IRVING – Now everybody can wonder how Tony Romo will respond.
Since he was named starting quarterback Oct. 29, Romo has been excellent in leading the Cowboys back into playoff contention.
One unanswered question, though, was how Romo would bounce back after a bad game.
Sunday night, Romo had one.
Romo completed 16 of 33 passes for 249 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 42-17 loss to New Orleans.
"Anytime you lose, it's not a good feeling," said Romo, who fell to 5-2 as a starter. "But everyone knows you're going to lose. If you let this affect you, it will affect your next game. So as soon as I leave here, I'm going to try my best to let it go."
The Saints pressured Romo throughout the game, forcing him to step up in the pocket and throw off balance at times. He overthrew and underthrew receivers all night.
"I think when you play like we played, and the game gets so one dimensional, then he didn't really have a good chance," coach Bill Parcells said. "He didn't really start well, either. But we just have to get back to work and see what we can do."
In the first half, Romo completed only four of 11 passes for 44 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. That added up to a quarterback rating of 11.2.
Romo also was hurt by drops in the end zone by Jason Witten in the third quarter and on a deep ball to Terrell Owens early in the fourth quarter.
Romo's first interception occurred on a deep pass to Terry Glenn. Romo underthrew the pass, and it was picked off by safety Omar Stoutmire less than two minutes into the second quarter.
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LOUIS DeLUCA / DMN Tony Romo is sandwiched between Saints defenders Brian Young (66) and Will Smith. |
Romo nearly threw a second interception after Dallas had reached the New Orleans 6-yard line early in the second half, but Mike McKenzie dropped an errant pass to Patrick Crayton.
Romo later threw a touchdown pass to Owens, but it should have been a interception. The Saints' Fred Thomas bobbled an underthrown pass right to Owens, who scored with 7:53 remaining.
Romo's second interception occurred late in the third quarter. He looked for Witten deep down the middle but didn't get enough on that pass, either, and cornerback Jason Craft picked it off with 49 seconds left.
It was Romo's second straight game with two interceptions. Last week, however, his teammates bailed him out against the Giants.
That wasn't the case Sunday.
E-mail cwatkins@dallasnews.com
