Numbers...

[realtick]

5, as in five total tackles in four games for Bradie James...

3-7, Tony Romo's record as a starter in his last ten games...

7th, Dallas' rushing rank in 2009 (131.4 yards per game); arguably Romo's best season as a QB overall...

25th, Dallas' current rushing rank this season (86.8 yards per game)...

291.8, as in yards per game allowed by Dallas this year (4th in the NFL).

477.5 yards per game allowed by the Patriots defense this year (32nd in the NFL).

 

[JBS]

.500 - not good enough

 

[Galian Beast]

I hope you are pinning that record on Romo, and I'm sure that 7th loss is also the game where Romo left the game with injury, but left with the lead... Not sure how he gets contributed with the L there...

 

[Clove]

5, as in five total tackles in four games for Bradie James...

3-7, Tony Romo's record as a starter in his last ten games...

7th, Dallas' rushing rank in 2009 (131.4 yards per game); arguably Romo's best season as a QB overall...

25th, Dallas' current rushing rank this season (86.8 yards per game)...

291.8, as in yards per game allowed by Dallas this year (4th in the NFL).

477.5 yards per game allowed by the Patriots defense this year (32nd in the NFL).

4,364,491,643, number of Romo threads over the past month.

 

[CCBoy]

Some good projection numbers, realtick.

I don't know, but it looks that the numbers around a porous defense to date, would be what the Doctor is ordering for a sick patient. The running game picked up against Washington and showed life against the Lions. That with their being a strong defensive team. Having Felix Jones a lot healther won't hurt here as well. But as to the offensive line, it appears it is getting healthy as well. The starting unit is back together now, and it also has the recent addition of Derrick Dockery. Myself, I'm very interested to see how that plays out now.

On the defensive side of things. I wonder what having Jason Hatcher and Orlando Scandrick back on the field will mean. This will be the first picture that we have had of a complete defensive backfield. What better team to give a comparison picture against, than New England.

As from there, things will get a tad easier as to management of an opponent's offense.

 

[CCBoy]

4,364,491,643, number of Romo threads over the past month.

4,364,491,644...the number of fans with rectal defilade and couldn't pull their heads out long enough to see anything else.

 

[realtick]

I hope you are pinning that record on Romo, and I'm sure that 7th loss is also the game where Romo left the game with injury, but left with the lead... Not sure how he gets contributed with the L there...

Okay, so how many of those wins are directly attributed to Romo, and how many can be blamed on everyone else but him, lol?

Personally, I think the notion of saying a QB having a W/L record is flawed but I use it because people used to seeing it.

 

[Clove]

4,364,491,644...the number of fans with rectal defilade and couldn't pull their heads out long enough to see anything else.

Sadly, this is probably true.

 

[Galian Beast]

Okay, so how many of those wins are directly attributed to Romo, and how many can be blamed on everyone else but him, lol?

Personally, I think the notion of saying a QB having a W/L record is flawed but I use it because people used to seeing it.

He put up great numbers in most of those games so...

 

[thechosen1n2]

4,364,491,643, number of Romo threads over the past month.

Nicely played

 

[CCBoy]

Nicely played

Into golf are we? Well, play on through....

 

[CCBoy]

Sadly, this is probably true.

Hey, an honest man. Hoooah!

 

[Eskimo]

5, as in five total tackles in four games for Bradie James...

3-7, Tony Romo's record as a starter in his last ten games...

7th, Dallas' rushing rank in 2009 (131.4 yards per game); arguably Romo's best season as a QB overall...

25th, Dallas' current rushing rank this season (86.8 yards per game)...

291.8, as in yards per game allowed by Dallas this year (4th in the NFL).

477.5 yards per game allowed by the Patriots defense this year (32nd in the NFL).

The thing about that rushing total from 2009 is that many of those yards were sort of gimmicky - draws, freeze draws, sweeps, wildcat runs. I don't think we gained all that many of them by just going right at the defense. We also had a great deal of difficulty converting in short yardage situations back then, too.

I do agree we need to have a more consistent running game to keep offensive balance. But even more importantly we need to get much better on the goalline which is where we have left lots of points on the field this year. By comparison, when is the last time we stuffed anyone on the goalline from the 1 yard line.

I'm a big believer in spending a premium pick on an interior OL. I also think we need to change our approach there. It is obvious that we can't consistently run straight ahead and get it. Maybe we need to run some stretch plays or some quick tosses because everyone dives really hard to the interior on us. The one TD we got this year was when Felix went off tackle against the Jets.

 

[realtick]

I'm a big believer in spending a premium pick on an interior OL. I also think we need to change our approach there. It is obvious that we can't consistently run straight ahead and get it. Maybe we need to run some stretch plays or some quick tosses because everyone dives really hard to the interior on us. The one TD we got this year was when Felix went off tackle against the Jets.

I haven't spent a lot of time focused in on it with the games I have recorded but I'm not a fan of our general approach to running, especially in short yardage. It seems as though we have to many moving parts; pulling guards, fake pitches, et cetera. Too many times we have defensive linemen penetrating and in the backfield nanoseconds after we make the handoff.

 

[Eskimo]

I haven't spent a lot of time focused in on it with the games I have recorded but I'm not a fan of our general approach to running, especially in short yardage. It seems as though we have to many moving parts; pulling guards, fake pitches, et cetera. Too many times we have defensive linemen penetrating and in the backfield nanoseconds after we make the handoff.

Against the Lions we ran a straight dive in the middle of the line and failed there too.

 

[CCBoy]

The thing about that rushing total from 2009 is that many of those yards were sort of gimmicky - draws, freeze draws, sweeps, wildcat runs. I don't think we gained all that many of them by just going right at the defense. We also had a great deal of difficulty converting in short yardage situations back then, too.

I do agree we need to have a more consistent running game to keep offensive balance. But even more importantly we need to get much better on the goalline which is where we have left lots of points on the field this year. By comparison, when is the last time we stuffed anyone on the goalline from the 1 yard line.

I'm a big believer in spending a premium pick on an interior OL. I also think we need to change our approach there. It is obvious that we can't consistently run straight ahead and get it. Maybe we need to run some stretch plays or some quick tosses because everyone dives really hard to the interior on us. The one TD we got this year was when Felix went off tackle against the Jets.

First observation here, by myself, is that this is a passing first league and Dallas is a leader in that skillset. When 'trick' runs serve the purpose of balancing an opponent's defensive approach, that is the answer. Not the drama going on following an up the gut running attack. The team still runs well, and uses screens and halfback passes well. It worked well in a 49'ers offense scheme of old, the West Coast offense, and it works adapted into a Cowboy scheme.

Unless an opponent has a killer front four, most don't dominate both the short game and the long game simultaneously. Up to now, Dallas has dominated in a long game approach. This it has done by keeping the defense having to adapt to a short game also. This, despite recent interceptions, Dallas is pretty good and maintaining that blend.

 

[CCBoy]

For this past game, Dave Halprin's quote on the Romo ploy in the past Lion's game is probably on target here:

One option was to slide to the left; when he throws that ball there's still a good yard between him and the pressure, he still had time.

Two, and this is the BEST option of them all, he had Felix Jones open on a checkdown to one side, and a tight end open on a checkdown to the other side. It's first down, make the smart throw. But he didn't do that. He went with the high-risk/high-reward option and got burned. This is where I have a problem. Sure, we want a competitive quarterback who thinks he can make plays. But we also want a quarterback who makes the smart play. In that situation, Romo made the very definition of an un-smart play.

 

[JoeCorrado]

For this past game, Dave Halprin's quote on the Romo ploy in the past Lion's game is probably on target here:

One option was to slide to the left; when he throws that ball there's still a good yard between him and the pressure, he still had time.

Two, and this is the BEST option of them all, he had Felix Jones open on a checkdown to one side, and a tight end open on a checkdown to the other side. It's first down, make the smart throw. But he didn't do that. He went with the high-risk/high-reward option and got burned. This is where I have a problem. Sure, we want a competitive quarterback who thinks he can make plays. But we also want a quarterback who makes the smart play. In that situation, Romo made the very definition of an un-smart play.

Add the fact there was still pleny of time and the 20-20 Monday morning quarterback analysis is even better. But in the single second of time that Romo had to make the decision, feeling the pressure, knowing he had Witten coming open for a big play, and perhaps not ... well, all of us know how being rushed can lead to less than an optimal decision, I like what Romo saw, I like his intent... I just wish he had gotten the added heartbeat he needed to make the play. Then this second guessing does not happen.

Romo is still my choice to lead.