Austin City Limits

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

IRVING, Texas - Miles Austin will not conform to the outspoken wide
receiver stereotype.

For the record, he doesn't mind the fact his numbers have slipped precipitously during a recent stretch of games. It's hard for the No. 1 wideout to complain when, despite his lack of production, the Cowboys are playing much better. Austin hasn't come close to a 100-yard outing since Halloween, but the team has played .500 ball since then, a great improvement over their
1-6 start leading into November.

He has been incredibly quiet, with just 15 catches and 185 yards over the last six games, but it isn't bothering Austin, or at least he isn't letting on. When the team does lose, however, and one of his reoccurring mistakes costs them, as was the case in Sunday's defeat against Philadelphia, that does get noticed.

"When you lose a close game like we lost last week it's frustrating," Austin said. "I'll be frustrated in my own play, but as far as production or not getting 200 or 100 yards or something like that in a game, I'm not going to be. But if I missed a block or dropped the ball or something, then I'll be frustrated."

The production hasn't been there of late, but the drops have. While Austin is tied for 22nd in the league in targets this year, he has eight drops, tied for fifth-most in the NFL with three other players. What's worse, a seemingly inordinate number of balls have tipped off Austin's hands and into the waiting arms of a defender, such as on Quintin Mikell's third quarter interception on Sunday night.
Austin said his problem with drops stems from taking his eye off the ball too early. He practiced without gloves when the Cowboys pledged a renewed emphasis on fundamentals following a game against Jacksonville in which two passes deflected off his hands and became interceptions, but has since stopped doing so. He said the pass on Sunday would have been difficult to catch because it was thrown earlier than he expected. But still, he got his
hands up for it.

Coaches often say receivers struggling with drops need to have quicker hands. Jason Garrett offered his own remedy for Austin's trouble.
"Keep playing," the Cowboys' interim boss said. "Keep working at it. Catch a ton of balls in practice. Work on catching the ball the right way in practice and hopefully that carries to the game. He has very natural hands, he's made a ton of plays. He just has to eliminate some of those drops on those plays

that he's capable of making."
Just before the season, Austin signed a six-year, $54 million contract, and for a while he was able to keep up with his 2009 pace, catching 43 passes for 641 yards in the first seven games of the year. He had 10 catches each in the first two games of the season, going for 146 yards and a touchdown against this week's opponents, the Washington Commanders, in the opener.
Things have changed, however.

"There is something different," Austin said. "There's a different quarterback. ... I don't think if you play a team and you only have one catch, you're only going to have one (the next time). I just think games are different. They've got different guys out there, we've got different guys out there than we had the first time."

It's true that Austin's decreased production has come under the watch of backup quarterback Jon Kitna. While he was targeted an average of nine times a game in the six contests started by Tony Romo, Kitna has looked his
way three fewer times per game.

The Cowboys have moved Austin around quite a bit of late. He plays on both sides of the field, in the slot, and occasionally in the backfield, but much of the time Kitna is uncomfortable throwing in his direction.

"I haven't looked at it that closely, to be honest with you," Kitna said. "I know one thing is for me the Z receiver is in a place that early on in my career, I played with a lot of X receivers - Chad (Ochocinco) and Roy (Williams) and Joey Galloway and guys that played on the closed end of the field, and it's just like you kind of become accustomed to that. I had to learn to be comfortable looking out to the Z receiver, to that two-receiver side.
"I think the first couple of games that I took over and then the Giants game, we were able to throw the football down the field a little bit, and lately teams have really been trying to take that away from us. When they do take that stuff down the field away, now you're working the tight ends a lot more."

Other players have picked up the opportunities Austin has lost, and scoring is up since his decline began at the start of November. That's why he's not going to cause any tirades or wear out Kitna by begging for the ball.
"That's not really my style," Austin said. "For me to go against what he's taught to read or whatever his coaches are telling him, I'm a firm believer everyone has to do their job. ... I'm happy when the team's moving the ball, not necessarily if I'm moving the ball."

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=EC713341-D2A2-ECA9-22D28EBCB8E4F902

He has really suffered from Romo's injury.

 

[SDCowboy]

Not surprising. Miles is a very good receiver that is made great by his uncanny connection with Tony.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

Romo is his guy, there's no secret about that... They have a special chemistry.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

The throws that need to be made to get the ball where Austin can make the most out of it, Kitna can't make. Romo can.

 

[BubbleScreen]

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=EC713341-D2A2-ECA9-22D28EBCB8E4F902

He has really suffered from Romo's injury.

And here I thought Kitna was way better than Romo? :laugh2:

Everyone wants to shut Romo down for the year, but if he's ready to play medically, even if it's the last game in Philly, we should play him.

It would be nice to see us complete passes to the WR regularly again. Kitna's done a fine job for a backup, but there's no denying the offense is limited.

 

[LeonDixson]

I love me some Austin and I think Garrett is right. He needs to catch a ton of balls in practice and after practice, to retrain himself. He was using the jug(s) machine a lot previous to his break out last season.

 

[Stautner]

The throws that need to be made to get the ball where Austin can make the most out of it, Kitna can't make. Romo can.

what specific throws are you talking about?

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

I love me some Austin and I think Garrett is right. He needs to catch a ton of balls in practice and after practice, to retrain himself. He was using the jug(s) machine a lot previous to his break out last season.

Austin put in the right amount of work, just with the wrong "jugs machine".

 

[ZeroClub]

The ink is barely dry on the $54 million 6-year extension that Austin signed a few months ago.

While he probably is a bit frustrated and disappointed, he doesn't have a whole bunch of room to complain.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Everyone wants to shut Romo down for the year, but if he's ready to play medically, even if it's the last game in Philly, we should play him.

No, we shouldn't.