Following his fourth-quarter meltdown Sunday against the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has been a subject of immense criticism by football fans and pundits alike.
But everyone knows only one man's opinion counts in Dallas, and owner Jerry Jones publicly backed his beleaguered signal-caller Tuesday.
In fact, Jones called Romo's performance one of the best of his career despite two late turnovers that helped the Jets really from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit, something Jones acknowledged might not sit well with some of his team's supporters.
"This may draw a little criticism, but I thought Tony played one of the best games I've ever seen him play," Jones said in an interview with KRLD-FM, via ESPN.com "You can make a big case that the way he played for three quarters was how we got there at the end and looked like for sure we were going to get the win. But he played outstanding."
Romo finished 23-of-36 passing for 342 yards, two touchdowns and one poorly timed interception in his first regular-season action since breaking his left clavicle Oct. 25, 2010 against the New York Giants.
Sunday's loss to the Jets dropped Romo's record to 1-7 in his past eight games and gave more fodder to the notion he isn't a clutch player. Jones, however, said he doesn't question Romo's intangibles.
"He's a winner," Jones said. "We are going to rise and fall based on what Tony Romo's about over the next several years, and I'm excited about that. We've got someone here that can, if we can get some other things together, we can have a team that gets us in position to have a shot."
