In 2007, the Cowboys were 13-3, rolling over virtually all competitors. They stumbled over their dicks into the postseason and lost to the eventual champion New York Giants. They were the shape of the Cowboys to come. The people were excited. The air was abuzz at what could happen. The Boys rolled over everyone not named the Patriots. Sure, they fucked up against the Eagles and Giants at the end of the year, but they can't win them all, right?
No. Something happened. They could have won them all (if they didn't play that year's Patriots). Something evil happened. I personally blamed Jessica Simpson. But it was worse than that. Romo started reading what people thought about him. It wasn't like that before. Before, Romo played by the seat of his pants. He was the wild card. He turned twenty yard losses into thirty yard gains. He threw six interceptions in one game and still pulled out a win. It was simply magical.
Basically, there was a paradigm shift. The Romo that made shit happen became just another cog in a machine. Less a player and more a statistic. No longer was he a winner that invented ways to win, he was suddenly something quantifiable. People, including himself, began to look at statistics and trends. Graphs. Charts. Shit like that.
He used to be a goddamn football player. He used to win football games. Now he's just a statistic, just a fantasy football player. The rest of the team suffers for it.
The shape of the Cowboys to come never came.
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