So now that I can reflect on the thrilling game I witnessed, I can honestly say that as a football fan and not a Dallas Cowboy fan, Tony Romo's performance was one of the gutsiest I've ever seen. Because this game was only the second game of the season you can't rank it up with Emmitt Smith against the Giants in '93 when he played through a dislocated shoulder to help win the game and clinch the division. Still, while this wasn't necessarily a must win, it was pretty close: starting out 0-2 with the not so pathetic Redskins, scorching Lions and Patriots coming up would be terrible. Let's revisit the chain of events: Romo takes a vicious blind-side hit because, surprise, our offensive line still sucks. Romo looks shaken but returns and throws a TD to Miles to make it a 1-TD game going into halftime. We find out Romo isn't starting, then that he has a cracked rib and WILL NOT RETURN. Jon Kitna comes it and looks good at points, but allows the 49ers to grab the momentum and seemingly take control of the game. At this point Romo says fuck it "I put the team on my back doh" and does just that. Playing behind a inexperienced line, without dezzy, oh and a running game, he takes the game to overtime where he then wins it with Jesse Holley's long reception. Say what you want about Romo but the man has guts straight up. People forget, but at the end of that terrible '08 season he was playing hurt which probably caused his decline in play. In this era of babying quarterbacks, and football players in general, it's refreshing to see a player play through pain. Everyone remembers the Chicago-Green Bay championship game where Jay Cutler got hurt and just sat on the sideline for the rest of the game, letting the third string QB try to take his team to the super bowl. As a student at the University of Texas I remember the Championship game in '09 when Colt McCoy got hit and rather than at least try to go out and win the game, sat on the sideline and watched his freshman back-up try to win. Though sometimes he frustrates me, Romo's performance today made me proud to have him as our quarterback.
On another note, for people who wonder why Jesse Holley was so exuberant after his 77 yard play in overtime, you need to know a little bit about him. It's said that when you make a big play you should act like you've been there before. Well the fact is, Jesse Holley has not only never been "there" he's never been close. He was undrafted out of college, signed with the Bengals, then was cut, then went to the Canadian football league before getting a spot on Michael Irvin's reality show "4th and long." In a competition between 6 cornerback and 6 wideouts, he beat all the contestants to earn an INVITATION to Cowboys training camp. Yes that's just an invitation, not a spot on the team. The guy signed with the Cowboys after he ran back a punt for a TD in preseason, then got cut but signed back on the practice squad. The next year he was CUT AGAIN, and again signed with the practice squad before being promoted to the active squad as a special teams guy. Then this off-season he faced some stiff competition for the fifth wideout spot but managed to win the job. Fifth receiver doesn't get much playing time, but with dezzy dizzle out with a quad injury, Jesse was 4th. In a move of uncanny intuition, Tony Romo pulled Holley to the side before a drive and basically told him, you need to step up. On the game-tying drive Romo hits Holley twice, for intermediate gains on well-run routes. But Holley's momement of glory came on the first play of the Cowboys offensive possession of OT, when he jogged upfield as if to block and then ran behind the entire 49ers defense to haul in a Romo pass and run 77 yards to the 1-yardline. It's true the whole sticking the ball up in the air was a bonehead move and could've fucked him and the Cowboys over, but for a guy who faced obstacle after obstacle to get in that position, can you blame him? You couldn't script a better story of redemption. Literally. I think Holley's story is more compelling than Rudy Ruettiger or Vince Papale, two guys who got moves made after them.
The funny thing about this season is that if going into the season someone told me we would lose to the Jets 24-27 I would say "Oh well that's not a bad loss, they'e a good team" and beat the 49ers 27-24 I would say "How did we only beat the 49ers by three points?" But it's the way that outcome is reached that creates that final feeling stemming from that game, which explains why last week's loss was so sickening and this week's was so glorious. Romo will probably be out for a couple weeks, hopefully he will be ready after the bye, so the next couple games will be the ultimate test for our team. One thing is for certain, we need help from our running game. Today's performance was dreadful, and I'm starting to think Demarco Murray may be a better option than Felix Jones, Felix looks so slow in his cuts and hitting the hole. Our defense wasn't great today, but I do love the way we rush the passer under Rob Ryan. Once we get our corners back, we should be solid on D. One of the commentators said that everything in Dallas is magnified by 10, the good and the bad. That's probably true, this week's victory doesn't mean we're going to win the super bowl, just as our week one loss didn't mean we should cut everyone and start our team from scratch. But as fan it is reasonable to feel better about your team when they win, than when they lose.
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