am very happy about Jerry Jones busting the bank unnecessarily to keep Romo in Dallas. First, it keeps a very good fantasy QB where he is comfortable and proven to be able to put up solid statistical numbers. Second it ensures that the Cowboys have a very low probability of really competing for a Super Bowl championship the next several years.