Five Ways Tony Romo Can Improve in 2014 (Part One): Ball Placement

Bluestang

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Funny how Romo didn't have this problem when Sparano was running the offence. Go back and look at highlights of 2006 and 2007 seasons. You'll see T.O. and even Witt getting plenty of YAC.

Maybe it's the 1 yard routes JG has the receivers running is the main culprit.

Romo also had the fewest amount of sacks taken those years too, including 2008. The general consensus has been that Garrett's system has been too many long developing plays/routes and now the argument is that it's too short of routes?

LOL...Goal posts shift much?

You take this article in two ways but the intent is not to point fingers at what's wrong with the Cowboys.


This is Romo's career pass rating by quarter.

1st 78.7
2nd 98.6
3rd 99.0
4th/OT 101.4

Whatever flaws he may have in his throwing motion don't seem to affect him after the first quarter.

Stats are everything to you percy, but as Bill Belichick would say...
 

Bluestang

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Anecdotally, he does seem to have a harder time getting the ball in front of his receivers on short crossing routes. More often than I'd like it seems like LBs and underneath coverage is able to get a hand on a ball on those routes when a receiver is otherwise open.

If someone had access to the premium stats on PFF, there is a chart breakdown on INTs on where they occur. IIRC Romo does have quite few of them in the middle of the field.
 

Idgit

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even in the interview i watched that is on here, his friend is quoted as saying "he's slow, he cant jump, he cant run..." and tony laughs....because its true. He isnt anything great physically.

But he's got great brains which is why he's been able to play bball, football, golf...he can pick up any game due to his brains.

Yeah. He notes that he sees things quickly, and his brain processes where things are going to be quicker than most. He says it gets him into trouble sometimes if/when he makes a judgement based on that and then there's a breakdown somewhere else in the play that effectively changes the equation he's got in his head.

Back to the crossing route, I could see it even being the kind of thing where his brain recognizes what he's got to do, but on those quick-developing routes that cross right in front of him, his brain might be working faster than his body can keep up, and he flicks the ball out with his arm and not necessarily with the time to get the footwork right. Slightly different circumstance, but that backbreaking pick in the GB game was one where Miles had his man beat and, because protection broke down, Tony had to scramble as he was rolling out right. He threw the ball without his feet set (he didn't really have to), and it ended up behind Miles in position to be picked. That throw was a foot from being the game-breaking touchdown.
Who knows. I'm just spitballing. But it does seem to be an issue he can be working on.
 

rags747

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Maybe its being saddled with this guy most of his career. http://i124.***BLOCKED***/albums/p15/zman55/images.jpg

Funny, Parcells rode Romo like a dog about that delivery. Of course I am making the assumption tht Garrett doesn't focus on it. But Ive gone back and read Parcells interviews in 2006 and I sure wish he had had Tony for one more year in his career as a starter.

Not the most athletic? The guy plays pro football, competitive hoops, soccer, is a major golfer and u can probably add lacrosse, and cricket too. Man I need some of those un-athletic genes...
tony isnt the most athletic guy.

tony plays sports because he's got a ridiculous amount of brains.

his accuracy isnt going to be getting any better...he's already playing at his physical limit.
 

65fastback2plus2

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Not the most athletic? The guy plays pro football, competitive hoops, soccer, is a major golfer and u can probably add lacrosse, and cricket too. Man I need some of those un-athletic genes...

tony ran a 5.1 40 back in college. Thats slow as all get out.

Larry Allen ran a 4.85 40....now THATS an athletic dude.
 

Super_Kazuya

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Yeah. He notes that he sees things quickly, and his brain processes where things are going to be quicker than most. He says it gets him into trouble sometimes if/when he makes a judgement based on that and then there's a breakdown somewhere else in the play that effectively changes the equation he's got in his head.

Back to the crossing route, I could see it even being the kind of thing where his brain recognizes what he's got to do, but on those quick-developing routes that cross right in front of him, his brain might be working faster than his body can keep up, and he flicks the ball out with his arm and not necessarily with the time to get the footwork right. Slightly different circumstance, but that backbreaking pick in the GB game was one where Miles had his man beat and, because protection broke down, Tony had to scramble as he was rolling out right. He threw the ball without his feet set (he didn't really have to), and it ended up behind Miles in position to be picked. That throw was a foot from being the game-breaking touchdown.
Who knows. I'm just spitballing. But it does seem to be an issue he can be working on.

Seeing as how Orton threw the ball to the other team in pretty much the exact same way, maybe they're just crummy plays.
 

rags747

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I think I would have to say that Tony on the football field is probably more athletic than at least 75% of the starting qb's, definitely top 10 if not higher. I do understand what u r saying though, he definitely does not look that athletic, but how many times have we seen him buy additional time in the pocket with some ridiculous moves. Not fast, but definitely quick in small spaces.

Parcells always said that Tony was just so fast mentally that he had answers before the question was even finished. This team has no doubt wasted his prime years, hopefully he can grab one ala Elway before he is done. Talk about yanking that monkey off your back...
 

TheDude

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Correct. Romo's placing "the ball better" is hardly a real issue"

He's not as athletic as the Russell Wilsons of this new era NFL but Romo's more athletic than the typical pro QB.

Correct. Romo's placing "the ball better" is hardly a real issue"

Anecdotally, he does seem to have a harder time getting the ball in front of his receivers on short crossing routes. More often than I'd like it seems like LBs and underneath coverage is able to get a hand on a ball on those routes when a receiver is otherwise open.


That's it. CLosing down. See you guys tomorrow. First HomerStar vs Realistone on the Oline. Now HomerStar and Homerxander vs Realgit on Romo.

I hate it when people show independent positive and negative thoughts
 

65fastback2plus2

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I think I would have to say that Tony on the football field is probably more athletic than at least 75% of the starting qb's, definitely top 10 if not higher. I do understand what u r saying though, he definitely does not look that athletic, but how many times have we seen him buy additional time in the pocket with some ridiculous moves. Not fast, but definitely quick in small spaces.

Parcells always said that Tony was just so fast mentally that he had answers before the question was even finished. This team has no doubt wasted his prime years, hopefully he can grab one ala Elway before he is done. Talk about yanking that monkey off your back...

moving in the pocket and avoiding stuff is just like that interview where tony said he could use his vision to track where people are headed and moving. again, thats brains and not physical.
 

Idgit

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This is Romo's career pass rating by quarter.

1st 78.7
2nd 98.6
3rd 99.0
4th/OT 101.4

Whatever flaws he may have in his throwing motion don't seem to affect him after the first quarter.

What do you think account for this performance differential, percy? Is Romo taking time to figure out what the defense is doing early on, and getting more comfortable with it as the game goes on? Are we going into games scripting plays to show a range of what the defense is doing, and then adjusting? Is Tony just excitable? Are we calling different plays when we're not playing in a hole or with a lead?
 

percyhoward

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The goal should be consistency. Something Romo, and the rest of the team are not.
I appreciate your sharing the article on Romo's throwing motion, but that's not what's causing his rating to be 20 points lower in the first quarter, is it?
 

percyhoward

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What do you think account for this performance differential, percy? Is Romo taking time to figure out what the defense is doing early on, and getting more comfortable with it as the game goes on? Are we going into games scripting plays to show a range of what the defense is doing, and then adjusting? Is Tony just excitable? Are we calling different plays when we're not playing in a hole or with a lead?
It would make a great topic for investigation. I'd probably take his best first quarters and try to see what was different about them.

He did have a 90 rating last year in the first quarter, and we were much better in the red zone. Jerry had said before the season Romo would be more involved in game planning, and said after the season that Romo had played a bigger role in red zone play selection, or words to that effect. Maybe there's something to all of that.
 

Bluestang

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I appreciate your sharing the article on Romo's throwing motion, but that's not what's causing his rating to be 20 points lower in the first quarter, is it?

Your the one that brought up the stats in the first place.

Why?
 

Bluestang

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Perfect guy to use...
.because as Belichick DID say; any Cowboy fan who thinks Tony Romo is the problem is a fan not worth discussing the topic of football with.

I'm a Romo fan too, his jersey is the one I wear the most on Sundays, but I'm not going sit here and pretend like he doesn't have any warts. Every player has them.


This article makes some very good points. It's critical of Romo and provides very good proof and has confirmed my own observations.
 

Bluestang

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It's a good idea to know what's wrong before you start talking about how to fix it.

Throwing motion and stats are two different topics. You can start your own thread if you'd like.

Again Percy you brought up the stats. How that correlates to throwing motion is your burden of proof since you replied with those numbers.
 
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