He was the anointed one, the belated heir-apparent to Troy Aikman, the savior from mediocrity of a once-proud franchise whose designation as “America’s Team” had seemed more jocular than genuine.

It’s October in Dallas. It’s Tony Romo’s time of year.

The man clearly has some skills. He threw for over 4,200 yards and 36 touchdowns during the 2007 season, far higher into the statistical stratosphere than the likes of such storied Cowboys field generals as Troy Aikman and even Roger Staubach had ever reached.

The difference? They won. And they did it in January, not October. Why can’t Romo pull off the big win when it counts?

Cowboys Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett recently told Fox Sports Radio, “I don’t know why on God’s Earth Tony Romo has been anointed a superstar in the National Football League.” Dorsett wasn’t being disloyal to the franchise that made him a star. He was speaking his mind and being honest in a way not often heard among the handler-heavy luminaries of the football firmament. Maybe he has a point.

Stats alone a quarterback do not make. Just ask Steve Young, whose stellar regular-season record and record-setting performances for the San Francisco 49ers were overshadowed by the multitude of Lombardi trophies resting in the bosom of über-champion Joe Montana, at least until his 49ers broke into the Cowboy’s early-nineties Aikman-led dynasty in 1994. Or ask Danny White, who never won a championship for Dallas and, despite racking up gaudy numbers, remains to this day a footnote beneath the towering Cowboys marquee featuring names like Aikman and Staubach. In this league, winners are recognized both for what they are and, sometimes, for what they’re not.

There are times when Romo makes Cowboys fans want to pull the Cowboys’ star off of their beer coolers. In this season’s huge stadium-opening extravaganza against the division rival New York Giants, Romo turned in a performance worthy of star-pulling to be sure. A 127-yard, three-interception monstrosity, the game was characterized by some as a clinical study in quarterbacking ineptitude. Romo’s abysmal 29.6 passer rating was the second worst of his entire career.

Still, he did something after the game seldom seen in today’s epidemic of galactic egos: he took full responsibility for the loss. Not just his performance, but for the game itself. Tony Romo didn’t lose the game, the Dallas Cowboys did (and, incidentally, by only a two-point margin). He clearly wants to win, and he clearly takes it hard when his team doesn’t. You won’t see Romo laughing on the sidelines during a loss like that one, unlike some players who are paid higher salaries and are drafted higher in fantasy-football drafts. He’s a sportsman to be sure, but is he a winner?

That remains to be seen. The occasion is when Tony Romo is the best player on the field, willing his team to victory. Take his giant-slaying performance in his first home start, a 2006 win against the then-undefeated Indianapolis Colts, wherein Romo’s completion percentage was an eye-popping 82.6%. He capped two touchdown-scoring drives with another drive to run out the clock to beat the eventual Superbowl champions. Or last season’s victory against the New York Giants, when Romo battled through a lower back contusion and connected with nine different receivers, finishing 20-of-30 for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Those are the kind of games that make Cowboys fans want to tattoo the Cowboys’ star onto their foreheads.

Maybe Dorsett has it right. Maybe our expectations have been too high, and we simply need to lower them. Or maybe Tony Romo will rise to the occasion this year and become what everybody once thought he already was.

A winner.