Just let this sink in

[Yakuza Rich]

To quote Sturm, just now...

"But, during that time, often right under our noses, they were assembling big men who could win street fights against the bullies of this league. They stopped investing in 200-pounders, and started buying in bulk the 300-pound variety. The front office started to realize that if you go cheap in the trenches, it will end up with Tony Romo on his back and a running game that doesn’t want to bother to run anymore. People sometimes confuse this issue by saying the coaching staff finally committed to the run and ask “why didn’t they do that more in 2011 or 2012?” They didn’t because they knew they were taking a knife to a gun-fight."

I think this is correct. We didn't run, because we couldn't run. Even in short yardage, in fact especially in short yardage. It isn't the shotgun (which we still run way too much for my taste but how can you argue with Tony's results this season?) or committing to the run, it's the line play which protects Romo in a pocket of solitude and creates running lanes for a good but hardly once in his generation back. Sure, the running game helps the passing game, and vice versa. But I will not be convinced that the line upgrade is the reason Romo is able to produce the season he has so far, both directly through pass protection, and indirectly through a more balanced attack defenses but account for.

We ran the ball well last year, particularly in the 2nd half of the season. But, we continued to shy away from the run.

In the past 2 games we have been terrible at running the ball. But, we stick with the run and are 'bringing a knife to a gun fight.'

So, that doesn't jive with me.

My guess is that the Cowboys realized that with Romo's back, they were afraid of him getting hurt which is more likely to happen if he throws more often. Then they started to see the benefits of the run game by keeping the defense off the field. Defensive players have historically been more than twice than likely to get injured than offensive players. This was an organization that had massive issues with injuries on defense and now that they run the ball more often, the defense was not getting injured as much.

We weren't exactly a great running team in '06, but because Parcells had the philosophy of running the ball even when it wasn't working great, we created a more effective offense. And even from '07 to 2013 when we had those games coming off a game where we neglected the run and then did the opposite by running incessantly even when the run wasn't working, the offense and Romo played better.

I also think we often times didn't even give the run a chance. You can't run the ball 8 times in a game and expect it to work brilliantly.

The attitude about the run in this organization is just completely different. About 6 weeks ago in a PC Garrett mentioned this...you have to stick with the run even when it's not working well and you're getting those 'ugly' runs of may 1 or 2 yards. It's something we simply didn't do in the past. If we got stuffed early on, we would completely abandon the run for the rest of the game. And most of the time it was to our detriment.






YR

 

[JoeKing]

Let me get this straight...

We got the leading yardage RB, leading scoring WR, that awesome O line and now the QB with the highest QB rating? Who is his team? How bout them Cowboys?

 

[pansophy]

The O-Line's pass protection was great last year. But, he wasn't nearly as effective.

We threw the ball much more often and teams started playing for the pass and it takes away his ability to make the big pass play when you have 8 or 9 in the box.

We were also getting way too much into shotgun plays and I really think that hurt his footwork over time. His footwork in the pocket is the best I've seen him do it since 2007. Last year he was lethargic in the pocket and wasn't very accurate and struggled to see Dez getting open downfield.

And now with Frederick, we have a center that makes the line calls. Far less audibling and everything on offense is running smoother than last year.

I think Martin is great, but there was no real reason why we couldn't have done more of this last season, but we didn't because we had become a soft, dink and dunk heavy pass from the shotgun team. That hurt this offense and Romo in more ways than one.

YR

I completely disagree here. Take note that while everyone talked about Free being hurt for the Washington game, Leary didn't play in the Washington or Arizona game that we lost. Parnell has stepped in just fine for Free, but our backup guards are not nearly as strong.

It is no accident that we scored less than 20 points in those two games. It's true that the running game makes it easier for Romo to throw the ball, but then we have lost 4 games and in each of those Romo has not been 100% (and in one didn't play).

 

[DFWJC]

The O-Line's pass protection was great last year. But, he wasn't nearly as effective.

We threw the ball much more often and teams started playing for the pass and it takes away his ability to make the big pass play when you have 8 or 9 in the box.

We were also getting way too much into shotgun plays and I really think that hurt his footwork over time. His footwork in the pocket is the best I've seen him do it since 2007. Last year he was lethargic in the pocket and wasn't very accurate and struggled to see Dez getting open downfield.

And now with Frederick, we have a center that makes the line calls. Far less audibling and everything on offense is running smoother than last year.

I think Martin is great, but there was no real reason why we couldn't have done more of this last season, but we didn't because we had become a soft, dink and dunk heavy pass from the shotgun team. That hurt this offense and Romo in more ways than one.





YR

Definitely better play calling this year.

But The o-line is way better. Freddy is not a rookie, Smith is in his 2nd full year at LT, and we didn't even have Martin last year.
Also, just a reminder that last year's defense was 32nd ranked overall.

 

[CapnCook]

"My guess is the [Princeton Graduate] and [a professional staff with years of football knowledge and experience] finally figured out [the fundamentals of football]."

This line of thinking used to be highly entertaining. Now, it's just sad that some still rely on it.

 

[Silverstar]

Romo has been sacked 29 times at just over 400 attempts and that's having missed 1 game. Compared to Peyton Manning (14), Joe Flacco (18), Tom Brady (20) each having over 500 attempts. Clearly, our OL is great at run blocking, but not so much at pass protection. This needs to improve going forward and into next season.

 

[KJJ]

Great regular season numbers for Romo as always but unless his playoff numbers and record improve it's not going to end the criticism he receives. He has to improve his performances in the playoffs and add to his win total. Imagine if the Cowboys could somehow win the SB this season Romo would have a winning playoff record which would put an abrupt end to the stigma he has.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Romo has been sacked 29 times at just over 400 attempts and that's having missed 1 game. Compared to Peyton Manning (14), Joe Flacco (18), Tom Brady (20) each having over 500 attempts. Clearly, our OL is great at run blocking, but not so much at pass protection. This needs to improve going forward and into next season.

some of that is on tony...he does sometimes hold the ball too long because he doesnt want to give up on the play. its one of his very few and mostly minor bad habits.

 

[camelboy]

How ironic would it be if we go to the seahawks for the NFCC and Romo leads the Cowboys to a victory in the place where this Romo story started?

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Moreso you draft an offensive line so your top-tier franchise QB isn't constantly getting trucked...

That and also to change that backyard scramble around and do whatever offense we used to run

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

some of that is on tony...he does sometimes hold the ball too long because he doesnt want to give up on the play. its one of his very few and mostly minor bad habits.

Yes and considering he knows when to go down It seems like a very worthy gamble to see if something develops.

 

[cajuncocoa]

Back in the day, they would rank QBs by QB rating. I see now they have Drew Brees ranked #1 based on passing yards. What changed?

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Back in the day, they would rank QBs by QB rating. I see now they have Drew Brees ranked #1 based on passing yards. What changed?

nothing. the headers on those can be clicked on so you can sort them by any metric you want.

 

[cajuncocoa]

nothing. the headers on those can be clicked on so you can sort them by any metric you want.

No, not talking about the headers. I'm talking about the front page of the statistics section (ESPN) where they show the league leaders, and Brees' pic is shown as league passing leader based on yards.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

No, not talking about the headers. I'm talking about the front page of the statistics section (ESPN) where they show the league leaders, and Brees' pic is shown as league passing leader based on yards.

oh, its always shown like that...just shows the top 5 in passing yards.

 

[Plankton]

Other than how amazing it is to think that Romo will not reach 4000 yards this year, and the offense has never been better, what is striking to me on that list is the completion percentages.

Think back to when Roger Staubach played. Back then, completing 50% of your passes was considered average. The top 24 people on the list above are all over 60%. These days, that number is the baseline. The shorter pass routes have really changed the game.

 

[THEHEREAFTER]

And yet he may not even make the Probowl. lol

Who's starting over him besides Rodgers?

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I completely disagree here. Take note that while everyone talked about Free being hurt for the Washington game, Leary didn't play in the Washington or Arizona game that we lost. Parnell has stepped in just fine for Free, but our backup guards are not nearly as strong.

It is no accident that we scored less than 20 points in those two games. It's true that the running game makes it easier for Romo to throw the ball, but then we have lost 4 games and in each of those Romo has not been 100% (and in one didn't play).

We lost the Arizona game because Weeden was our QB and was dreadful.

Parnell is serviceable, but if we have to rely on him next year I think it's going to have an extremely negative effect on the offense.

In the last 2 games, we've ran the ball poorly, but we stuck to the run and it allowed Romo to throw over the top of 8-9 in the box.

And if you look at Romo in his career, he plays best when the RT play is good. Even when the LT wasn't all that great, he can still play well if the RT play is good. But, when the RT play is poor, it's a completely different story. So Free being hurt should always be a concern. I think Parnell won't be embarrassing out there, but he gets beat more often than Free.





YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Definitely better play calling this year.

But The o-line is way better. Freddy is not a rookie, Smith is in his 2nd full year at LT, and we didn't even have Martin last year.
Also, just a reminder that last year's defense was 32nd ranked overall.

I think the O-Line is better this year. But it was darn good last year, especially in pass protection. And in the 2nd half of the last season we were really running the ball well.

As I've mentioned many times before, after the Green Bay game last year the Packers defenders said that watching on tape that Dallas had the *BEST* zone running game in the league. So the 'we had to throw because we couldn't run the ball last year' doesn't really jive.

As far as the defense goes...that's in part what happens when you throw a lot...your defense is going to be on the field more often and they are going to be wore down and not perform as well. And it's hard for the opponent to gain yards if they don't have the ball.

We have had so many times in the past where we just simply had no desire to run the ball from the onset and didn't even give the run a chance. This year it has been a dramatic turnaround in philosophy. And they are so much better for it.




YR

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

We ran the ball well last year, particularly in the 2nd half of the season. But, we continued to shy away from the run.

In the past 2 games we have been terrible at running the ball. But, we stick with the run and are 'bringing a knife to a gun fight.'

So, that doesn't jive with me.

My guess is that the Cowboys realized that with Romo's back, they were afraid of him getting hurt which is more likely to happen if he throws more often. Then they started to see the benefits of the run game by keeping the defense off the field. Defensive players have historically been more than twice than likely to get injured than offensive players. This was an organization that had massive issues with injuries on defense and now that they run the ball more often, the defense was not getting injured as much.

We weren't exactly a great running team in '06, but because Parcells had the philosophy of running the ball even when it wasn't working great, we created a more effective offense. And even from '07 to 2013 when we had those games coming off a game where we neglected the run and then did the opposite by running incessantly even when the run wasn't working, the offense and Romo played better.

I also think we often times didn't even give the run a chance. You can't run the ball 8 times in a game and expect it to work brilliantly.

The attitude about the run in this organization is just completely different. About 6 weeks ago in a PC Garrett mentioned this...you have to stick with the run even when it's not working well and you're getting those 'ugly' runs of may 1 or 2 yards. It's something we simply didn't do in the past. If we got stuffed early on, we would completely abandon the run for the rest of the game. And most of the time it was to our detriment.






YR

We ran the ball well against light fronts. We wouldn't run against 8 men though like we do now.

The reason why we haven't run much on the last few years has been personnel. When the Adams to Columbo line was initially replaced with Berger, Kowalksi, Costa, Arkin, and Nagy, we had no chance of moving people off the ball. Free struggled mightily in 2011 and 2012. 'Running the ball is an attitude' is a cliche espoused by coaches to encourage their players but at the end of the day you have to have the horses no matter what the coach says.

Even with new talent in 2013 it took time to come together. That is where the coaching comes in. No amount of Lombardi or Rockne was going to get those scrubs blowing people off the ball..