In the big, bad, world of the NFL, individual players can often find themselves demonised by supporters to a fanatical degree over one tiny little on-field mistake.
And then there is Tony Romo.
More so than any other marquee footballer in the last decade, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback has been the target of intense vitriol as ‘America’s team’ has so often looked the goods, only to hopelessly throw their season away in the big matches.
Problem is that it has been Romo doing the throwing…mostly to the waiting arms of opposition defenders.
While American football is perhaps second only to cricket in the unusual lexicon stakes and they drive an awful lot of automatic cars in the USA, the term ‘clutch’ is liberally used to describe a play or players that are able to prosper in the difficult moments.
Fair to say then that Romo sits with Greg Norman in the clutch stakes (and not all that far off in the ex-partner stakes).
He is the player Cowboys fans love to hate…until now.
In a stunning performance over the weekend Romo led the Cowboys to a brilliant come from behind victory against divisional arch rivals Washington, including a miraculous late game touchdown that wouldn’t look out of place in your run of the mill cheesy Hollywood football flick.
And much rejoicing was to be had in the lonestar state-Romo was back!
Then, in a cruel twist, it was his back-as Romo suffered a back injury that rules him out for this weekend’s winner takes all clash with divisional opponents Philadelphia.
All of a sudden every kid in Texas is furiously writing to Santa with amendments to their wish list in an effort to swap their Batmobiles for a healthy Tony.
Without Romo at the helm against Chip Kelly’s aggressive Eagles side the Cowboys odds have blown out like Jamarcus Russell, and Dallas now will have a brand new quarterback struggle to deal with.
Filling Romo’s Uggs next Sunday will be ‘journeyman’ Kyle Orton, a man with plenty of NFL experience but who has become best known for being the fall guy for emerging quarterback and evangelical superstars.
The man is about as flashy as a bowl of oatmeal and widely expected to fall short of getting the Cowboys to the promised playoff land.
But, If Orton can take inspiration from anyone perhaps it would be from his opposite number Nick Foles.
While Foles stock might be well above that of Orton in the current NFL landscape, he too started the year behind a much more dynamic quarterback at Philadelphia before being able to make the job his own.
Sure he’s had a lot longer to do it, Orton having only thrown five passes in total this year, but Foles has shown that if you you can keep moving the chains sometimes you can grind out something special.
And hey, with the Cowboys having lost against NFC East teams with a playoff spot on the line in their regular-season finale, couldn’t it be a case of third time lucky?
I mean, it’s not like that Tony Romo bloke is playing…
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