From There to Here

I’m sitting around the house on Sunday watching Romo come completely unglued at the end of the Dallas game (he yelled at everyone: refs, his offensive line, Crayton, probably Jessica when he got home), and I turn to my roommate.

In my best PTI impression, I go “Tossup! Bigger playoff choker: ARod or Romo?”

We didn’t really discuss it as much as laugh at the both of them, but their playoff resumes are pretty friggin’ horrible. Granted, there’s a large difference between football and baseball. In baseball, you play AT LEAST three games in the postseason; football, you might only play one. If they advance to the next round, the difference goes from two to AT LEAST seven games, and that’s if they win out and then get swept.

Plus, ARod’s are really more tangible and Romo’s are more intangible. Not to say that Romo’s are uncalculatable, but you can’t really compare them. It might be a complete bullshit exercise, but here are some key stats:

Since ARod became a Yankee, his postseason numbers: 24 games, 94 at bats, 15 runs scored, 23 hits, three doubles, four home runs, nine RBIs, 14 walks and 22 strikeouts. It’s a .245 average. When you compare it to his career .306 average, he’s more than .060 off the pace, a good margin. His .343 on-base percentage in the postseason is off his career .389 mark.

ARod’s choking was never more prevalent than in 2005/2006. ARod went 2-for-15 in 2005 and 1-for-14 in 2006. The Yanks lost in the first round both times. ARod combined in both series was 3-for-29, posting a .103 average. He added two runs, a double, no homers and ZERO RBIs. He walked six times and struck out nine times.

That’s pretty impressive choking.

Romo’s stats don’t tell the whole story, but here they are:
Game 1 at Seattle: 17-29, 189 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 58.6 completion percentage and an 89.6 QB rating. Not a bad game at all, but the big error came on the snap that he couldn’t control. Dallas ended up losing by a point and the play will haunt Romo for the rest of his career. If he handles that extra point, they tie the game and play overtime, where a tired Seattle team probably couldn’t have kept up.
SEASON STATS: 181 yards a game, 19 TD, 13 INT, 65.3 completion percentage and an 95.1 QB rating. A little departure in the playoffs.

Game 2 vs. NYG: 18-36, 201 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 50 completion percentage and a 64.7 QB rating. A pretty shitty game overall, especially when you consider he started yelling at anyone: Crayton, who dropped two easily catchable passes; the refs, who did call a debatable intentional grounding penalty; and his linemen, who allowed him to get abused violently throughout the game. But he lost his cool, didn’t make plays and basically just gave the game away.
SEASON STATS: 263 yards per game, 36 TD, 19 INT, 64.4 completion percentage and a 97.4 QB rating. A freaking crazy departure.

Although there’s really no way to know, I’ll still put my money on ARod. But Romo’s gotta drop the girlfriend and pick up his game, because it’s so freaking sad to see a young QB do so poorly.