Former Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman has joined the debate over Tony Romo's performance in last Sunday's Cowboys-Jets game, and the three-time Super Bowl winner came down on the side of -- you guessed it -- the current Cowboys quarterback.
"Here’s the problem I have with the way people react to Tony: Tony’s the reason why the expectations are what they are," Aikman told Dallas' KTCK AM on Thursday, via the Dallas Morning News.
"And if it weren’t for him, there would be no expectations. Yet when he plays great through three and a half quarters, the reason they’re in the game or leading the game is because Tony’s playing really great. And then you have a bad play that hurts your team, and they act like he’s the reason they lost. They don’t remember, 'No, he’s the reason we were beating the team that we really had no expectations of beating.'"
Aikman expressed similar sentiments while discussing Romo and a number of other topics on "The Rich Eisen Podcast" on Wednesday.
Romo looked awful in the fourth quarter of the Jets game, fumbling on New York's 2-yard line and throwing an easy interception to Darrelle Revis to let the Jets steal a come-from-behind win after trailing by 14 points in the fourth quarter.
In the days since, several analysts in the media have piled on, while a few have agreed with Aikman that Romo is still one of the team's best players.
"I know a lot of people who watched the game, and even Tony himself, felt really good about the way he’d played," Aikman said. "And then he just made a couple of mistakes. That happens. I think when it happens for a quarterback, you just move on and get ready for the next game."