Well, T.O., was it too much or not enough?
1:27 PM Wed, Oct 01, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Tim MacMahon E-mail News tips
T.O. made it clear during his weekly Wednesday chit-chat with the media (transcript after the jump) that he thought his postgame comments about not getting the ball enough were blown out of proportion. And he was adamant that there absolutely, positively aren't any problems between him and Tony Romo or Jason Garrett or any other teammate or coach.
Whether he really believes that he wasn't targeted enough after having 18 passes thrown his way (19 including a penalty) is much murkier. He said he still thought his argument was "legitimate," but then he picked holes in it.
"You guys watched the game," he said when asked if 18 is enough. "I think it's really unfair to say 18 balls or 18 plays were called my way. If you want to dissect those, put on the screen all the 18 passes that were thrown my way, and you make the assessment of all those passes. Other than that, I'm really confident in this team. I'm really confident in my ability. I'm still going to say that I feel like I should get the ball on certain plays."
So he wants the ball more often but shouldn't have been Tony Romo's target on several of Sunday's incompletions. Is that right?
"I don't know," T.O. replied to the question asked by ESPN's Ed Werder. "You guys watch the game. How long have you been doing this business? You assess the game just like everyone else."
I did assess every pass T.O. was thrown in the loss to the Commanders and concluded that he didn't get open very often. His take?
"I mean, I'm doing my best," he said. "As I said after the game, times that I'm in my routes, sometimes I'm getting open late. Tony has to go through his progessions and when I'm coming out of my routes, the ball is gone. I'm running my routes full speed. For whatever reason, he's making those reads. I don't think he's doing anything wrong.
"I just think we need to play better as an offense."
OK, we can all agree on that last line.
T.O. TRANSCRIPT
Questions (bold type) are paraphrased and answers are verbatim.
How legit was your argument after the game?
It's still legitimate. We just didn't play well. I'm not really worried about how somebody dissects what I say and has an opinion about my comments. I know in my heart this team, we're still together. I know that crew over at ESPN, they should definitely be up for an Oscar nominee at the end of the year. They're definitely making their stake at a claim to divide this team, and it's not going to happen.
So this is a media creation?
Yeah, just talking to some people, they'll be the first one to criticize me if they felt like I did something wrong. I have some people that are shooting me straight. They really didn't say that anything I said should have made that big of a stir. I understand the political campaign is going on. ESPN really hasn't had the ratings that they've had for a while. I'm pretty sure that's why they made a big deal out of what I said.
How much is enough? 18?
OK, well, you guys watched the film. You guys watched the game. I think it's really unfair to say 18 balls or 18 plays were called my way. If you want to dissect those, put on the screen all the 18 passes that were thrown my way, and you make the assessment of all those passes. Other than that, I'm really confident in this team. I'm really confident in my ability. I'm still going to say that I feel like I should get the ball on certain plays. Obviously, we didn't have a balanced attack, as we've had the first three games. You know, guys, we didn't lose the Super Bowl. Obviously, it was a division game. I feel very confident we'll get back on the right track this weekend. Other than that, I'm fine and this team is fine. We're very positive that we know we didn't play well in every phase of this game.
Is your problem more with the routes or number of passes?
We just didn't execute. For whatever the case may be, we just didn't play well.
Do you need a discussion with Tony Romo or Jason Garrett?
No, not at all. I think if we do have a discussion, you guys won't know about it. I'm very confident in our ability as players, as an offense. Jason has a lot of confidence in his ability to call plays. Overall, I think Coach Wade even said, we got outcoached, we got outplayed and we lost the game.
Did you have a serious discussion with Tony?
No, I don't know where those comments came from. I haven't talked to Tony about that. Again, you guys sometimes make up stuff, just like you guys say I make up stuff. I don't know where you guys are getting your information from, but Tony and I haven't had a conversation about anything.
What do you think of Tony's throwing this season?
I think he's playing like he's been playing. Other than that, we just haven't played well as an offense. I think the last game showed that. I think some of the things start in practice. We need to pick up our practice play a little bit so it will carry over into games. Other than that, we're not worried about anybody's performance. We know that we have a lot of playmakers on this team. He's part of it, and we've just got to right the ship. That's all.
How are you dealing with double coverage?
Do you watch football? Do you know anything about football? Do you know anything about Cover 2? Well, what's your assessment of Cover 2? You tell the people what Cover 2 is.
The poor female radio reporter tries a follow-up question.
Well, I mean, Cover 2 can be played in a lot of ways. There's a lot of two-man. It can be traditional Cover 2. They can have a trail. They can disguise Cover 2. There's a number of ways Cover 2 can be played. I'm not the quarterback. He makes the assessment as he goes to the line of scrimmage making his pre-snap reads and he goes from there.
Do you need to be more involved?
The changes we need to make is we need to get a win. It's funny how the week before you guys praised me for giving extra effort, then I come out this week and say I need to be more involved and I'm vilified. Other than that, bro, there's not going to be too much said. I feel like everything is being nitpicked, so I'm just going to keep everything to a minimum.
Do you need to get open more often to get more involved?
I mean, I'm doing my best. As I said after the game, times that I'm in my routes, sometimes I'm getting open late. Tony has to go through his progessions and when I'm coming out of my routes, the ball is gone. I'm running my routes full speed. For whatever reason, he's making those reads. I don't think he's doing anything wrong. I just think we need to play better as an offense.
Surprised at backlash?
I shouldn't be surprised at this point. You guys need a story. It's been really quiet so far. This is something for you guys to really get on the T.O. bandwagon about. Other than that, dude, I promise you, we're fine in this locker room. I think everybody in this locker room, from the coaches on down, know that everything I said was blown out of proportion and shouldn't have been made such a big deal. But, hey, those guys at ESPN have jobs to do and I could care less what they really think.
You know your comments will get blown up, right?
Well, don't ask me then. Don't ask me. It's just like the Donovan McNabb stuff when we played the Eagles. You guys asked that question and I answered it. Then, it's like, 'There he goes again.' I won't leave it alone. You guys won't leave it alone. Quit asking me.
Weren't you treated fairly if hustle plays were raved about?
So I didn't hustle in the last game?
Point is you're given credit and criticized fairly.
OK, but assess the third of those plays. Be fair about it. Assess all 18 plays. Go back, however you can do your research, assess those 18 plays and then come back in here and talk to me.
So the ball shouldn't have come your way on some of those plays?
I don't know. You guys watch the game. How long have you been doing this business? You assess the game just like everyone else.
You don't like our assessment, so what is yours?
What about my assessment? I gave you my assessment after the game. And what else? Dude, if you run this offense, there's going to be a lot of plays there's going to be some mishaps on. That's part of football. Every play is not going to be perfect. Every read is not going to be perfect. Every ball ran is not going to hit the right hole.
You saying what you said ...
Dude, it was frustration. Dude, we lost. It was a game we should have won. It was a game you should have won. I think you heard the frustration with me speaking on behalf of the whole team. We don't like losing. We felt like we should have won the game. We lost by two points. Other than that, they won the game, we lost it. We didn't play well, and I think coach summed it up, we didn't play well across the board - special teams, offense and defense.
