My Meaningless Thoughts On The Game
Yakuza Rich Blog
- I think Garrett will get a lot of the blame, but I actually didn't have too much of an issue with the playcalling this game. We simply had to pass the ball a
little in the second half to keep the defense honest and that's what Garrett attempted. Unfortunately, the QB has to know that we need to protect the ball because the running game is working and at the very least you want to keep the defense honest. But, we simply do not have that in our QB.
We've added a QB-friendly O-Coordinator. We've spent millions on the O-Line. We've added a dynamic tailback unit consisting of Barber, Felix and Choice. We've got not one, but TWO dynamic tight ends. We then get rid of Owens because supposedly he was forcing the ball to him and that would give him room to grow. Instead, he showed that he's the same old Romo.
Put him against a team that is somewhat disciplined and not soft and if Romo doesn't have his 'A' game going the team
will lose because of him. Let me make that clear, if the defense is pretty good (not great) and Romo is a little off, we will assuredly lose because of Romo. It's almost as good of a guarantee as you will find in the NFL.
I know this isn't popular, but we need to
start looking for a way to replace him as soon as possible because in the NFL, you don't win playoff games if your QB cannot protect the ball. The Bears tried to disprove this in '06 and it burned them in the end. And the Bears in '06 had a ferocios defense that actually scored points for them and had an amazing special teams that scored points for them. But Grossman turned the ball over and all of that help from the defense and special teams couldn't get them a Lombardi Trophy. People talk about 'never winning a Super Bowl with Romo', well I'm hear to say that I don't see us winning a playoff game with Romo at the rate he's going.
I seriously mean this, if somehow a good QB is available in FA or via trade, I really think the team should take a good hard look at it. You have to give players chances to prove themselves in the NFL, but you also have to be very good to know when to stop giving them chances because they'll never meet the base level expectations that are set for them. We've got too much talent on this team with guys like Jay Ratliff, Kyle Kosier, Marc Colombo, Roy Williams, Jason Witten, etc who have shown a ton of heart and stepped up their games to let it be blown by a guy who simply cannot raise his level of play.
I am officially on the Get Rid of Romo (but do it in a smart way) bandwagon and a firm believer we won't win a playoff game with him until proven otherwise. Sometimes you gotta know when to throw in a lousy hand.
- Congrats to Joe DeCamillis with another impressive performance on special teams. This is part of the problem with Romo. The special teams are entirely impressive and effective at helping Dallas win the field position battle. Unfortunately when the QB throws pick 6's and INT's in our own territory, that doesn't help matters.
- Here's the difference between an organization like the G-Men and the Cowboys. The G-Men can take a guy like Manningham, a productive but troubled player in college and turn him into a productive and inspired player in the NFL. I'm still trying to figure out when was the last time the Cowboys have done that.
- Terence Newman is officially a pretty decent starting corner. He's no longer the shutdown corner he once was. Not even close
- Jay Ratliff looks like the best player on the team right now.
- Don't get too down on O-Scan right now. Young CB's seem to struggle the most in their second year. Never really figured out why, but that's what happens throughout the league. Newman's worst year was his second year. So was Asomugha's. Champ Bailey was horrible his second season. It happens.
- Spencer is too inconsistent. He'll look really great one play, then lose gap control and/or containment on the next play. His play is part of the reason why we have no sacks. He can get the beat on offensive tackle, but then he'll over-commit. He's almost symbolic of how the team plays as a whole.
- Last week I got criticized for saying we probably won't get many sacks early on, and so far we are at a goose egg.
- I still hate the 'freezing the kicker' method. I think it's bush league, but I also think it isn't effective. Coming from a golf background, which has similarities to kicking, I think freezing the kicker doesn't work because if I miss the field goal on the first try, I can then go off what I did wrong and correct it. It's essentially a practice kick.
- I'll give Garrett a lot of credit, he not only found ways to use each tailback effectively, but found ways to open up things in the running game. 250 yards rushing and we lose. If that doesn't tell you how disappointed I am in #9, then I don't know what to tell you.
- But let's not completely blame Romo. This was the epitome of an undisciplined, soft football team. How many missed tackles were there? 10? 12? 15? 20??? Flozell's trip costs Dallas a huge play which eventually leads to the fluke INT (although the throw by Romo was horrible). Carpenter gets called for a defensive hold which would've had Feagles punting from his own 5. Just lovely.
- Well, they get the Panthers...a team they've usually played well against although that is usually at Charlotte for whatever reason. Dallas had a real chance of going 5-0 into the bye week, but now with Carolina in a must win situation and a QB that not only has seen me and other fans jump off the bandwagon, but I have to question what the team is thinking or how long they will put up with this crap. But of course this doesn't excuse the other dumb mistakes, but you have to come away with a win when you should win (Dallas should've dominated the scoreboard), especially when you are playing a divisional foe at home. Believe it or not, Garrett has drawn a lot of confidence from me in his playcalling and play design. Now he's just got to get it through Romo's thick skull that these turnovers can't be allowed. Garrett seemingly has read my mind with playcalling lately and how to improve it, hopefully he'll do the same with Romo. If not, this could be a 7-9 team this year...if we're lucky.
YAKUZA