Chicken or Egg First Question: Did Terrell Owens Make Tony Romo A Star?

[Doomsday101]

I don't think TO made Romo and do not think Romo made TO that is beyond silly. I think you have a talented WR with a talented QB getting him the ball. I would also say Witten has been just as big in Romo short career

 

[EPL0c0]

When you're the starting QB of the Dallas Cowboys, you're a Star, but are you any good?

How did Romo become the starter? It wasn't b/c of Owens... Give a little credit (or blame) to Bledsoe and his poor performance. Granted, Romo had to deliver the goods once his opportunity came around; and he has done that. Would it matter if Owens wasn't there? Probably not IMO. I think Romo would have been the same guy, making the same plays just to different receivers.

If you look at the role Owens played in Philly/Dallas and RoyE in Detriot, as far as receiver/scorer, I think RoyE has the potential to have similar numbers as long as Romo keeps being Romo and delivers. RoyE's numbers dropped off as his role dropped off. But as a starter, he has that potential.

If it doesn't happen, then ok, Owens made Romo. But if it does happen (which it will if Romo fixes a few things), there'll be no doubt that it was Romo that made Romo.

 

[Joe Realist]

I have to say T.O. helped make Romo who he is at least statistically. I said after 2007 that we will most likely never see the stats Romo put up that year. I personally do not want everything on his shoulders. Manage the game, make some plays and give the ball to the backs.

 

[RCowboyFan]

So TO needed to run better routes and thats why we didnt make the playoffs? Hmm what a brilliant mind you are. Did you think of that all by yourself?

Oh, thats brilliant retort

Have you no idea what the job of an offensive coordinator is? If you have flozell and proctor playing poorly then isnt it the job of the play caller to scheme around the weakness on the club? Should Garrett know how to call plays that took advantage of the up the middle, over aggressive defenses? Somehow other teams managed to figure it out. Isnt it his job to figure out how to counter what teams started to do to us? They played close to the line, jammed us, blitzed us, and stopped us. And its all Cory Proctors fault.

Oh, I see, So when Parcells teams failed it was poor co-ordinating job and he couldn't coach around weakness? Well I Guess Bill Parcells or Tony Sparono or Payton didn't know how to coach around weakness.

So this 21 points per game is mentioned by you as a weak attempt to make a point. I guess your point is that our offense was good enough last year? Because after all we scored 21 points a game. Yet somehow we didnt make the playoffs, our offensive coordinator was called out by his player and other players around the league, he went shopping for a new job and was turned down by everyone, a hall of fame receiver was sent packaging. And golly gee Gomer we scored 21 points a game.

Hence my original point about your selective memory. If stats or facts fit your opinion, then oh my, thats a brilliant observation, if not its all idiotic.

What are we all missing here?
oh yea...... we scored 21 points a game.

Apparently a lot, and the fact that we need to selective look at games or stats if they don't fit our agenda. Right?

 

[GOLDENCHILD1688]

They complemented each other. If a guy like Shanahan was the OC of this team, the numbers they would have put up would be ridiculous, considering TO would have gotten the ball early with Romo's quick release and Romo would have a full package of roll-out plays designed for his skill-set... The thing that sucks is Garrett.

Romo's feet masked our incompetent play-calling that became really evident when Brad Johnson was inserted in the game.

co-sign

 

[rcaldw]

Tony Romo has great feet and a great ability to improvise. Tony Romo only has an adequate arm, will miss the routine throw at times, and hasn't proven (so far) to be mentally tough. In the past, it also seems he has chosen fun over what was smart a few times. I don't think he's great at this point. I hope he becomes great, and this season is a big one for him. I'm rooting for him.

 

[Tovya]

Tony Romo has great feet and a great ability to improvise. Tony Romo only has an adequate arm, will miss the routine throw at times, and hasn't proven (so far) to be mentally tough. In the past, it also seems he has chosen fun over what was smart a few times. I don't think he's great at this point. I hope he becomes great, and this season is a big one for him. I'm rooting for him.

I disagree--I think his arm is more than strong and accurate enough. I think it's simply his nerves that need working on. When he's in a pressure situation, he's either going to make an amazing play or an amazing screw up.

It's cliche, but he's very much like Favre in that way.

 

[rcaldw]

I disagree--I think his arm is more than strong and accurate enough. I think it's simply his nerves that need working on. When he's in a pressure situation, he's either going to make an amazing play or an amazing screw up.

It's cliche, but he's very much like Favre in that way.

I think his arm is adequate, and by that I mean, strong enough to do the job. I don't think he has an above average arm. I think he struggles throwing the deep out. He's perfectly fine throwing the ball just about anywhere else. He's a lot like Phillip Rivers in that way, only I think Romo's arm is stronger than Rivers.

Either way, if he doesn't take the next step it won't be because of arm strength, it will be other factors. And I agree with you on the nerves issue.

 

[Tovya]

I think his arm is adequate, and by that I mean, strong enough to do the job. I don't think he has an above average arm. I think he struggles throwing the deep out. He's perfectly fine throwing the ball just about anywhere else. He's a lot like Phillip Rivers in that way, only I think Romo's arm is stronger than Rivers.

Either way, if he doesn't take the next step it won't be because of arm strength, it will be other factors. And I agree with you on the nerves issue.

I understand your sentiments. But I also think that it's hard to judge him on the long ball because he hasn't had a consistent deep threat to throw to in his short career. Now if Austin really does breakout this season like so many think he will, then we might actually get a chance to see what his deep ball abilities are like.

 

[CosmicCowboy]

Dang...will this TO stuff ever go away.....

 

[DallasEast]

Dang...will this TO stuff ever go away.....

"Truthfully?"

No.

 

[rcaldw]

I understand your sentiments. But I also think that it's hard to judge him on the long ball because he hasn't had a consistent deep threat to throw to in his short career. Now if Austin really does breakout this season like so many think he will, then we might actually get a chance to see what his deep ball abilities are like.

What I meant by the deep out, are those 20 yard outs to the sidelines, the comeback routes that Aikman and Irvin ran to perfection.

 

[Tovya]

What I meant by the deep out, are those 20 yard outs to the sidelines, the comeback routes that Aikman and Irvin ran to perfection.

I actually think he performed well in that category. You have to remember that he only had one consistent receiver in T.O. that ran those type routes, and that same receiver had a bad tendency to drop those same passes.

This year SHOULD be different for him--but I will admit that this is his judgment year in my grading book. I'm confident that he'll grow up a lot this season. Plus he's not under pressure to throw to any single player. He'll throw to who's open and performing... and that will be a seriously positive change.

 

[rcaldw]

I actually think he performed well in that category. You have to remember that he only had one consistent receiver in T.O. that ran those type routes, and that same receiver had a bad tendency to drop those same passes.

This year SHOULD be different for him--but I will admit that this is his judgment year in my grading book. I'm confident that he'll grow up a lot this season. Plus he's not under pressure to throw to any single player. He'll throw to who's open and performing... and that will be a seriously positive change.

I'm anxious to see what he does without T.O. I honestly have mixed feelings about T.O. On the one hand I absolutely believe that T.O. is a drama queen and in that way is a disruption. On the other hand, there were times that I felt he was 1 of only 2 or 3 guys who knew what it meant to show up on a football field and FIGHT.

The little bit I saw of Roy Williams last year (and I'm a Williams fan from his Texas days) had me worried. Sloppy routes. Nothing spectacular in the way of separation.

On the one hand Romo won't have to "feed" a particular player, on the other hand, most of the times that T.O. was complaining I thought he might have had a legitimate beef.

Will be a very fun year to watch.

 

[sonnyboy]

Big Fantasy Football Questions - QB Tony Romo
by Skeller on Jun 28, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in Football 0 comments
http://www.faketeams.com/2009/6/28/785957/big-fantasy-football-questions-qb

The Terrell Owens trade had me thinking about the Cowboys. It seems pretty clear that the loss of T.O. will hurt Tony Romo's fantasy value. Dallas may still bring in another high-end WR, but even so it will be tough for Romo to replace the WR1 he has worked with for the past three years.

Then I thought: what if it's more than just a loss of a WR? What if it's bigger than that?

So it's time for Episode Four of...

Skeller's Big Fantasy Football Questions

QUESTION #4 : Did Terrell Owens Make Tony Romo A Star?

Players Heavily Affected: QB Tony Romo, RB Marion Barber, TE Jason Witten, WR Roy Williams.

Terrell Owens joined the Cowboys before the start of the 2006 season. Tony Romo became a starter during the 2006 season. Before that, Romo was just an unknown backup from Eastern Illinois. There have been some very good QBs from little schools -- two current examples that spring to mind are Kurt Warner (Northern Iowa) and Joe Flacco (Delaware) -- but that's the exception rather than the rule. Usually, you don't see a successful QB come from anywhere other than BCS-conference schools. So...Eastern Illinois? Really? How'd that happen? Let's take a look at Romo's career:

2006 - Replaces an ineffective Drew Bledsoe mid-game in Week 7 but the Cowboys lose to the Giants and fall to 3-3. Romo takes over as the starter the following week and goes 6-4 the rest of the season. Becomes a star for a 5 TD game against Tampa, but throws eight INTs vs six TDs in December.

Final Stats: 2903 yds, 19 TD, 13 INT (2008 Equivalent: Kyle Orton)

2007 - Julius Jones and Marion Barber find their groove and everything is clicking for the Cowboys' offense. Romo becomes a fantasy stud and Dallas streaks to a 13-3 season. Romo throws more INTs than TDs in December for the second straight year though.

Final Stats: 4211 yds, 36 TD, 19 INT (2008 Equivalent: Phillip Rivers)

2008 - Julius Jones has left to Seattle and the passing game starts to sputter. He misses three games to injury and doesn't seem to be quite the same quarterback after his return. Throws more INTs than TDs in December yet again.

Final Stats: 3448 yds, 26 TD, 14 INT (2008 Equivalent: Donovan McNabb)

Keep in mind that Tony Romo has had only ONE GAME as a starter without Terrell Owens in the lineup. His entire career as a starting quarterback has included a future Hall of Famer as his WR1. That's a big, big way to start your career. Now that future Hall of Famer is gone and I think there's a chance that he's going to be exposed this season as a good-but-not-close-to-great fantasy quarterback. If you need a canary in the coal mine (an underrated song by The Police, by the way), his completion percentage has dropped each of the last two seasons.

I think Romo really struggles this year trying to throw the ball to Jason Witten and some other guys he's never needed to remember the names of before now. In fact, you could argue that backup Jon Kitna might be a better choice. But that's for another post...

It's obvoius this guy's a hater, but it is a FF article. I think the idea is to get a beat on Romo's FF value post TO.

It takes a hit for sure. I'm further downgrading his FF value more so on my expectation of what the Cowboys defense will do.

I'm very very bullish on our D for 2009. I don't expect us to be in many shoot outs.

 

[Tovya]

I'm anxious to see what he does without T.O. I honestly have mixed feelings about T.O. On the one hand I absolutely believe that T.O. is a drama queen and in that way is a disruption. On the other hand, there were times that I felt he was 1 of only 2 or 3 guys who knew what it meant to show up on a football field and FIGHT.

The little bit I saw of Roy Williams last year (and I'm a Williams fan from his Texas days) had me worried. Sloppy routes. Nothing spectacular in the way of separation.

On the one hand Romo won't have to "feed" a particular player, on the other hand, most of the times that T.O. was complaining I thought he might have had a legitimate beef.

Will be a very fun year to watch.

I know what you mean. I was actually in T.O.'s corner when he was here up until the last day--but now that he's gone, I know it's for the best.

He had that energy and desire to play and win that you desire in a player, but the problems he caused in the locker room almost negated all his positives.

With Williams, although not as dynamic and talented as Owens, at least he'll leave the leadership to those who are supposed to take on that role.

And I actually don't believe his best years are behind him as so many others. I certainly don't count last season for the obvious reasons, and it's really hard to set the barometer when talking about his Detroit years as well.

He's in a new situation with a fresh start--and a fresh training camp to start learning the offense.

He's got the greatest TE in football on the same team with him, and that will help draw some attention away from him and hopefully give him the open opportunities he didn't get in Detroit.

Honestly though, I'm more excited about the prospect of Miles Austin this season anyway. If he plays like he did when he was healthy last season, he has the speed and abilities to make us forget about T.O. and his drama-queen problems.

And I agree, this will be a fun year to watch--I can't wait until training camp starts!

 

[cowboyfreak]

These same mediots would never use this argument in other situations like:

Jerry Rice made Joe Montana -

to them they were both the best at their positions that just so happened to end up on the same team together.

Good players make other good players around them great.

 

[McCordsville Cowboy]

Tony Romo has great feet and a great ability to improvise. Tony Romo only has an adequate arm, will miss the routine throw at times, and hasn't proven (so far) to be mentally tough. In the past, it also seems he has chosen fun over what was smart a few times. I don't think he's great at this point. I hope he becomes great, and this season is a big one for him. I'm rooting for him.

Great Non-Homer post.....

 

[Apollo Creed]

Wheres the love for Terry Glenn?

 

[Tovya]

These same mediots would never use this argument in other situations like:

Jerry Rice made Joe Montana -

to them they were both the best at their positions that just so happened to end up on the same team together.

Good players make other good players around them great.

That's absolutely right. And who's to say that T.O. wouldn't have fallen off quicker if he didn't have a great QB in Romo throwing to him?

I believe that T.O. is gonna figure out real quick this year how great it was to have Romo as the guy throwing him the ball.