NewsBot
New Member
- Messages
- 111,281
- Reaction score
- 2,947
Tony Romo is back.
Well, maybe not back completely as his numbers weren't vintage Tony Romo in terms of attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns.
But Romo's surgically repaired back felt the best it has all season and he showed glimpses of his hold self in leading the Cowboys from 21 points down to a 37-34 comeback victory against the St. Louis Rams.
Romo finished 18-of-23 passing for 217 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a 116.8 passer rating.
Romo continued his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown to 31 games—the longest streak in franchise history—and broke a tie with Dan Marino and Ben Roethlisberger for the sixth-longest streak in NFL history, while also serving as the second-longest active streak. It was also his franchise-best 21st comeback victory in the fourth quarter or overtime.
More importantly than the numbers was how he played.
Romo, who reportedly could no longer throw the deep ball, tossed a perfect 68-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Dez Bryant.
He had zip on the ball for the first time in three games this season and he showed some of his old escapability to move, avoid the rush and scramble.
He was also deadly accurate after being uncomfortable and off the mark the first two games of the season, largely because of back surgery to repair a herniated disc last December.
It was all on display against the Rams Sunday.
"I felt better. I felt stronger," Romo finally acknowledged after assuring everyone everything was fine the first two games when it obviously wasn't. "It felt as if everything was firing, activation sequence, blah, blah, blah, stuff like that. That wasn't necessarily as well as I wanted to probably the first couple of weeks."
Certainly this game didn't come without its hiccups as Romo had a huge early setback when he threw a pick six in the second quarter. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins jumped a late throw to Dez Bryant and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.
But after that Romo was largely lights out.
And he was never better than on a fourth-quarter drive when he displayed the old Romo magic.
He converted a 3rd-and-13 with a 16-yard scramble that included a juke move to avoid a tackler before sliding for a first down.
“The run was good,” Romo said. “To make one guy miss—that was obviously an exceptional move that I think he probably wants back.”
He then converted a 3rd-and-14 with a 20-yard bullet pass to Terrance Williams. He then beat the blitz on 3rd-and-2 with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Williams, giving the Cowboys their first lead of the game at 27-24.
"I think obviously Tony was starting to look a little Tony-esque in that game," vice-president Stephen Jones said. "He was playing well."
Owner Jerry Jones agreed: “Marked difference. I saw the same thing you saw, his quickness, his ability to escape, his ability to whip around and change directions.”
Certainly Romo has a ways to go to be the consistent playmaker he once was with his arm and his feet. The fact that he sat at practice last Wednesday because of back tightness was evidence enough.
He is still a work in progress and will still need deliberate evaluation and attention during the week and during games.
At age 34 that's part of the process in coming back from back surgeries in back-to-back seasons.
“You have to kind of figure out what’s going to give everyone the best opportunity to play their best,” Romo said. “If you’re tired or sore, that’s just part of football. You want to have the functioning strength that you might have without as many torque situations throughout a week. I think, for me, that was the benefit this week.”
Said offensive coordinator/play caller Scott Linehan: "He’s made progress every week. People have got to understand. He had that procedure right at the end of the season. It’s not an overnight thing. Within our process of getting him back, there’s a plan to that and I think it’s a great plan. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
The Cowboys are gladly moving forward. They never expected Romo to be back to his old swashbuckling self at the start of the season. While he was 100 percent healthy from the back, they figured all along it would take him a while to be comfortable enough to do some things he had done in the past again.
They saw some of that on Sunday and are glad about it.
“At first glance, it looked like he was more himself in this ballgame,” coach Jason Garrett said. “I thought he made some throws down the field, spontaneous throws, where he had to move in the pocket, kept his eyes down the field and really looked like himself.”
Romo still has a long way to go to be what he used to be, but he has made progress from where he was the first two weeks. It can only go up from here.
"There were huge plays he made," tight end Jason Witten said. "That one drive was really Romo-esque. He scrambled. He looked vertical and took the check down. He created and made some big plays. We will see more of that."
All quotations obtained firsthand, unless otherwise noted.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...
Well, maybe not back completely as his numbers weren't vintage Tony Romo in terms of attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns.
But Romo's surgically repaired back felt the best it has all season and he showed glimpses of his hold self in leading the Cowboys from 21 points down to a 37-34 comeback victory against the St. Louis Rams.
Romo finished 18-of-23 passing for 217 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a 116.8 passer rating.
Romo continued his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown to 31 games—the longest streak in franchise history—and broke a tie with Dan Marino and Ben Roethlisberger for the sixth-longest streak in NFL history, while also serving as the second-longest active streak. It was also his franchise-best 21st comeback victory in the fourth quarter or overtime.
More importantly than the numbers was how he played.
Romo, who reportedly could no longer throw the deep ball, tossed a perfect 68-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Dez Bryant.
He had zip on the ball for the first time in three games this season and he showed some of his old escapability to move, avoid the rush and scramble.
He was also deadly accurate after being uncomfortable and off the mark the first two games of the season, largely because of back surgery to repair a herniated disc last December.
It was all on display against the Rams Sunday.
"I felt better. I felt stronger," Romo finally acknowledged after assuring everyone everything was fine the first two games when it obviously wasn't. "It felt as if everything was firing, activation sequence, blah, blah, blah, stuff like that. That wasn't necessarily as well as I wanted to probably the first couple of weeks."
Certainly this game didn't come without its hiccups as Romo had a huge early setback when he threw a pick six in the second quarter. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins jumped a late throw to Dez Bryant and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.
But after that Romo was largely lights out.
And he was never better than on a fourth-quarter drive when he displayed the old Romo magic.
He converted a 3rd-and-13 with a 16-yard scramble that included a juke move to avoid a tackler before sliding for a first down.
“The run was good,” Romo said. “To make one guy miss—that was obviously an exceptional move that I think he probably wants back.”
He then converted a 3rd-and-14 with a 20-yard bullet pass to Terrance Williams. He then beat the blitz on 3rd-and-2 with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Williams, giving the Cowboys their first lead of the game at 27-24.
"I think obviously Tony was starting to look a little Tony-esque in that game," vice-president Stephen Jones said. "He was playing well."
Owner Jerry Jones agreed: “Marked difference. I saw the same thing you saw, his quickness, his ability to escape, his ability to whip around and change directions.”
Certainly Romo has a ways to go to be the consistent playmaker he once was with his arm and his feet. The fact that he sat at practice last Wednesday because of back tightness was evidence enough.
He is still a work in progress and will still need deliberate evaluation and attention during the week and during games.
At age 34 that's part of the process in coming back from back surgeries in back-to-back seasons.
“You have to kind of figure out what’s going to give everyone the best opportunity to play their best,” Romo said. “If you’re tired or sore, that’s just part of football. You want to have the functioning strength that you might have without as many torque situations throughout a week. I think, for me, that was the benefit this week.”
Said offensive coordinator/play caller Scott Linehan: "He’s made progress every week. People have got to understand. He had that procedure right at the end of the season. It’s not an overnight thing. Within our process of getting him back, there’s a plan to that and I think it’s a great plan. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
The Cowboys are gladly moving forward. They never expected Romo to be back to his old swashbuckling self at the start of the season. While he was 100 percent healthy from the back, they figured all along it would take him a while to be comfortable enough to do some things he had done in the past again.
They saw some of that on Sunday and are glad about it.
“At first glance, it looked like he was more himself in this ballgame,” coach Jason Garrett said. “I thought he made some throws down the field, spontaneous throws, where he had to move in the pocket, kept his eyes down the field and really looked like himself.”
Romo still has a long way to go to be what he used to be, but he has made progress from where he was the first two weeks. It can only go up from here.
"There were huge plays he made," tight end Jason Witten said. "That one drive was really Romo-esque. He scrambled. He looked vertical and took the check down. He created and made some big plays. We will see more of that."
All quotations obtained firsthand, unless otherwise noted.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...