19 Sacks In disastrous December

[erod]

Tony Romo was sacked 19 times in the lone month of December last season, and he was hit countless more times, it seemed. That largely led to the ugly 1-5 finish when the playoffs looked so likely after the Thanksgiving win.

Of the warts that remain, that one is the most ominous, and the most mysteriously addressed.

Yes, the secondary rebuild is exciting, and yes, I'm hopeful for this season in general despite the tough schedule. Rob Ryan had the offseason and normal camp to install the defense finally, and Mike Woicik is the standard for offseason training workouts.

But this boat won't even get out of the dock if the offensive line issues are resolved over these next six weeks. Much of this lies at the feet of Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau, neither of which were loved by their former teams.

Enter new offensive line coach Bill Callahan, supposedly among the best in the business.

The Bengals signed Travelle Wharton from Carolina to upgrade the position held by Livings, and Bernadeau wasn't retained by Carolina even though he was the backup to Wharton. Neither team seemed sad to see those players leave.

Yet, the Cowboys (and presumably Callahan) identified Livings and Bernadeau as the solutions to the mess on the interior of the line. Living signed a 5 yr/$30 million deal, and Bernadeau got 4 years and $11 million. The team opted to stay out of the high-dollar bidding for Carl Nicks and released Kyle Kosier and Montrae Holland from last year.

The word is, Livings and Bernadeau are good run blockers with their size, which should bracket Costa at center. Or Bernadeau could slide to center and rookie Ron Leary or another guard could take over next to him.

But neither Livings are Bernadeau are know for the pass protection abilities. They're both young, so there's nothing that says they can't be good pass protectors, but that is not their reputation as of today.

No matter what, this season depends on these two to be smart signings, even before the necessary improvements from Dez Bryant and the defense on whole come into play.

Romo won't last the season against that schedule if the Cowboys were wrong with these chosen guards.

 

[StarBoyz83]

Very valid point! Now im less excited about the season lol. We have too many problems to have a schedule like this to even expect a .500 season or better.

 

[erod]

Very valid point! Now im less excited about the season lol. We have too many problems to have a schedule like this to even expect a .500 season or better.

On the contrary, if they got this right, they are well ahead of last year's roster on a number of fronts.

I'm thinking 2013 will be the true season for contention, but they need to be right on at least one of these guys for sure, especially Livings since he got paid like a true cog of the line.

I'm trusting the personnel decisions more of late, so I'm curiously hopeful. I'll be watching this the closest in the preseason.

 

[burmafrd]

Tony Romo was sacked 19 times in the lone month of December last season, and he was hit countless more times, it seemed. That largely led to the ugly 1-5 finish when the playoffs looked so likely after the Thanksgiving win.

Of the warts that remain, that one is the most ominous, and the most mysteriously addressed.

Yes, the secondary rebuild is exciting, and yes, I'm hopeful for this season in general despite the tough schedule. Rob Ryan had the offseason and normal camp to install the defense finally, and Mike Woicik is the standard for offseason training workouts.

But this boat won't even get out of the dock if the offensive line issues are resolved over these next six weeks. Much of this lies at the feet of Nate Livings and Mackenzy Bernadeau, neither of which were loved by their former teams.

Enter new offensive line coach Bill Callahan, supposedly among the best in the business.

The Bengals signed Travelle Wharton from Carolina to upgrade the position held by Livings, and Bernadeau wasn't retained by Carolina even though he was the backup to Wharton. Neither team seemed sad to see those players leave.

Yet, the Cowboys (and presumably Callahan) identified Livings and Bernadeau as the solutions to the mess on the interior of the line. Living signed a 5 yr/$30 million deal, and Bernadeau got 4 years and $11 million. The team opted to stay out of the high-dollar bidding for Carl Nicks and released Kyle Kosier and Montrae Holland from last year.

The word is, Livings and Bernadeau are good run blockers with their size, which should bracket Costa at center. Or Bernadeau could slide to center and rookie Ron Leary or another guard could take over next to him.

But neither Livings are Bernadeau are know for the pass protection abilities. They're both young, so there's nothing that says they can't be good pass protectors, but that is not their reputation as of today.

No matter what, this season depends on these two to be smart signings, even before the necessary improvements from Dez Bryant and the defense on whole come into play.

Romo won't last the season against that schedule if the Cowboys were wrong with these chosen guards.

every time I hear someone claim costus a season and company got better later in the year I gag.

 

[erod]

To me the decision was:

Sign Brandon Carr and draft Mo Claiborne

or

Sign Carl Nicks and draft David DeCastro

Both rebuild an area of need, but only one will get Romo killed if you don't acquire wisely. Livings and Bernadeau have to be solid at least.

 

[HoosierCowboy]

team game

if defense can't stop anybody, the O has to pass, the D knows that and tees off on the QB--if our D improves, so will the O and vice versa--plus we played better defenses at the end of the year

improve the D and you improve the O
improve the O and improve the D
and don't forget special teams

 

[burmafrd]

team game

if defense can't stop anybody, the O has to pass, the D knows that and tees off on the QB--if our D improves, so will the O and vice versa--plus we played better defenses at the end of the year

improve the D and you improve the O
improve the O and improve the D
and don't forget special teams

if your O line cannot pass protect even on normal plays then when the D knows they have to pass its open season on Romo. As last December showed.

 

[skinsscalper]

if your O line cannot pass protect even on normal plays then when the D knows they have to pass its open season on Romo. As last December showed.

Bingo!

A few dynamics went into play with that, also. Most notably the injuries to both Murray and Fiammeta and the defense's inability to hold a lead or stop the opposing passing attack. Teams knew that the Cowboys only shot to win a game (especially late in the season) was to have Tony come out on the winning end of a shoot out.

With the running game being so ineffective, opposing defenses teed off on Romo. Add to that the inexperience and injuries along the line and it was a recipe for disaster. Actually, in hindsight, it's a miracle Romo even finished the season.

I can't for the life of me understand how a SOLID center and guard weren't at the top of the shopping list this off-season. Livings, I think I can live with. I have a feeling he'll be our next "Kosier signing". Bernadeau is baffling to me. Neither he or the guy he was backing up were even entertained with the idea of being brought back by their former team. At some point the reclamation projects need to stop and we need to start focusing on protecting the best chance that this franchise has (right now) of contending for a championship and that's Romo.

I fully understand the need to improve the secondary. It was an absolute sieve. Something had to be done, but I'm not sure that I can be convinced that the resources that were spent to improve the secondary wouldn't have been better allocated to try and improve both areas of need with a stronger focus on Romo's upright position.

The off-season is on the verge of being in the rear view mirror and there's still a chance that a surprise cut could be added to the team, but man I hate that contingency plan. I'd much rather have "the guy" here from the get go. I'm sure every discerning eye at camp will be focused fully on the O-line and it's improvement or lack thereof. At this point we can only hope for the best.

:starspin

 

[Bluestang]

Doug Free was the worst pass protector in that December stretch.

He gave up 6 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 14 QB hurries.

Tyron Smith was the next guy with 2 sacks, 1 QB hit, and 8 QB hurries.

Costa gave up 1 sack, 1 QB hit, and 3 QB hurries.

Kosier gave up 2 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 4 QB hurries.

Holland gave 2 sacks and 3 QB hurries.


Don't be quick to dismiss Livings because of other fans' opinions. He gave up 3 sacks all year long with 2 of those recorded in the Wild Card Playoff Game against the Texans. Livings faced a number of good pass rushers last season and the coaches did well finding someone that wasn't going to break the bank but had a good skillset to work with. He is a better pass protector than run blocker so that is where Callahan will be focusing his coaching on.

If you have NFL rewind I would suggest you go back and watch his game against ARI and BAL because he stoned Ngata and Campbell all game long.

 

[erod]

Doug Free was the worst pass protector in that December stretch.

He gave up 6 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 14 QB hurries.

He's still have nightmares of Pierre-Paul, who beat him repeatedly. It was hard to watch.

 

[nablives]

To me the decision was:

Sign Brandon Carr and draft Mo Claiborne

or

Sign Carl Nicks and draft David DeCastro

Both rebuild an area of need, but only one will get Romo killed if you don't acquire wisely. Livings and Bernadeau have to be solid at least.

Well they could have signed Carr and then drafted DeCastro + Konz. That doesn't address all of their needs, but it sure would be easier to find optimism about the interior of the O-line. I'm not sure why protecting their most important player isn't priority number one. I guess they have to lose him again via a collapse in the middle to be reminded of why it's so important to solidify that line.

 

[skinsscalper]

Doug Free was the worst pass protector in that December stretch.

He gave up 6 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 14 QB hurries.

Tyron Smith was the next guy with 2 sacks, 1 QB hit, and 8 QB hurries.

Costa gave up 1 sack, 1 QB hit, and 3 QB hurries.

Kosier gave up 2 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 4 QB hurries.

Holland gave 2 sacks and 3 QB hurries.


Don't be quick to dismiss Livings because of other fans' opinions. He gave up 3 sacks all year long with 2 of those recorded in the Wild Card Playoff Game against the Texans. Livings faced a number of good pass rushers last season and the coaches did well finding someone that wasn't going to break the bank but had a good skillset to work with. He is a better pass protector than run blocker so that is where Callahan will be focusing his coaching on.

If you have NFL rewind I would suggest you go back and watch his game against ARI and BAL because he stoned Ngata and Campbell all game long.

IIRC there was some pretty good tape of him against Justin Smith of San Francisco, also (or maybe I'm thinking of someone else). But, I do remember the games against AZ and BAL being posted on here. I remember it was pretty impressive.

 

[DFWJC]

19 sacks in December...
and yet Romo still had 8 TDs, ZERO ints, and a 119 QB rating.

Still, somehow, mediots find a way to point a finger at him for the loses that month.
Unimaginably dumb.

 

[Hostile]

Really outstanding info for perspective. Combine that with the defensive collapses and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

[skinsscalper]

Really outstanding info for perspective. Combine that with the defensive collapses and you have a recipe for disaster.

Yep. No doubt about it.

 

[DanTanna]

If Romo stays upright all last season I think we win 4 more games, IMO. Just think if we score 2 more TDs per game that we lost - our defense would not be on the field as much, and we didn't lose by 14 point many times either. Yeah the secondary was atrocious, but a bad DB crew doesn't shorten your QB's career.

Totally disappointed we didn't go above and beyond to upgrade the OL. Romo won't be here forever and we are going to look back and realize we didn't surround him with HIGH quality players like Breeze, Brady and Manning get. I'm tired of seeing the center get bull-rushed back into Romo's chest forcing him to go left or right right into the open arms of a LB. When Romo steps-up into the pocket he is unstoppable - yet we don't promote that one bit through our draft.

Tony would get elite respect if we had an OL. Instead he's compared to Matt Scaub, Alex Smith, Sanchez and other 3rd tier QBs.

 

[skinsscalper]

If Romo stays upright all last season I think we win 4 more games, IMO. Just think if we score 2 more TDs per game that we lost - our defense would not be on the field as much, and we didn't lose by 14 point many times either. Yeah the secondary was atrocious, but a bad DB crew doesn't shorten your QB's career.

Totally disappointed we didn't go above and beyond to upgrade the OL. Romo won't be here forever and we are going to look back and realize we didn't surround him with HIGH quality players like Breeze, Brady and Manning get. I'm tired of seeing the center get bull-rushed back into Romo's chest forcing him to go left or right right into the open arms of a LB. When Romo steps-up into the pocket he is unstoppable - yet we don't promote that one bit through our draft.

Tony would get elite respect if we had an OL. Instead he's compared to Matt Scaub, Alex Smith, Sanchez and other 3rd tier QBs.

Agreed 100%. Every last word of it.

 

[burmafrd]

Doug Free was the worst pass protector in that December stretch.

He gave up 6 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 14 QB hurries.

Tyron Smith was the next guy with 2 sacks, 1 QB hit, and 8 QB hurries.

Costa gave up 1 sack, 1 QB hit, and 3 QB hurries.

Kosier gave up 2 sacks, 2 QB hits, and 4 QB hurries.

Holland gave 2 sacks and 3 QB hurries.


Don't be quick to dismiss Livings because of other fans' opinions. He gave up 3 sacks all year long with 2 of those recorded in the Wild Card Playoff Game against the Texans. Livings faced a number of good pass rushers last season and the coaches did well finding someone that wasn't going to break the bank but had a good skillset to work with. He is a better pass protector than run blocker so that is where Callahan will be focusing his coaching on.

If you have NFL rewind I would suggest you go back and watch his game against ARI and BAL because he stoned Ngata and Campbell all game long.

what is left out of this is the fact that since there was NO pocket for Romo to step up into the outside rush was even more effective.

 

[Doomsday]

This is a passing league, so it seems like only common sense that protecting your QB would be a big priority. Im cautiously optimistic that they will be better this season.

 

[skinsscalper]

This is a passing league, so it seems like only common sense that protecting your QB would be a big priority. Im cautiously optimistic that they will be better this season.

Though I'm excited about a new season, the bolded part is the only reasonable expectation regarding the line. I'll take "pleasantly surprised" at the end of the season all day long, but the O-line is the last thing about this team that I would say I'm "excited" about.