Dear Tony Romo...

[theebs]

The defense and special teams had their problems today, but don't be fooled into thinking Romo and the offense played well.

With almost exclusively passing plays called, we went three-and-out FOUR times, turned the ball over in our territory another time and had two other drives that picked up only two first downs and ended with punts from our own 41. That's seven possessions when we never even crossed midfield.

When you have the ball in the fourth quarter, trailing by less than a touchdown, you'd better do more than throw three incomplete passes and punt.

Do you have any new nicknames for romo this week? Fumblefingers doesnt apply. Please tell me what your new nickname is for him today.

 

[trickblue]

So this is all on Romo? I do think it is in some respects...

I don't understand his transition...

Be what you are...

 

[Deep_Freeze]

The defense and special teams had their problems today, but don't be fooled into thinking Romo and the offense played well.

With almost exclusively passing plays called, we went three-and-out FOUR times, turned the ball over in our territory another time and had two other drives that picked up only two first downs and ended with punts from our own 41. That's seven possessions when we never even crossed midfield.

When you have the ball in the fourth quarter, trailing by less than a touchdown, you'd better do more than throw three incomplete passes and punt.

3 and out by running or passing is still 3 and out. Now I'm not trying to make a case to say the offense played great or anything, they had issues too, but the D just couldn't get off the field today.

Laying the blame at simply not running the ball is just shortsighted, the problem goes alot deeper than just handing the ball off more.

 

[InmanRoshi]

I'd take Jason Campbell over Romo... He's 6'5 and has a rocket arm and is coming into his own.

Dude, you just went full ******.

 

[Gemini Dolly]

This is all Roy Williams fault.

 

[dre1614]

Dude, you just went full ******.

:laugh2:

 

[AdamJT13]

Id rather do that then play into their hands by running. Garrett even mentioned in his PC that Romo changed the plays quite a bit because of the defensive look they were getting.

The goal of playcalling is to keep the defense off-balance. If all it takes to get us to stop running is put eight in the box, then teams can just put eight in the box and know that we're going to pass the ball 85 percent of the time. That makes it pretty easy on the defense. They make us think we're "taking what they give us," but in reality, we're playing right into their hands.

I haven't gone back and looked at it since the game ended, but I'd be surprised if that's not exactly what happened on the interception. They stack the box, take away any thoughts we had of running the ball, then drop into a pass defense at the snap. Horton sprints from the box to the flat, Romo never sees him, and it's an easy turnover inside our territory.

 

[trickblue]

The defense and special teams had their problems today, but don't be fooled into thinking Romo and the offense played well.

With almost exclusively passing plays called, we went three-and-out FOUR times, turned the ball over in our territory another time and had two other drives that picked up only two first downs and ended with punts from our own 41. That's seven possessions when we never even crossed midfield.

When you have the ball in the fourth quarter, trailing by less than a touchdown, you'd better do more than throw three incomplete passes and punt.

3 and out by running or passing is still 3 and out. Now I'm not trying to make a case to say the offense played great or anything, they had issues too, but the D just couldn't get off the field today.

Laying the blame at simply not running the ball is just shortsighted, the problem goes alot deeper than just handing the ball off more.

Hello Tony Romo....

Again... you AREN'T Brady....

 

[dre1614]

Hello Tony Romo....

Again... you AREN'T Brady....

who said he was Tom Brady? Since when is learning things from Great QB's a bad thing?

 

[PBJTime]

300 YDS, 3 TD, 1 INT, 60% completion rate.

Horrible day. All his fault.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The thing is if you watch the games he really isn't doing the "Tom Brady thing" everybody is worrying about. Mainly because when he drops back opposing DE's usually use the outside speed rush...probably because that's the best way to play Flo and Colombo, both of whom are more power guys than agility guys. When that happens, Romo can't afford to stay back there in the pocket and he usually steps up and makes the throw.

I have a hard time ripping on Romo, he's got a 100+ QB rating and is on pace for only 16 picks...which isn't Peyton or Brady, but pretty solid given how much we throw the ball. Today he threw 3 TD's and had a 91 QB rating with no sacks, but no running game. He still completed 60% of his passes and Dallas scored 24 points. If this is a Romo "bad day" for the season, offense isn't the problem. But when you give up 26 points on defense with 160 yards rushing, and a few critical blown coverages, the problem to me is the defense. Which frustrates me to no end.




YAKUZA

 

[MrMom]

I'd take Jason Campbell over Romo... He's 6'5 and has a rocket arm and is coming into his own.

you've surpassed crazycowboy as the most useless one line poster. 'grats.

 

[PBJTime]

The thing is if you watch the games he really isn't doing the "Tom Brady thing" everybody is worrying about. Mainly because when he drops back opposing DE's usually use the outside speed rush...probably because that's the best way to play Flo and Colombo, both of whom are more power guys than agility guys. When that happens, Romo can't afford to stay back there in the pocket and he usually steps up and makes the throw.

I have a hard time ripping on Romo, he's got a 100+ QB rating and is on pace for only 16 picks...which isn't Peyton or Brady, but pretty solid given how much we throw the ball. Today he threw 3 TD's and had a 91 QB rating with no sacks, but no running game. He still completed 60% of his passes and Dallas scored 24 points. If this is a Romo "bad day" for the season, offense isn't the problem. But when you give up 26 points on defense with 160 yards rushing, and a few critical blown coverages, the problem to me is the defense. Which frustrates me to no end.




YAKUZA

Good post!

At least I know there are others who have some perspective on things.:starspin

 

[Ender]

Romo extended at least 4 plays by moving and making people miss in the Pocket. What the hell are you guys talking about.

 

[BrassCowboy]

Id rather do that then play into their hands by running. Garrett even mentioned in his PC that Romo changed the plays quite a bit because of the defensive look they were getting.

how is it playing into their hands by running? we would not of been in that position had we not dropped the running game early.

If you want want all pass, then you will find more losses than wins. Run and pass is the way to go, and the offense today was the result of our lack of a running game.

 

[InmanRoshi]

When you play 1 dimensional passing offense, you can expect 1 or 2 picks a game. The defense doesn't have to respect the run, they can drop 6-7 defensive backs and eventually they're going to call the perfect coverage or guess right on a route. . Marino was putting up insane passing numbers in the mid-80's, the likes of which the NFL had never seen, but he also had 20+ INT seasons four out of five years from 85-89. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

 

[AdamJT13]

I have a hard time ripping on Romo, he's got a 100+ QB rating and is on pace for only 16 picks...which isn't Peyton or Brady, but pretty solid given how much we throw the ball. Today he threw 3 TD's and had a 91 QB rating with no sacks, but no running game. He still completed 60% of his passes and Dallas scored 24 points. If this is a Romo "bad day" for the season, offense isn't the problem.

Romo was brilliant in the two-minute offense at the end of each half -- he went 11-for-16 for 141 yards and a touchdown, for a 116.9 rating and 8.8 yards per attempt, plus he had a 7-yard scramble to convert on third-and-6.

But for the rest of the game, he was merely average -- 17-for-31 (54.8 percent), 159 yards (5.1 ypa), two touchdowns, one interception and a 77.1 rating.

He deserves to take his share of the blame because, on three consecutive possessions in the third and fourth quarters -- when the score was 20-17, 20-17 and then 23-17 -- he went 5-for-13 for 39 yards and an interception (a rating of 14.6).

He didn't turn it around until our final possession, which ultimately proved to be too late.

 

[trickblue]

The thing is if you watch the games he really isn't doing the "Tom Brady thing" everybody is worrying about. Mainly because when he drops back opposing DE's usually use the outside speed rush...probably because that's the best way to play Flo and Colombo, both of whom are more power guys than agility guys. When that happens, Romo can't afford to stay back there in the pocket and he usually steps up and makes the throw.

I have a hard time ripping on Romo, he's got a 100+ QB rating and is on pace for only 16 picks...which isn't Peyton or Brady, but pretty solid given how much we throw the ball. Today he threw 3 TD's and had a 91 QB rating with no sacks, but no running game. He still completed 60% of his passes and Dallas scored 24 points. If this is a Romo "bad day" for the season, offense isn't the problem. But when you give up 26 points on defense with 160 yards rushing, and a few critical blown coverages, the problem to me is the defense. Which frustrates me to no end.




YAKUZA

He is flat out staying in the pocket longer and that isn't what makes him great...

I'm not ripping him... I'm just saying he should stay with what got him where he is now. His contract extension was for making plays. He's not making them now.

He has an innate ability to make plays with his feet, but he all of the sudden wants to change his style. Don't change it. It's what made you a Pro Bowler...

He looks SO uncomfortable hanging in the pocket and it gets worse from week to week. When he did use his feet, he made plays...

He is like Roger, not Troy... he needs to move in the pocket when he is feeling pressure...

That is what he does...

 

[RainMan]

Greise threw 3 INTs today and won.

The defense is the problem people.

I can't entirely agree with this type of thinking. It's cliche, but you do win and lose as a team.

Yeah, the defense was pretty weak today. Basically gave up points on just about every possession from the second quarter on. At the same time, the offense was off all night, had several three-and-outs and didn't give the defense much help.

This game exemplified what is wrong with this team when it loses. It had all the trademarks of a Cowboys loss.

A Romo mistake. A pass-happy offense. Forcing the ball to TO too much. Forget how to utilize a running back rotation. A defense that can't generate pressure late. A defense that can't get itself off the field. A defense that gives up points and yards at crucial moments. A defense that struggles in pass defense, can't wrap up on sacks, etc., etc.

This team is immensely talented and could be poised for a long playoff run. At the same time, games like today make you realize we could be one-and-done in the playoffs again very, very easily.

 

[RainMan]

Romo was brilliant in the two-minute offense at the end of each half -- he went 11-for-16 for 141 yards and a touchdown, for a 116.9 rating and 8.8 yards per attempt, plus he had a 7-yard scramble to convert on third-and-6.

But for the rest of the game, he was merely average -- 17-for-31 (54.8 percent), 159 yards (5.1 ypa), two touchdowns, one interception and a 77.1 rating.

He deserves to take his share of the blame because, on three consecutive possessions in the third and fourth quarters -- when the score was 20-17, 20-17 and then 23-17 -- he went 5-for-13 for 39 yards and an interception (a rating of 14.6).

He didn't turn it around until our final possession, which ultimately proved to be too late.

Good post, Adam.

Look, Troy and Roger had their bad games, too. It's OK for Romo to have off games. Every QB does. It doesn't mean he has to be cast aside.

But Romo doesn't have the skins on the wall of a Troy or Roger. He's yet to win a playoff game. His mistakes are going to be magnified more until he wins a big game because any rational fan is fearful, whether internally or externally, that that little mistake could be what prevents him again from winning a playoff game.

Little things like having an INT in seven-straight games are things he must improve upon. He needs to string together a stretch where he has one INT over a four-or-five game stretch, not five over that stretch. Just like the rest of the team must make strides to become Super Bowl worthy, so too, must Romo. It's just the way of the game.

(For the record, I'm not sure any QB in the league right now is playing at a Super Bowl level. Maybe one or three? Romo's not necessarily behind the curve all that much. But his mistakes can't be ignored, even though we all recognize he's really, really good.)