DC.COM: Romo Offers Insight Into Slow Starts, Electric Finishes

[WoodysGirl]

Rowan Kavner
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer

IRVING, Texas – Every week in every game, two things remain clear: the offense will start slowly and a furious second-half finish will allow the Cowboys to squeak out a win or fall just short.

The Cowboys finished at or below the 10-point mark at the half for the 12th straight game to start the season. Quarterback Tony Romo said there’s a reason the offense finished with exactly 10 points at halftime for the fourth time this season Sunday against the Eagles.

“I know as a quarterback, just from my perspective, there’s only so many coverages over the years you can see and show,” he said. “It still comes down to blocking and tackling and throwing and catching and running. Early in the game, you don’t necessarily always know exactly what they’re playing that day. Once I get a beat on it, usually I can lock in and be pretty good.”

He was better than pretty good once he figured out how he wanted to move the football. In fact, he was perfect. Romo went 10-for-10 for 169 yards and three touchdowns in the second half, with two of the scoring throws going to wide receiver Dez Bryant.

Read the rest: http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/ar...9-69fd462f3af4

[McLovin]

Theres an undertone of Dez being a slow starter. 14 yds in the 1st half last week...failing to mention there was 0 targets until the 1 pass late in the second quarter.

Maybe the slow starts are on Romo. If so, that is a horrible way to win consistently. Stats back that up

[Idgit]

Romo said his passes to Bryant are dictated off coverage, but he can find ways to get Bryant involved once he sees how the defense is playing in the first half.

“If a team wants to do different things, then that’s the case,” Romo said. “I’ll move him around as the game goes when I get an understanding of what they’re trying to do.”

“I think it’s just sometimes early in the game I think we need to be able to do the little things to be able to let drives extend,” Romo said. “We need to run the ball, we need to stay out of third-and-long, minimize penalties, then you’ve got to play good defense and keep the games close. If you do that, you can kind of gain the understanding of what they’re doing defensively and attack them.”

Where'd I miss the part about getting better once they abandon the game plan?

Interesting to hear Romo say exactly what some of us have been saying all along when it comes to early mistakes and third and longs. I wonder if there's anything to that.

[Cajuncowboy]

For Romo to say that it takes "him" the first half of games to figure out what the defense is doing is absurd. Not that it is all on romo but isn't that what the red headed genius is supposed to do BEFORE the game? These teams don't throw something new that they have never done before at you every week, week in and week out. Geez Jason, prepare your team.

This is indicative of what some of us have been saying about Garrett. He doesn't prepare the team to play on game day and then he has to rely on magic in the second half to get things close.

[rcaldw]

Originally Posted by Cajuncowboy

For Romo to say that it takes "him" the first half of games to figure out what the defense is doing is absurd. Not that it is all on romo but isn't that what the red headed genius is supposed to do BEFORE the game? These teams don't throw something new that they have never done before at you every week, week in and week out. Geez Jason, prepare your team.

This is indicative of what some of us have been saying about Garrett. He doesn't prepare the team to play on game day and then he has to rely on magic in the second half to get things close.

Baloney. And for my taste I'm getting sick of hearing "red headed genius" or, Princeton references, or ginger, or all the other stupidity. Frankly it negates even the legitimate beef that some of you have.

You guys have a narrative and look for whatever you can find that fits it. It is getting old.

[Mansta54]

Originally Posted by rcaldw

Baloney. And for my taste I'm getting sick of hearing "red headed genius" or, Princeton references, or ginger, or all the other stupidity. Frankly it negates even the legitimate beef that some of you have.

You guys have a narrative and look for whatever you can find that fits it. It is getting old.

Amen!!!

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by Cajuncowboy

For Romo to say that it takes "him" the first half of games to figure out what the defense is doing is absurd. Not that it is all on romo but isn't that what the red headed genius is supposed to do BEFORE the game? These teams don't throw something new that they have never done before at you every week, week in and week out. Geez Jason, prepare your team.

This is indicative of what some of us have been saying about Garrett. He doesn't prepare the team to play on game day and then he has to rely on magic in the second half to get things close.

Lol! Perhaps Tony will get asked about that, too, later this week. Then he can blow that out of the water.

At least we're no longer hearing that Tony's not a leader or that he doesn't put in the hard work. I'll take the small blessings as they come.

[Yakuza Rich]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Maybe the slow starts are on Romo. If so, that is a horrible way to win consistently. Stats back that up

We have had slow starts from Romo before Dez came here. The only time we didn't get off to slow starts under Romo was in '06, when Parcells was coach.

My guess is it's a Romo/Garrett issue, not a Dez issue.






YR

[Idgit]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Rich

We have had slow starts from Romo before Dez came here. The only time we didn't get off to slow starts under Romo was in '06, when Parcells was coach.

My guess is it's a Romo/Garrett issue, not a Dez issue.

YR

Sturm's blog today made an interesting point re: attempts to Dez starting slowly and scaling as we get further into the game. Perhaps it's the case where it really does take Romo some snaps to figure out how to setup his best passing game weapons.

In the meantime, though, we've had drive killing mistakes, drops, and penalties that make it harder to get those snaps early. Maybe if we still had an option like Robinson who was more consistent early, or had a working running game keeping early conversions manageable, we'd get those snaps sooner and work Dez/Miles into the position we want them in sooner.

It's an interesting thought. That we're basically making adjustments effective enough to compensate for the shortcomings of the base offense, but that it takes us some time to do it. Runs counter to the prevailing opinion, of course. And I'm not sure it's accurate, myself.

[ABQcowboyJR]

I still do not understand why they don't force the ball to Dez early in games. Maybe a reverse or just a simple bubble screen. I'm still waiting for the reverse to Dez and then he throws a 70 yard bomb to Miles for 6.

[Yakuza Rich]

Originally Posted by Idgit

Sturm's blog today made an interesting point re: attempts to Dez starting slowly and scaling as we get further into the game. Perhaps it's the case where it really does take Romo some snaps to figure out how to setup his best passing game weapons.

In the meantime, though, we've had drive killing mistakes, drops, and penalties that make it harder to get those snaps early. Maybe if we still had an option like Robinson who was more consistent early, or had a working running game keeping early conversions manageable, we'd get those snaps sooner and work Dez/Miles into the position we want them in sooner.

It's an interesting thought. That we're basically making adjustments effective enough to compensate for the shortcomings of the base offense, but that it takes us some time to do it. Runs counter to the prevailing opinion, of course. And I'm not sure it's accurate, myself.

I think it's pretty obvious that Romo and Garrett like to get a feel early on as to what the opposing defense is going to do. That's essentially what scripting the first 15 plays is about...scripting the 1st quarter's offensive plays and get the personnel packages and looks you want and see how the opponent is going to defend them.

I don't know if Garrett scripts the first 15 plays or not. But you're right, they do have penalties that kill drives. And if you put yourself at 2nd and 20, the go away from the script because the down and distance has screwed evertyhing up. But, that will mean that they will carry that script into the 2nd quarter.

Sadly for me, I think the revolution is to go with a hurry up style of offense and snap the ball early into the play clock. I think it makes things easier for the entire offense because they don't have to worry about the opposing defense switching and disguising coverages, stunts and blitzes. Furthermore, the opposing defense cannot substitute personnel as effectively as they want to. In other words, the hurry up will dictate what goes on the field instead of the defense dictating it. And it's simpler as well. I think we have the QB to run an effective hurry up, but we're too busy trying to out-scheme everybody.






YR

[Bluestang]

I can assure you fellas, that penalties, blown assignments, and interceptions have been the root cause that have killed several of our starting drives.

Just look at how the first three drives in the WAS game ended.