DMN Blog: Can Tony Romo be a bus driver?

[Rampage]

yep, T O, and such players that griped and complained drove Parcells out of the game. Now, even some of them like crayton are saying maybe we need a butt kicking, etc.

Yet, its like crayton said, there are no more excuses now, no one else to blame, its on the cowboys players and coaches now to produce, time to shut up and play. Put Up or Shut Up Dallas Cowboy Players!

maybe one day they will actually do it.

 

[slick325]

Good point about T.O not being quiet, but if folks think Tony Romo or any other QB in this league is going to throw the ball an average of only 15-20 times a game, there is a huge mis-understanding about how any team plays offense in this league.

I also think that people believe "Romo friendly" to this organization primarily means to start calling an offense that puts less emphasis on utilizing Tony Romo and making him more responsible on a play by play basis. The reality is actually the opposite.

More "Romo friendly" from what I hear out of the owner is the opportunity to allow Tony Romo the ability to be the undisputed leader of this team and have the clear power and authority to make the decisions he deems necessary on a play by play basis without any other forces, other than coaching, impact that thinking path. More "Romo friendly" means more empowerment for Tony, not less responsibility on plays and shelling him up by passing dramatically less.

"Romo friendly" also means Tony is also now the undisputed centerpiece of the offense, not T.O. A bus driver QB is not the centerpiece of an offense and a star QB sure as heck doesn't have to force throws to 1 option either. He utilizes every offensive option available, bus driver or star QB.

A bus driver QB is one that isn't the centerpiece of an offense and pretty much runs the scripted plays by the coaching staff with minimal adjustments and flexibility. This type of QB is not expected to make game changing plays until the 4th quarter or the team is greatly behind.

There is no way this team will do that with Romo. He is greatly expected to make decisions and plays, even more so now in passing situations. Listen, Garrett can call a running play and Tony Romo has the decision to stick with that play, change the protection or audible to a pass play. Heck, change a pass play to a running play if he so much decides.

What the team is most concerned with is that Romo and Garrett can do what they need to do doring game day as they see fit without T.O expecting to be the offenses centerpiece. That's "Romo friendly".

In regards to running the ball more, that's more "offensive balance friendly" and "utilizing our offensive weapons friendly" than making Romo a bus driver QB. "Romo friendly" has nothing to do with making him more of a bus driver. Jerry and Wade have said this really should be Romo's break out season. As if the 2 1/2 prior weren't great anyways.

My top 5 QB's

Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
Drew Brees (I think Romo will be better this year)
Tony Romo
Phillip Rivers

** Honorable mention: Ben Roethlisberger and Carson Palmer

My opinion is derived from a body of work the last 3 seasons, while factoring in injuries.

That's an interesting take on things and I can respect that. I disagree.

Romo is the most important piece to this offense but he will no longer be the "centerpiece" as you put it IMO. The "centerpiece" will be the running game and controlled passing to the TE and #1 WR. Garrett and Romo regressed last season and the best way to rebound would be to rein things in.

Troy was the most important piece of the 90's teams but we all know that Catch22 was the "centerpiece" of the offense. Everything was predicated on him. I'd also like to add that our memories must be getting cloudy when we say things like "the 90's teams spread the ball around and Troy didn't have to focus on getting the ball to one person in the passing game." Those teams primarily threw the ball to Irvin and Novacek. That's it. The other players got some balls thrown their way no different than what Crayton got in 2007 when the Boys were the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. Owens and Witten got all the balls in 2007 and 2008 while the bit pieces got some.

That will not change this season IMO. When Dallas passes the ball Witten and RW11 will get almost all the balls. They are being paid to be the top options in the passing game and Jerry so much as said so whenever he speaks about RW11. Garrett will feel the same pressure to get him the ball since Dallas gave away picks, spent a ton of $ on him AND jettisoned Owens. Lets not fool ourselves there at all.

I think Romo will be the leader of this team but I believe that having a strong running game and limiting his amount of passes is what will lead to him having the "breakout" year Jerry and Wade speak of. My opinion of what that means is he will win ballgames in December and January due to the new philosophy on offense which is "Romo friendly". Wins not stats are what define a QB. Jerry knows it because he saw it with Troy. Wade knows it because he saw it with Elway and Kelly. And we all have seen that when people speak of Romo ("he has stats but what has he won"?)

Top 5 QB's:
Brady
Manning
Brees
Big Ben
Rivers

IMO Romo is on the second tier but in the top 10. I'd rank him around 7 or 8 because I don't think he is better than McNabb or Warner. Plus, it's hard for me to rank him above Eli either due to how he played during their SB run and throughout the regular season of '08. Wins define elite QB's to me.

 

[Doomsday101]

i understand what your saying doomsday, but at the same token, when the head coach of the cowboys comes out and admits they got outcoached, outplayed in defense, offense and special teams like in the rams game, arizona game, etc, then something is wrong more than just the players.

wade phillips asked albert beer one time, whom was a head scout for the cowboys with parcells in dallas, what he saw that the cowboys needed to fix. One of the first things beer said to wade was your special teams stink wade, everyone in the league knows that you dont put emphasis on special teams, you dont think they count. Even jimmy johnson told wade, if your spending an hour on special teams, spend another hour, then another 30 minutes or so on top of that.

When a head coach doesnt think special teams count, or matter, then to me that is a problem. When a head coach says on air, we got outcoached, thats a problem, that doesnt point to the players, it points to the coaches and the head coach.

And did the cowboys coaches get outcoached by the rams, cardinals? Yes!

When the players of the rams say we could look at the film and tell by your body language if we got on top of you, its over. When the coaches of the cardinals said we looked at your body language on special teams and felt we could get something on you, and they did, they killed our best punter mcbrair.

then its more than the players, goes back to coaching. That same coach after the cardianal game need i remind you said, im giving you the monday off. And all of the offensive linemen said in the cadinal game, we stunk the place up, all except for flozell adams whom said i thoought i played a pretty good game. Bullcorn! To me, wade should have been in flozells face, as well as the offenisive linecoach and working his butt off for making the mistakes he made that led to romo getting hurt.

Again, that points to the head coach. Parcells would get the players all ready for every situation. Remember one game after a loss wade said, we werent ready for their blitzes, we need to spend more time on them evidently. Well, parcells spent loads of time on blitzes and he even told the players one time you will beg for teams to blitz you, because when they do, you will burn them with a touchdown.

AGain, that goes back to coaching, maybe one day you will see it.

BP was not getting any better end results, results are what count. He could tell them all day about the blitz a team will run and do it in practice all week but when game time rolls around you have to pick it up and do the job. Players do or do not do the job this is why they are paid a king ransom if it were all coaching we could go out and give a bunch of low price players and win but it does not work that way.

A coach has a responsibility I do not disagree with that one bit and as I said if the result do not change the coach is usually the 1st to get fired. Players also have a responsibility to prepare themselves both physically and mentally for a game and you can't force that the player either has the desire or not

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Yet, its like crayton said,

there are no more excuses now,
no one else to blame,

its on the cowboys players and coaches now to produce, time to shut up and play. Put Up or Shut Up Dallas Cowboy Players!

Why were there any in the first place?

Shouldn't it have been time THEN(the last 3 years) to "produce"??




This really drives me nuts.

 

[Aven8]

The ONLY thing Tony needs to learn is to live to fight another play. He doesn't have to make the great play on every snap. When he learns this...he will be right there beside Peyton, and Brady.

 

[StarWiz2]

If I'm a defensive coach of the caliber of Bill Belicheck, I already see big ol' holes in the Dallas offense. Particularly in the passing game at WR...

My scenario starting in pre-season,

Romo's first and always first read, his BFFL, Jason Witten. But now Jason's got opposing defensive players melted to his jersey. At least three. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's second read, number one receiver, RW, who wouldn't know how to run a proper route if he had GPS attached to both feet. So Roy is 650 feet away from where he needs to be. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's third read, Austin, has his knee give out on a long run. He rolls out of bounds and into the gatorade cooler knocking him out. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's fourth read. Patrick Crayton. He of the big mouth and the dropsy doodles when his head's not in the game which is often. He suddenly stops on a route across the middle, when he realizes he's fourth best wide receiver. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's fifth read. Ah too badly, Romo's dead by now, OR, he's looking at an interception returned for a touchdown.


We are in trouble if Garrett doesn't mix the run up with the pass better than he did last year.

Either way, Romo needs to get his head out of his butt and into the filmroom to study defenses. He doesn't, COWBOYS GONE!

But that doesn't mean looking for another franchise QB. He's got the stuff. He just needs a good, firm HC, an experienced OC, and a smarter QB coach. Dallas is lacking in these areas. As we know.

 

[Doomsday101]

The ONLY thing Tony needs to learn is to live to fight another play. He doesn't have to make the great play on every snap. When he learns this...he will be right there beside Peyton, and Brady.

True, learning when to gamble and when to play it safe is big. There are times in a game when you have to be willing to go for broke but many times you are better off throwing it away or taking the sack and come back the next series.

 

[wileedog]

Romo's first and always first read, his BFFL, Jason Witten. But now Jason's got opposing defensive players melted to his jersey. At least three. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's second read, number one receiver, RW, who wouldn't know how to run a proper route if he had GPS attached to both feet. So Roy is 650 feet away from where he needs to be. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's third read, Austin, has his knee give out on a long run. He rolls out of bounds and into the gatorade cooler knocking him out. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's fourth read. Patrick Crayton. He of the big mouth and the dropsy doodles when his head's not in the game which is often. He suddenly stops on a route across the middle, when he realizes he's fourth best wide receiver. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,.

I lol'd.

And I agree with you on one thing - the questions marks are not all on Romo, who has shown he can play in the past, they are on Garrett, who has to show he can adjust and use the weapons he still has.

 

[Bleu Star]

I lol'd.

I lol'd too. Good stuff Starwiz2.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Tony Romo gets the most unfair criticism out of any player on our ball club.

Not one single QB in this league, not even Brady or Manning - could suceed behind our line last year.

When he gets protection, Romo will light you up for 300+ and 3 TDs. When he doesn't, he feels pressure that isn't there - and feels as if he has to 'make a play'. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but Tony Romo has been about #22 on the list of guys that have been responsible for our late season slides.

Thats what we're getting with him, and we're a whole hell of a lot luckier than 80% of the other teams in this league searching for a franchise QB.

I take Aikman's word as the gospel on about everything, except music - and he shares the same sentiment that I do. He will finish his career here with one, maybe two lombardi's.

I just see the bigger picture.

 

[Doomsday101]

Tony Romo gets the most unfair criticism out of any player on our ball club.

Not one single QB in this league, not even Brady or Manning - could suceed behind our line last year.

When he gets protection, Romo will light you up for 300+ and 3 TDs. When he doesn't, he feels pressure that isn't there - and feels as if he has to 'make a play'. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but Tony Romo has been about #22 on the list of guys that have been responsible for our late season slides.

Thats what we're getting with him, and we're a whole hell of a lot luckier than 80% of the other teams in this league searching for a franchise QB.

I take Aikman's word as the gospel on about everything, except music - and he shares the same sentiment that I do. He will finish his career here with one, maybe two lombardi's.

I just see the bigger picture.

I agree. I love having the guy as our QB. I see nothing wrong when people point out things he needs to work on but I think some go over the top in ripping Romo.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Tony Romo gets the most unfair criticism out of any player on our ball club.

Not one single QB in this league, not even Brady or Manning - could suceed behind our line last year.

When he gets protection, Romo will light you up for 300+ and 3 TDs. When he doesn't, he feels pressure that isn't there - and feels as if he has to 'make a play'. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but Tony Romo has been about #22 on the list of guys that have been responsible for our late season slides.

Thats what we're getting with him, and we're a whole hell of a lot luckier than 80% of the other teams in this league searching for a franchise QB.

I take Aikman's word as the gospel on about everything, except music - and he shares the same sentiment that I do. He will finish his career here with one, maybe two lombardi's.

I just see the bigger picture.

I agree 100%, but sometimes he takes some gambles with his throws that his arm can't cash

 

[Rampage]

If I'm a defensive coach of the caliber of Bill Belicheck, I already see big ol' holes in the Dallas offense. Particularly in the passing game at WR...

My scenario starting in pre-season,

Romo's first and always first read, his BFFL, Jason Witten. But now Jason's got opposing defensive players melted to his jersey. At least three. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's second read, number one receiver, RW, who wouldn't know how to run a proper route if he had GPS attached to both feet. So Roy is 650 feet away from where he needs to be. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's third read, Austin, has his knee give out on a long run. He rolls out of bounds and into the gatorade cooler knocking him out. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's fourth read. Patrick Crayton. He of the big mouth and the dropsy doodles when his head's not in the game which is often. He suddenly stops on a route across the middle, when he realizes he's fourth best wide receiver. Romo can't get the ball to him. SO,

Romo's fifth read. Ah too badly, Romo's dead by now, OR, he's looking at an interception returned for a touchdown.


We are in trouble if Garrett doesn't mix the run up with the pass better than he did last year.

Either way, Romo needs to get his head out of his butt and into the filmroom to study defenses. He doesn't, COWBOYS GONE!

But that doesn't mean looking for another franchise QB. He's got the stuff. He just needs a good, firm HC, an experienced OC, and a smarter QB coach. Dallas is lacking in these areas. As we know.

every team has holes but that doesn't mean it can't work. did the pats not have holes at wr when they won 3 superbowls? when did the wr position become so important?

 

[cowboyjoe]

yep its on Garrett now as much as its on Romo too, both have to produce and concentrated totally on football 24:7 when training camp starts

no more time for this drama with you know who romos gf

 

[Doomsday101]

yep its on Garrett now as much as its on Romo too, both have to produce and concentrated totally on football 24:7 when training camp starts

no more time for this drama with you know who romos gf

Can the rest of the players go home to their girl friends and or wives? It is funny Romo never really talks about or takes question about his girl friend it is others talking about it.

 

[khiladi]

When he gets protection, Romo will light you up for 300+ and 3 TDs. When he doesn't, he feels pressure that isn't there - and feels as if he has to 'make a play'. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but Tony Romo has been about #22 on the list of guys that have been responsible for our late season slides. .

This is the dumbest argument out there, you know why? Any QB that gets protection will light up the opposing defense. Mark Rypien, in 1991-1992 had probably one of the greatest offensive lines to ever play the game, and the guy was throwing TDs left and right and didn't turn the ball over. Time makes any QB look dominant. Further, if any QB is facing pressure, he starts to 'feel pressure that isn't there' because he is constantly looking over his back?The difference is, Tony Romo is a great QB when he gets average line play. That line play can be compensated by a game-plan that doesn't count on them to be playing backwards all the time, which Wade Phillips very well knows.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

This is the dumbest argument out there, you know why? Any QB that gets protection will light up the opposing defense. Mark Rypien, in 1991-1992 had probably one of the greatest offensive lines to ever play the game, and the guy was throwing TDs left and right and didn't turn the ball over. Time makes any QB look dominant. Further, if any QB is facing pressure, he starts to 'feel pressure that isn't there' because he is constantly looking over his back?The difference is, Tony Romo is a great QB when he gets average line play. That line play can be compensated by a game-plan that doesn't count on them to be playing backwards all the time, which Wade Phillips very well knows.

Mark Rypien had one of the best running attacks assisting him and I am sorry but not every QB can make the throws and reads necessary.

 

[NeonNinja]

I agree, not every qb.

 

[Apollo Creed]

He has a special quality, an intangible characteristic that some guys have - and others don't.

I think his struggles will make his success that much sweeter, especially when we start getting him under an influential coach again. (A real QB coach would help)

He thrived under the Tuna, his best games were the ones that didn't show up in the stat sheet. Behind Choice, Barber, and Felix -we will be a better team and have a better philosophy about how we attack defenses.

I get ripped, but I swear that Romo is a better QB than Big Ben. They cite his 2 rings, but I say that he is better in that given system. Romo in a given system could thrive equally as successful. But the culture, system, and philosophy of the Steelers makes them competitive yearly. Top down, front office to their special teamers. They draft well, have respected coaches, and their players buy into the same idea. They get it.

Our guys don't, we've got a handful - but they are a long way off. But it all starts at the top. Thats what makes this discussion really complex.

Mark Rypien had one of the best running attacks assisting him and I am sorry but not every QB can make the throws and reads necessary.

Thank you.

 

[AKATheRake]

That's an interesting take on things and I can respect that. I disagree.

Romo is the most important piece to this offense but he will no longer be the "centerpiece" as you put it IMO. The "centerpiece" will be the running game and controlled passing to the TE and #1 WR. Garrett and Romo regressed last season and the best way to rebound would be to rein things in.

Troy was the most important piece of the 90's teams but we all know that Catch22 was the "centerpiece" of the offense. Everything was predicated on him. I'd also like to add that our memories must be getting cloudy when we say things like "the 90's teams spread the ball around and Troy didn't have to focus on getting the ball to one person in the passing game." Those teams primarily threw the ball to Irvin and Novacek. That's it. The other players got some balls thrown their way no different than what Crayton got in 2007 when the Boys were the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. Owens and Witten got all the balls in 2007 and 2008 while the bit pieces got some.

That will not change this season IMO. When Dallas passes the ball Witten and RW11 will get almost all the balls. They are being paid to be the top options in the passing game and Jerry so much as said so whenever he speaks about RW11. Garrett will feel the same pressure to get him the ball since Dallas gave away picks, spent a ton of $ on him AND jettisoned Owens. Lets not fool ourselves there at all.

I think Romo will be the leader of this team but I believe that having a strong running game and limiting his amount of passes is what will lead to him having the "breakout" year Jerry and Wade speak of. My opinion of what that means is he will win ballgames in December and January due to the new philosophy on offense which is "Romo friendly". Wins not stats are what define a QB. Jerry knows it because he saw it with Troy. Wade knows it because he saw it with Elway and Kelly. And we all have seen that when people speak of Romo ("he has stats but what has he won"?)

Top 5 QB's:
Brady
Manning
Brees
Big Ben
Rivers

IMO Romo is on the second tier but in the top 10. I'd rank him around 7 or 8 because I don't think he is better than McNabb or Warner. Plus, it's hard for me to rank him above Eli either due to how he played during their SB run and throughout the regular season of '08. Wins define elite QB's to me.

I agree with a lot of what you say but when you say our running game will be the centerpiece to the offense we're now talking about an offensive identity, not a who's the centerpiece or player catalyst of the offense. So I disagree there.

Especially when we're looking at a running back by committee approach that has been suggested throughout the offseason by the organization and the fans. Nobody calling the shots on the offense has said we're going to run more than pass, they've just said we're going to run more and try to get all 3 of our talented backs involved.

Nobody calling the shots on this team has said we are going to make this a more Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice friendly team or offense for that matter. They have however said a more Tony Romo friendly team and offense however.

Are we looking to utilize players like Bennett and Miles Austin more, that's what Jerry has said. But, a Romo friendly offense getting rid of T.O and utilizing the running game and other supposed "up and coming" offensive weapons more as Romo sees fit, without anyone but the coaches impacting that thinking path.

I'm not speculating, I'm going by what Jerry has said and what I've heard out of Wade during the owner's meetings. When folks say we're going to run the rock more, yes I've heard that and I agree we should. But that's offensive identity we're talking now and team philosophy, not who the centerpiece of the offense is.

In the 90's Emmitt Smith, eventhough we had the Aikman and Irvin component, definitely was the centerpiece of the offense. Running the rock was definitely the offenses identity and a huge part of the teams overall football philosophy. There was no running back by committee implimented in the 90's and that's one of the many reasons we can say Emmitt became the centerpiece of the offense.

I think the way the Giants run the ball will happen because they had a good trio and now we do too, so it's a smart thing to utilize that. But Eli Manning is much closer to being a bus driver QB than Tony Romo and he's not considered a bus driver QB. The original point of this thread is whether Romo can become a bus driver. Not sure where the thought of Romo becoming a bus driver QB ever came from other than bloggers and a journalist who is having a slow writing month.

Tony Romo will not be a bus driver. From upper management is now expected to be the undisputed leader of this team now that T.O is gone. He will be expected to utilize his play making abilities as much as ever during passing situations, whether there is less or more of those, and surely will have all of the flexibility necessary to change protections and plays at the line of scrimmage. That is no bus driver QB and if people want Tony to be one it won't happen, nor should it.

Ever since Parcells had Tony play years ago in the preseason game against the Raiders and snuck the ball in himself against Parcell's direction, Tony told us what type of QB he is. It's definitely no bus driver, it's more like the gas and engine that allows that bus to operate. If this team (who does not) and fans want that type of QB you better take the cap hit and trade Tony (very foolish) because you're wasting him and it will never work.

Other than this year no one would have said Phillip Rivers was a better QB than Tony Romo. Ben has the rings (that's the most important thing) and I'm not going to argue with him being better only because of that but Ben is not the catalyst Romo is, nor does he have to play with the pressure that he has to put up an abundance of points because his defense smothers teams. Romo does.

Brees gets the nod because of last year and he has been super consistent the last 4-5 years offensively. McNabb at times can look like the best QB in the league but at this point in his career is not better than Romo. You can see it on the field and in the stats the last 3 years. Warner resurrected his career as a top 10 QB just this year. He had a great season last year but Tony is better at this point in his career.

the year before last Romo was a monster, no one recognized it as much is they should have. The only QB who outplayed Romo that year was Brady, not even Manning. Believe me, there are very few QB's who come out and put up the type of TD's and yards Romo has in his first 2 1/2 seasons of play. Romo's first 2 1/2 year pace actually rivals Warners when he started out for the Rams late into his professional career coming from the Arena league. Warner's numbers at that time rivaled Marino's. Tony Romo coming into last season was mentioned as a top 3 QB by many.

I always said Romo is a cross section of Brett Favre and Steve Young. He just needs to lean more the Steve Young way and forget those 3 consecutive MVP seasons in Wisconsin. Romo's first 3 seasons on the field remind me a lot of Peyton Mannings. 2 different QB's but very similar numbers during that body of work. Tony Romo is the centerpiece of this offense. We'll be mentioning him in MVP talk, if not this year, next.