John Nestor

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo already had to deal with another meltdown that led to an excruciating loss, now he has to deal with the aftermath.

Former Cowboy Deion Sanders and current Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley were not at all shy about ripping into Romo for his part in Dallas 34-30 loss to the Detroit Lions Sunday.

Dallas led 27-3 at one point but Romo helped give the lead away with a pair of interceptions that were returned for touchdowns in the second half.

"I don't understand this guy," Sanders said on the NFL Network. "Just when you want to believe in him, heroic effort, came back against San Francisco, they said punctured lung and everything. And we praised him, we said, 'Yeah, he's that leader, he's their guy.' And then you come and do this. What are you thinking?

"Sooner or later we've just got to quit guessing and assuming that this guy is the guy to get you over the hump, and say, 'You know what? This guy is always going to be great statistically, but he's not that guy that can take you to where you want to go.' And that's the Super Bowl."

Romo completed 34-of-47 passes for 331 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. It wasn't enough and now Dallas is 2-2 and scratching its head instead of 3-1 and rolling into its bye week.

One of Dallas' two wins came against the Redskins and Romo directed a late scoring drive to pull out the win but that didn't stop Cooley from running his mouth.

"It's amazing, amazing to watch him choke like that," Redskins tight end Chris Cooley said on 106.7 The Fan in Washington. "I'm just saying, (if) I'm up 24 points in the third quarter, if I'm the head coach, I feel like I could probably just take a knee for the rest of the game, punt it away and there's no way that Detroit's gonna drive on you that many times.

"The only way you're gonna give up that many points is turnovers, right? It's hilarious to watch him throw pick sixes, too, back to back. I loved it."

NFL 2011 - 'Prime Time' Deion Sanders & Redskins Tight End Cooley Knock Tony Romo