Would Tony Romo Have Made the Texans “Contenders?”

The Houston Texans have dwelled in the placid gulf of mediocrity for upwards of five seasons now. Would have the addition of Tony Romo made them true contenders?

This Houston Texans team is a group almost everyone feels a little sympathy for. They’re frequently overshadowed in the media by their more historic, more successful in-state rivals the Cowboys. Would adding Tony Romo change the script?

This group has a consistently producing top-10 defenses that keep them alive in games only to have poor quarterback play continually slash their chances of getting deep into the playoffs.

So when Jerry Jones so graciously granted NFL teams freedom to speak with Tony Romo, I, like many others, started fantasizing about a Romo-led Texans team.

However, once I’d got over the shock of Romo announcing his retirement last Tuesday, my thoughts turned to a question that everyone considered. Would Romo have actually made the Texans contenders?

First, we must look at Romo himself. He finished as the Cowboys’ all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns. However, he’s still considered the third best quarterback to play for the franchise behind Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach due to his inability to win playoff games.

There is an awful lot to admire about Tony Romo’s career – his willingness to fight through various injuries deserves respect and his never-say-die approach to the quarterback position. It gave us memorable moments of him scrambling around to keep plays alive.

In this regard, Romo’s shortcomings mirror the Texans themselves. Benefactors of a generally weak division, they’ve been fortuitous to make the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, but though they’ve won three wildcard games, it must be noted these were against the hapless Cincinnati Bengals, and a Derek Car-less Raiders team earlier this year.

Maybe I’m being too critical, as Romo’s playoff passing numbers are actually pretty good: eight touchdowns and just two interceptions through 6 games with a QBR of 93. The issue is, his QBR and completion percentage (61%) are well below his regular season numbers, and when I think of Romo in the playoffs, I don’t necessarily think of these stats anyway. It’s more the botched snap of the potential game-winning field goal against the Seahawks that first springs to mind…

Jerry Jones played the long game with Romo, waiting to see if anyone would trade for him (they didn’t) and then leaving it until early April to release him and grant teams access to him.

You can’t help but feel this tactic of keeping the ball rolling (and the general time of year) added to the intrigue around Romo, and the situation ultimately received more hype than it should have done. While he may have been the best quarterback to hit free agency since Peyton Manning, Tony Romo’s career shows he probably didn’t have the “saviour” quality that all this mystique has managed to lend him.

Despite this, Romo would have easily been the best quarterback, and maybe even the best offensive player, to ever suit up for the Texans, had he signed with them.

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Their lack of receiving talent is still a concern – it says a lot when C.J Feidorowicz and Ryan Griffin accounted for the same number of touchdowns (6) as DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller. Romo would have provided the Texans’ young receivers with much more consistent quarterback play.

The case for Romo in Houston is, nonetheless, still compelling. One thing that he’s never been fortunate enough to have is a perennial top-10 defense that can consistently make big plays. With Houston, Romo would have had that luxury.

In all his seasons at Dallas he was never gifted with any defensive playmakers, with the exception of DeMarcus Ware.

Having J.J Watt and Jadeveon Clowney, Houston have two elite defensive linemen, an all-pro linebacker in Brian Cushing, plus a decent wealth of talent in the secondary.

It’s why, in their various playoff losses, they’ve never been blown out by anyone, not even the Patriots. This defence would have certainly given Romo a fighting chance to put together a run.

Speculation aside, we can’t ignore the lack of experience in this Houston team “down the stretch.” If they’d made it to the Championship game with Romo under center, it would’ve be a totally new experience for almost every player. One such player who had heaps of that, big Vince Wilfork, departed this offseason.

Teams that consistently push for a place in the Super Bowl have had to earn their right to play football deep into January. Over a number of years and often, heart-breaking playoff losses, not by simply overcoming Andy Dalton or Connor Cook in wildcard football.

Success in the NFL is determined no more so by any other position than the quarterback. Fans of the Houston Texans have found this out the painfully hard way.

Had Romo gone south, they would have had the best shot in their history to make a run at a Super Bowl. Whether the Texans could have actually been genuine contenders in 2017 is something we’ll, sadly, never know.