Rex Grossman: Pro-bowl snub?

by jrm78 on Dec 21, 2006 8:21 AM CST

In today's Tribune, David Haugh asks whether or not Rex Grossman was a pro-bowl snub. He mentions other QBs that got snubbed this year as well, but the crux of his arguement is this:

Michael Vick, you could understand. Vick has 990 yards rushing and a career-high 19 touchdown passes--numbers that merit NFC Pro Bowl selection.

Brett Favre would have deserved the benefit of the doubt if he were selected, even in an erratic season, for career achievement.

But Tony Romo?

I have to agree.

Tony Romo has had some good games and some mediocre performances this year, but he hasn't played a full season. Because of that small sample size, he has not had enough time to show any flaws.

After the month of September, Rex was considered a top contender for MVP. However after the near disaster in the desert where he posted a rating of 10.2, Rex began a stretch of 7 games where inconsistency was a constant. His rating fluctuated from a frothy high of 137.4 vs the Niners, to the unlucky week 13 1.3 suck-fest vs the Vikings.

Romo, while not having the bottom fall out quite as dramatically as Rex, had a stretch from weeks 9-12 where his rating was above 100 three of the four weeks. The one time in that period where his rating was below 100 was an 89.5 vs Indianapolis. At that point, the national media was ready to annoint him the second coming of Montana. In week 13, he had a lackluster performance vs the Giants in a win, posting a 58.1 rating. This performance was overshadowed by Rex's 1.3, which received more attention. The next week against the Saints his rating was 58.8.

To wrap up this diary, my point is that Rex should deserve pro-bowl consideration, but has been too inconsistent to make it. Romo, OTOH, while putting up good numbers hasn't had enough time to show whether or not he will enter a slump. Like Haugh says, Vick or Favre have a more complete body of work to look over, and deserved more consideration for the pro-bowl.

Ratings pulled from ESPN.com.

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Comments

Pro Bowl voting

is messed up. that's just the way it is. Personally I think the fact that either of them is in discussion shows how few good QB's there are in the NFC this year. Romo hasn't played enough and Grossman hasn't been consistent enough.

first the Rush...now the Bears.

by mike @ Windy City Gridiron on Dec 21, 2006 8:32 AM CST reply actions

NO Romo!

I don't think that Romo deserves it, for all of the reasons that you pointed out. I don't think that Grossman deserves it either. It appears to be obvious, that on his best day Grossman is better than Romo. However, Romo hasn't had the horrible lapse in judgement that Grossman has had in his bad games.

Two of my best friends are Cowboys fans, and I can't help but feel (more like hoping and wishing) that Romo will hit a wall at some point, whether it be in the regular season or playoffs.

by MO Cubs Fan on Dec 21, 2006 9:15 AM CST reply actions

Sorry, dude

I just posted this, didn't see you had it over here as well.

by Adam T on Dec 21, 2006 9:31 AM CST reply actions

No biggie

You take more of a counterpoint to my arguement by saying Rex deserves to go to the Pro-Bowl, while I think that Rex's inconsistency hurt his pro-bowl chances. It also seemed that Rex saved his worst performances for some of the higher-profile, nationally televised games. At Arizona, at New England, and home against Minnesota (while not national TV, was pretty high-profile since the Bears clinched the division) were his worst performances of the season. It's just his bad luck the rest of the nation saw those games and were left with a lasting impression of his play. That isn't to say that he sucks under the spotlight. Home vs Seattle, at the Giants, and at St. Louis were amongst his best games of the year. The Giants game should've proven that he can bounce back from a bad start to have a solid game, but the world-wide leader didn't see it that way. The 1.3 performance helped bury the news of Romo's less-than-stellar performances, IMHO.

We do agree on one thing, Rex deserved to go to the Pro-Bowl before Romo.

Unleash your inner Grabowski.

by jrm78 on Dec 21, 2006 10:11 AM CST up reply actions

Romo is very deserving

Tony is the second rated passer in the league, first in the NFC and has played consistently well in every game he has played except for the Saints game, his only real bad performance. The Cowboys would only be a .500 team at best, failing to make the playoffs with Romo. With Romo the Cowboys are legitimate SB contenders.

Grossman on the other hand has been as inconsistent as qb can possibly be. Just a few weeks ago there was talk he should be benched in favor of Griese. Pro Bowl qb's should never be even considered being benched. The Bears actually are 12-2 in spite of Grossman and probably would be undefeated without even close to being beaten if Grossman was truly a pro bowl qb.

Bottom line is that Romo was the second best qb in the NFC this season and certainly should be in the pro bowl. To me its a no brainer.

by Terry @ Windy City Gridiron on Dec 21, 2006 3:34 PM CST reply actions

Of course it is

because you're a homer.

Romo had a lower QB rating in the Giants game than he did the Saints game, fwiw. He really beats up on the patsy defenses just like Rex does though.

QB ratings for Romo:
Texans 158.3
Giants 73.7
@Carolina 86.6
@Washington 109
@Arizona 126.8
Colts 89.5
Bucs 148.9
@NYG 58.1
Saints 58.8
@Atlanta 113.9

Not that Grossman deserved to make it, but neither did Romo. It's going to be a real shame if you guys lose out on the division to the Eagles this weekend. What will they say of the great Tony Romo then?

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by thecubreporter on Dec 21, 2006 7:33 PM CST up reply actions

it won't happen

thats why Romo deserves to go, he won't allow us to lose. I don't care what Romo's qb rating was against the Giants, he played really well when he had to in that game in the 4th qrt and made big throws to win the game. To me, we couldn't have won that game without him, no doubt. That has nothing about being a homer, its just a fact.

Anyone who says Romo doesn't deserve to go to the pro bowl or that he only plays well against bad teams, is just a hater, plain and simple.

Nobody on this blog will admit it, but I know you would love to have Romo instead of Grossman, because if the Bears and Cowboys would switch qb's, we would be average at best, probably under .500 maybe, and the Bears would be undefeated and cruise to a SB championship. You guys know that to be true.

by Terry @ Windy City Gridiron on Dec 21, 2006 8:34 PM CST up reply actions

no we don't

we'd probably be in exactly the same place and so would you guys.

Did Romo refuse to lose against the Saints and Redskins too or did he let those slip by?

Romo's barely a story if he didn't replace a guy who should have retired 4 years ago. He just screws up less than the last guy.

Anyone who says Romo doesn't deserve to go to the pro bowl or that he only plays well against bad teams, is just a hater, plain and simple.

not a hater, just reasonable. A half season worth of good games versus bad teams should not make a Pro Bowler.

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by thecubreporter on Dec 21, 2006 10:23 PM CST up reply actions

no, you're a hater

because your statements aren't true. They're actually comical. The fact is Romo completely made the Cowboys a different team. If he just screwed up less than Beldsoe, they still wouldn't be good enough to go to the playoffs.

Like I said, he played well against good teams because if he didn't he wouldn't be leading the NFC in passing. The only dog teams he beat were the Cards and Bucs, who almost beat your Bears by the way, so maybe you shouldn't be admitting they're so horrible. The same goes for the Cards who made your qb look like shit. So if you want to get "reasonable", maybe look at Grossman and Romo's qb rating verus common opponents and I quarantee you, Romo blows Grossman away, easily.

by Terry @ Windy City Gridiron on Dec 22, 2006 8:10 AM CST up reply actions

You're right

Romo stole my girlfriend in college, I've never been able to get over it.

My point which you seem to be missing has little to do with Grossman vs Romo, it has to do with Romo having no real business being on the Pro Bowl for his half season of doing nothing special.

But hey, you think Troy Aikman is the greatest QB of all-time, so you seem like you have a fair and unbiased view on the NFL.

Just for you, Romo vs Grossman against common opponents:
Romo
Giants 73.7
@NYG 58.1
-----
Romo vs Giants: AVG 65.9
Grossman @ Giants: 105.7

Romo @Arizona 126.8
Grossman @ Arizona: 10.2

Romo vs. Bucs: 148.9
Grossman vs Bucs: 104.3

So basically the difference is one very good game against Arizona by Romo and one very bad game by Grossman against them. So by ONE game, we should be able to definitively get our answer on who's better?

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by thecubreporter on Dec 22, 2006 12:16 PM CST up reply actions

well

if you don't think that taking a team that was average, no where near being a playoff team, to a 9-5 record, on the verge on winning a NFC East title and being a legit SB contender, then I guess we have two different definitions of being special because in my book, thats big time special.

by Terry @ Windy City Gridiron on Dec 23, 2006 10:43 AM CST reply actions