Myth of Romo's Late Season Decline

[links18]

Why does everyone say Romo struggled down the stretch last season? He did struggle in the Philly game, but he played well vs. Atlanta and Detroit right?And he wasn't terrible in the playoff game against the Seahawks (the fumbled hold doesn't count--it was a fluke). The real problem with Romo late in the season was the awful defense, which put him in a hole. It is amazing how some things--if asserted enough times--become unquestioned truths. Tell me why I am wrong.....

 

[tomson75]

Why does everyone say Romo struggled down the stretch last season? He did struggle in the Philly game, but he played well vs. Atlanta and Detroit right?And he wasn't terrible in the playoff game against the Seahawks (the fumbled hold doesn't count--it was a fluke). The real problem with Romo late in the season was the awful defense, which put him in a hole. It is amazing how some things--if asserted enough times--become unquestioned truths. Tell me why I am wrong.....

"Everyone" says that because "everyone" watches too much ESPN.

 

[Cowboys22]

He did struggle some in those games but what noone ever talks about is that he led the team downfield late in almost every close loss and had the team in position to win. Several times, someone else made a mistake that cost the team the win. I'm not at all worried about Romo.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Why does everyone say Romo struggled down the stretch last season? He did struggle in the Philly game, but he played well vs. Atlanta and Detroit right?And he wasn't terrible in the playoff game against the Seahawks (the fumbled hold doesn't count--it was a fluke). The real problem with Romo late in the season was the awful defense, which put him in a hole. It is amazing how some things--if asserted enough times--become unquestioned truths. Tell me why I am wrong.....

I think it's fair to say that he struggled. He turned the ball over too many times in the last 5 games. First and foremost, his job is to protect the football. He didn't do a great job of that at the end of the season IMO.

 

[joseephuss]

Your wrong. While the defensive collapse did put more pressure on Romo and the offense, he also did not play as well. He became careless with the ball. Whether it was holding the ball away from his body or throwing into coverage, he just did not take care of the ball. He also got away from the things he did well early on. Instead of dropping back and making quick decisions, he would hold the ball too long. He would hesitate instead of getting rid of the ball. There was one shot of Bill telling Romo to "throw the f----- ball." I don't think he was horrible, but his play definitely declined. Couple that with the defense and it was easy to see why they dropped 3 of the last 4 regular season games and a loss in the playoffs.

 

[lurkercowboy]

Romo obviously did not play as well at the end of the season as he did when he first became the starter. Romo took chances, pressed, etc. Part of it was because the defense allowed so many opposing scores, that Romo had to play catch-up.

It is a myth that Romo stunk it up in all of those late season games. He did not play as well, but he wasn't terrible either. He led Dallas to the opposing teams goal line in the Detroit game and he had Dallas in a position to win the playoff game. The fumbled hold has nothing to do with his QB play. As a QB, he played well enough to win the playoff game.

 

[AsthmaField]

I agree that Romo's play fell off a little at the end of the season. I also agree though that his increased risk taking and int's came because the defense put him in bad positions in every game.

If your team is down by two TD's with six min. left to play... you're going to make some throws that you wouldn't have made if you were in the lead or only down by 3. Pressure was there that shouldn't have been there if the defense would have been able to stop anyone. Heck, he scored 31 at Detroit... but that wasn't enough.

I'm not concerned about him at all. If the defense does like it should and plays well... then Romo will do more than his part.

 

[InmanRoshi]

The question for Romo, or any player, is not whether they had peaks and valleys. The question is how high were the peaks and how low were the valleys. Romo was playing at Peyton Manning/110 QB for over a month. For a first time starter, a dropoff had to be expected. If you expected Romo to continue at that pace, you were being unrealistic.

What gets overplayed is how "bad" he was during the last 5 games. During his worst stretch, he was still playing to the level of a above average QB. And, no, the defense putting him in a position where he had to score every single drive for the team to have an opportunity to win the game didn't do him any favors either. Even at his worst, he was still approx a 75 QB rating guy.

 

[Rampage]

well he did fumble way to much

 

[ZeroClub]

He wasn't as good late, but he wasn't bad.

.... as for the Seattle game, I sure would have liked to see the Cowboys be more aggressive against that depleted Seahawks secondary.

 

[AbeBeta]

He did struggle -- he had terrible passing #s in 3 games. NYG, NO, and PHI - in the two games he threw well, ATL and DET -- he had 6 fumbles.

But his struggles are a bit overblown -- the poor passing numbers likely weren't about teams figuring him out so much as a couple of games where he had no chance because the team spent the entire 2nd half throwing.

 

[DIAF]

What? Romo was absolutely AWFUL in the last 6 games of the season or so overall. Is he really that bad? No. But, I don't think he's nearly as good as the 5 TD performance we saw on Thanksgiving vs. the Bucs either. Everyone knows here i'm no Romo fan, and I think we will be slightly disappointed in his play this season. All the Cowboys fans I know are expecting Carson Palmer-like numbers. I'm expecting 20-23 TDs and 15-17 picks.

 

[Tass]

Why does everyone say Romo struggled down the stretch last season? He did struggle in the Philly game, but he played well vs. Atlanta and Detroit right?And he wasn't terrible in the playoff game against the Seahawks (the fumbled hold doesn't count--it was a fluke). The real problem with Romo late in the season was the awful defense, which put him in a hole. It is amazing how some things--if asserted enough times--become unquestioned truths. Tell me why I am wrong.....

I'm glad it keeps getting said because it will have other teams underestimating him. We all know Romocop can get it done. It will be a rude awakening for the rest of the league to realize he's for real.

 

[TunaFan33]

Why does everyone say Romo struggled down the stretch last season? He did struggle in the Philly game, but he played well vs. Atlanta and Detroit right?And he wasn't terrible in the playoff game against the Seahawks (the fumbled hold doesn't count--it was a fluke). The real problem with Romo late in the season was the awful defense, which put him in a hole. It is amazing how some things--if asserted enough times--become unquestioned truths. Tell me why I am wrong.....

The offensive game plan was downright awful as well.

One of Tuna's biggest weaknesses were that he had no idea what stunts and blitzes were, so he couldn't prepare for them on either side of the ball(that's all New Orleans, Philly, and yes, the Gints did-that Gints game was a gift). Throughout Nov(Romo's other starts), we largely played Cover 2 defenses(and to Romo's credit, he just took what the D's gave him).

I think we'll be OK this year on this.