How do you defend Tony Romo?

[Rampage]

he's not defendable! unless we rack up 150 penalty yards and get a fieldgoal blocked

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Years back when asked "how do you defend this West Coast offense?" Tom Landry replied to the effect that "while an offense can get a jump on the defense, given time, the defense will figure it out, and then it gets copied by others."

I'm guessing sooner, rather than later, someone will have at least a viable answer. And I'm putting my money on Sean Peyton in a few weeks.

Romo has left Obi-wan(Sean) and has continued his training with Yoda(Bill)... much wiser is he now

 

[ElGatoGrande]

unpregnable,,,?? that's unpossible!!

With a QB that makes quick reads and finds the correct receiver, I think your only options are to:

A. Crash the "A" gaps,
B. make sneaky, delayed blitzes
C. stop pass-rushing and start putting up your hands! He is kinda short and has a sideways delivery...
D. Tackle his receivers as soon as the ball is snapped... :

 

[sillycon]

Comments by Dllsduhon from another forum:

The biggest question in the NFL right now. You know that Tom Coughlin is trying to figure it out, and Lovie Smith has to be at least thinking about it, just in case.

Here are three things I've noticed.

1. Get a hand on him. Tony has looked very good under pressure so far, but he has a nasty habit of putting the ball up for grabs when a defender is bringing him down, trying to avoid a sack.

2. Force him to his left. Tony is very good in the pocket, particulary out of the shotgun, and devastating when he rolls out to his right, but like most right handers, looks a little less comfortable going to his left. The interception that was called back on a holding penalty against Indy was on a rollout to his left, and being on that side limits the places he can go with the ball, which is why he doesn't do it as much. If I'm an opposing DC, I want Tony out of the pocket and moving to his weakside, hopefully into the arms of my best pass rusher, the one that normally lines up on that side.

3. Get to him early. This is the big one. If Tony has one weakness, and it might only be one, it's that he's a slow starter. As a starter, he has three turnovers and has been sacked five times. All three of the turnovers (two picks and a fumble) were in the first quarter, as well as three of his sacks. He only has one first quarter touchdown pass in five starts (he has at least three in every other quarter), and his passer rating is a very sub-par 63.9. Compare that to his utterly absurd ratings in the second (128.8), third (128.5), and fourth (109.6) quarters, and it leads you to the conclusion that it takes about seven to ten passes for him to get into a rhythm. A good example was the Tampa game, where he had TO and TG both for sure touchdowns down the right sideline, but threw short and inside both times, rather than putting it in front of them. Later in the game he hit Patrick Crayton and TG in stride on the exact same kind of route.

While I agree with no. 2 conceptually, the example you used isn't the best way to put it. The holding penalty in itself was what caused the interception in the 1st place.

 

[Zaxor]

unpregnable,,,?? that's unpossible!!

With a QB that makes quick reads and finds the correct receiver, I think your only options are to:

A. Crash the "A" gaps,
B. make sneaky, delayed blitzes
C. stop pass-rushing and start putting up your hands! He is kinda short and has a sideways delivery...
D. Tackle his receivers as soon as the ball is snapped... :

LOL :laugh2:

 

[cowboyed]

Comments by Dllsduhon from another forum:

The biggest question in the NFL right now. You know that Tom Coughlin is trying to figure it out, and Lovie Smith has to be at least thinking about it, just in case.

Here are three things I've noticed.

1. Get a hand on him. Tony has looked very good under pressure so far, but he has a nasty habit of putting the ball up for grabs when a defender is bringing him down, trying to avoid a sack.

2. Force him to his left. Tony is very good in the pocket, particulary out of the shotgun, and devastating when he rolls out to his right, but like most right handers, looks a little less comfortable going to his left. The interception that was called back on a holding penalty against Indy was on a rollout to his left, and being on that side limits the places he can go with the ball, which is why he doesn't do it as much. If I'm an opposing DC, I want Tony out of the pocket and moving to his weakside, hopefully into the arms of my best pass rusher, the one that normally lines up on that side.

3. Get to him early. This is the big one. If Tony has one weakness, and it might only be one, it's that he's a slow starter. As a starter, he has three turnovers and has been sacked five times. All three of the turnovers (two picks and a fumble) were in the first quarter, as well as three of his sacks. He only has one first quarter touchdown pass in five starts (he has at least three in every other quarter), and his passer rating is a very sub-par 63.9. Compare that to his utterly absurd ratings in the second (128.8), third (128.5), and fourth (109.6) quarters, and it leads you to the conclusion that it takes about seven to ten passes for him to get into a rhythm. A good example was the Tampa game, where he had TO and TG both for sure touchdowns down the right sideline, but threw short and inside both times, rather than putting it in front of them. Later in the game he hit Patrick Crayton and TG in stride on the exact same kind of route.

He has thrown very effectively against the grain as well. But subscribing to Romo being less comfortable by flushing him out and making him throwing leftwards, all I can state is what timing for Columbo to come into his own and Rivera playing better than ever since joining the Cowboys. Our ancillary blockers at tight end and running back are doing their jobs as well.

The best shot to curb Romo in my opinion is confusing him and loading up with the coverages. His greatest asset can also be his vulnerability and that is getting the ball out lightning fast. That stated we can offset this maneuver with our potent running attack.

This is why if we play with confidence and relatively mistake free, this team has a great shot of going deep into the playoffs.

 

[sago1]

Also even if a defensive coordinator thinks he has figured out how to stop/limit Romo, does he have the defense to get it done?

Several teams now believe they have a blueprint to stop Manning based on the Pittsburgh game. While other teams have tried to execute the same plan against Manning, only the Cowboys had the system (3-4) and the necessary quality players to get it done.

Sean Peyton and his crew may try the strategy you've suggested, but frankly I sincerely doubt they have the defensive players who can carry it out. In fact the achilles heel of the Saints is their defensive play. I bet they load up on defense either thru the draft or in FA to shore it up. Now teams with really good defenses (maybe Chicago?) might be able to execute that plan. But if/when they miss on a particular play, Romo might make them pay and besides I don't believe Grossman has a hot enough hand to put enough points on the board to beat us. When we play the Bears in cold, windy Chicago in late Jan/early Feb, believe it's going to be a low scoring game (just like Colts). But if Cowboys offense occasionally gets it down, we'll win very comfortably.

 

[percyhoward]

Those stats are a little off. I can think of 3 passes thrown away intentionally by Romo right now.

They're official.
(Scroll all the way down to the bottom group of splits.)

You might argue what constitutes a throw away, but Bledsoe's throw aways were determined by the same standards, so ignore the exact numbers and just think 12-to-1 ratio.

 

[percyhoward]

Sean Peyton and his crew may try the strategy you've suggested, but frankly I sincerely doubt they have the defensive players who can carry it out. In fact the achilles heel of the Saints is their defensive play.

Especially their pass D, ranked 29th in opponent passer rating.

Romo took apart Arizona's pass defense which is ranked 14th.

 

[jackrussell]

Especially their pass D, ranked 29th in opponent passer rating.

Romo took apart Arizona's pass defense which is ranked 14th.

Both you guys are missing the point entirely.

Noone is suggesting Peyton and the suck defense of the Saints, or anybody in particular, is going to come in on a particular gameday with a definitive plan on how to shut Romo A Go Go down.

As Landry suggests, defenses will be working on it collectively, and some hinderances will be duely noted by others. The question posed was how to defend Romo, it is of my opinion the guy with the best potential to at least start exposing any possible weak spots would be Sean Peyton.

You're looking too black and white at it, like, it's a one game deal, as opposed to a process, and vastly under estimate intimate knowledge, coaching and scheming.

 

[cowboyz]

in order to beat romo, you need pressure, which is the answer to any qb

or you need 2 good coverage safeties along with a fast olb for witten. cover 2 won't work, because TO and glenn get the slants. so you need good one on one safeties that can take away the short/intermediate stuff but with the speed to limit the deep stuff.

i can't think of a team that has 2 good coverage safeties. and why do that when you still have a suspect oline. no a team will have to try getting pressure with the front 4. the bears, panthers, and giants (when healthy) can all do it.

 

[cowboys19]

Both you guys are missing the point entirely.

Noone is suggesting Peyton and the suck defense of the Saints, or anybody in particular, is going to come in on a particular gameday with a definitive plan on how to shut Romo A Go Go down.

As Landry suggests, defenses will be working on it collectively, and some hinderances will be duely noted by others. The question posed was how to defend Romo, it is of my opinion the guy with the best potential to at least start exposing any possible weak spots would be Sean Peyton.

You're looking too black and white at it, like, it's a one game deal, as opposed to a process, and vastly under estimate intimate knowledge, coaching and scheming.

Haven't worked for Brady, Manning, Favre, McNabb, Palmer, Bulger, McNair etc.

He could possibly be a one hit wonder, he could also be any of those QB's listed.

Nobody knows that, and im willing to bet he is the latter, even better then them

 

[Yakuza Rich]

C. stop pass-rushing and start putting up your hands! He is kinda short and has a sideways delivery...

Easier said than done. There's been tons of sidearm delivery QB's that never have had a problem with batdowns. What's tough about doing that with Romo is his quick release and he's great at looking off his receivers. So if you go immediately to put your hands up, you're pretty much giving up any semblance of a pass rush. Also you are then very suceptible to draw plays.



YAKUZA

 

[theogt]

Easier said than done. There's been tons of sidearm delivery QB's that never have had a problem with batdowns. What's tough about doing that with Romo is his quick release and he's great at looking off his receivers. So if you go immediately to put your hands up, you're pretty much giving up any semblance of a pass rush. Also you are then very suceptible to draw plays.



YAKUZA

Not to mention he only throws sidearm when he's attempting to pass through a specific lane that requires passing sidearm.

 

[percyhoward]

Both you guys are missing the point entirely.

If all you're saying is that over the years, Payton is going to assemble a defense that, paired with his intimate knowledge, will be the one most likely capable of stopping Romo, then yeah, I missed that point.

It was the "I'm putting my money on Sean Payton in a few weeks" that threw me off.

 

[jackrussell]

If all you're saying is that over the years, Payton is going to assemble a defense that, paired with his intimate knowledge, will be the one most likely capable of stopping Romo, then yeah, I missed that point.

It was the "I'm putting my money on Sean Payton in a few weeks" that threw me off.

Putting my money on Sean as the guy that would most likely be the one to initiate answering the Romo dilemna.

There's always someone......I'll err on the side of Landry on this one.

 

[jackrussell]

Haven't worked for Brady, Manning, Favre, McNabb, Palmer, Bulger, McNair etc.

He could possibly be a one hit wonder, he could also be any of those QB's listed.

Nobody knows that, and im willing to bet he is the latter, even better then them

I hope he's better than most of the guys you list.

2 championship QBs amongst the list. The rest are, well, the rest....those that haven't led a championship team with great numbers.

But you could be right...Romo A Go Go could win every game he plays in and be absolutely unstoppable...forever and ever.

 

[dogunwo]

He already did. Roasted them.

 

[cowboys19]

I hope he's better than most of the guys you list.

2 championship QBs amongst the list. The rest are, well, the rest....those that haven't led a championship team with great numbers.

But you could be right...Romo A Go Go could win every game he plays in and be absolutely unstoppable...forever and ever.

You don't understand. No D coordinator has the answer for Brady, or Manning, so i don't know how you can say they will have an answer for Romo.

Palmer is a championship QB, it's not his fault they don't have the Patriots Defense. Favre is a championship QB. Manning is one also, again not his fault his Defense isn't any good. McNabb is a super bowl QB also

 

[jackrussell]

You don't understand. No D coordinator has the answer for Brady, or Manning, so i don't know how you can say they will have an answer for Romo.

Palmer is a championship QB, it's not his fault they don't have the Patriots Defense. Favre is a championship QB. Manning is one also, again not his fault his Defense isn't any good. McNabb is a super bowl QB also

Until they win a championship....they're not championship. Great, like Marino and Fouts....but like our Cowboys of the 60's, they're 'next year's champions'.

And I think our very own DC had some answers for Mr. Manning. Our old DC had the answers for Mr. Favre.

In my lifetime I've seen the Run & Shoot get shot down, I've seen the Bears and Giants answer the bell to the WCO.

The thread invited answers to how to stop Romo. Rather than come in here and act like some sort of defensive guru, I offered up a quite possible scenario of someone who could. If you think Romo can't be solved, good for you. We can all hope you are quite correct.