Interesting article about Romo and the play action pass

[Zman5]

Romo's QB rating when play action is used this season is 135+. His overall QB rating for the season is 78+.
Why JG doesn't call more play action pass is very puzzling when it's obvious Romo is better passer using it.

Little snippet from the article:

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A logical place to start is to look at which players are using play action the most. Now we’re not going to look at raw numbers, but rather as a percentage of all drop backs, where none other than rookie sensation Robert Griffin III tops the list, with the Commander quarterback using play action on 37.4% of his drop backs. That was significantly more than fellow rookie Russell Wilson in second spot, and Christian Ponder in third.

Rank Name Team Total Drop Backs Play Action Drop Backs % PA
1 Robert Griffin III WAS 227 85 37.4
2 Russell Wilson SEA 210 68 32.4
3 Christian Ponder MIN 258 78 30.2
4 Cam Newton CAR 200 60 30
5 Matt Schaub HST 231 65 28.1

At the other end of the scale nobody uses play action as little as Tony Romo, despite a strong runner to work from in DeMarco Murray. Romo has used play action on just 10.7% of plays to be precise, with the Cowboy outdoing the Titan duo of Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker in their efforts to rid the NFL of the play action pass.

Rank Name Team Total Drop Backs Play Action Drop Backs % PA
33 Tony Romo DAL 234 25 10.7
32 Jake Locker TEN 115 14 12.2
31 Matt Hasselbeck TEN 169 22 13
30 Kevin Kolb ARZ 217 29 13.4
29 Andrew Luck IND 281 39 13.9

But why? Romo actually has the sixth highest completion percentage (72%) using play action. Sure that’s not quite as successful as Cam Newton (74.5%) or RG3 at 73.2%, but it’s still mighty impressive. Rather than just looking at these numbers let’s take a look though at which players see their completion percentage rise the most when they use play action.


https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/10/25/snapshot-play-action-passing/

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[Joshmil53]

Can't run PA with no successful runs

 

[DallasCowpoke]

Can't run PA with no successful runs

We can save bandwidth and close the thread now!

 

[Zman5]

Can't run PA with no successful runs

Even with the sucky run game this year, Romo has been successful. Look at the completion percetange and his QB rating when play action is used this year.

Play action is working for Romo this year. That's the point of the article.

 

[Chuck 54]

Play action always has an impact...the other team puts in an effort to stop the run, even when you are bad at it. Play action gets their attention because they want to continue stopping it.

 

[Iago33]

I don't think Romo likes it. I've noticed this year that he doesn't like to take his eyes off the coverage to sell the fake. Sometimes he'll just skip it even when it's obviously the call. That's my impression, at least.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

We ran it all the time in 2006 and 2007 when Sparano was here... And we were #2 and #4 in the league in scoring.

It'll all been downhill since then.

 

[Illini88228]

Play action takes too long in the backfield. Romo doesn't get enough time most games to run PA.

Using the PA is a symptom of good protection.

 

[Idgit]

Can't run PA with no successful runs

We can save bandwidth and close the thread now!

Except it's not true.

 

[Idgit]

Play action takes too long in the backfield. Romo doesn't get enough time most games to run PA.

Using the PA is a symptom of good protection.

...nevermind.

 

[Joshmil53]

Except it's not true.

That's why?

 

[Idgit]

That's why?

Because linebackers aren't any slower to tackle mediocre running backs than they are to tackle good ones.

 

[Tezz]

If you are running with a lot of success the PA becomes much more effective with players starting to flow toward the fake more often then not, but even if a team is struggling the fake can still have success at times by causing LBs to stop/misstep/hesitate from trying to diagnose what is going on.

 

[Zman5]

Point of this article and the QB rating stat is that it is working for Romo even with the sucky run game we have this year.

If it's working where Romo's QB rating is almost twice as high as his overall QB rating, and the high completion percentage, why aren't we using it more?

Another one of those JG's offensive decisions that makes you want to go hmmmmm.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Romo's QB rating when play action is used this season is 135+. His overall QB rating for the season is 78+.
Why JG doesn't call more play action pass is very puzzling when it's obvious Romo is better passer using it.

Little snippet from the article:

====================
A logical place to start is to look at which players are using play action the most. Now we’re not going to look at raw numbers, but rather as a percentage of all drop backs, where none other than rookie sensation Robert Griffin III tops the list, with the Commander quarterback using play action on 37.4% of his drop backs. That was significantly more than fellow rookie Russell Wilson in second spot, and Christian Ponder in third.

Rank Name Team Total Drop Backs Play Action Drop Backs % PA
1 Robert Griffin III WAS 227 85 37.4
2 Russell Wilson SEA 210 68 32.4
3 Christian Ponder MIN 258 78 30.2
4 Cam Newton CAR 200 60 30
5 Matt Schaub HST 231 65 28.1

At the other end of the scale nobody uses play action as little as Tony Romo, despite a strong runner to work from in DeMarco Murray. Romo has used play action on just 10.7% of plays to be precise, with the Cowboy outdoing the Titan duo of Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker in their efforts to rid the NFL of the play action pass.

Rank Name Team Total Drop Backs Play Action Drop Backs % PA
33 Tony Romo DAL 234 25 10.7
32 Jake Locker TEN 115 14 12.2
31 Matt Hasselbeck TEN 169 22 13
30 Kevin Kolb ARZ 217 29 13.4
29 Andrew Luck IND 281 39 13.9

But why? Romo actually has the sixth highest completion percentage (72%) using play action. Sure that’s not quite as successful as Cam Newton (74.5%) or RG3 at 73.2%, but it’s still mighty impressive. Rather than just looking at these numbers let’s take a look though at which players see their completion percentage rise the most when they use play action.


https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/10/25/snapshot-play-action-passing/

=================

OMG I've been harping on this for a year now. It seems that when Garrett took over the Cowboys, he removed all the plays that worked with Romo. Instead, Garrett made Romo into a pocket passer in the likes of Aikman.

Thats what makes me upset at Garrett. The plays that made Romo successful many years ago are no longer part of the playbook which is kinda sad.

 

[ConstantReboot]

I don't think Romo likes it. I've noticed this year that he doesn't like to take his eyes off the coverage to sell the fake. Sometimes he'll just skip it even when it's obviously the call. That's my impression, at least.

I think Garrett doesn't like it. Romo used to use it quite a bit long ago. Now its hardly been used. Trust me, Romo had a very good play action which fooled even the camera men. I think Garrett's playcalling put an end to that.

 

[Rack]

Can't run PA with no successful runs

Yes, you can.

Play action takes too long in the backfield. Romo doesn't get enough time most games to run PA.

Using the PA is a symptom of good protection.

Play action actually SLOWS the rush down (most of the time, depending on certain circumstances) and HELPS the protection.

 

[Iago33]

I think Garrett doesn't like it. Romo used to use it quite a bit long ago. Now its hardly been used. Trust me, Romo had a very good play action which fooled even the camera men. I think Garrett's playcalling put an end to that.

I remember Romo being good at it under Parcells. But with the amount of autonomy Garrett has given Romo and the times this year I've seen Romo shortchange the fake, I wonder how much of it is Romo's preference.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Can't run PA with no successful runs

FALSE! You just need enough attempts, especially on shorter yardage situations, to pose a running threat.

One of my beefs with Garrett is that not enough play action passes are designed in the game day scheme.

 

[arglebargle]

Unless you break those stats down to games where we were vs weren't actually doing well in the run game, they are a bit to generic for my taste. We have had a couple of games where the Cowboys were running well. If those games had most of the play action success, it leads to a different conclusion.