Gadfly22
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For all the firepower the Dallas offense is supposed to have and all the yardage it racked up, it can look totally futile at times.
Denver sacked Romo 5 times, and the offense managed 10 points in a loss.
Green Bay likewise sacked Romo 5 times, and the offense managed 7 points in the waning minutes to avoid a shutout.
And 7 points against Washington in a game where Suisham could have iced the Cowboys.
And the Minnesota game is still fresh in everyone's mind.
Good teams have off days sometimes and can always be stifled by a good defense. But why do these Cowboys -- with all their offensive weapons -- just fizzle sometimes?
I don't know the answer, but my theory is that Hudson Houck's road-grader O-line is made for a running team, like the 90s Cowboys. Aikman was great, and he had weapons in Irvin and Novacek, but that was Emmitt's team, and his O-line was tailor-made for the Cowboy's offensive style.
Today's team has the size, and it has Houck again. But this is a passing offense in a pass-happy league. Houck's road-graders do not stay nimble enough in pass protection during the course of pass-heavy games. With the defense not getting turnovers, the offense often has a long field to navigate. The result: the O-line tires, Romo gets sacked (as mobile as he is, he got sacked 34 times in 2009) or hit and the offense falls apart.
Unfortunately, if that's the case, the answer is a wholesale revision of the O-line to find smaller, more nimble players who can pick up blitzes, protect Romo better and let the team be as pass-happy as Garrett wants. That's a tall order, and I doubt it will happen. So Jerry, Wade and Garrett will need to find a different solution that leads to more sizzle and less fizzle.
Denver sacked Romo 5 times, and the offense managed 10 points in a loss.
Green Bay likewise sacked Romo 5 times, and the offense managed 7 points in the waning minutes to avoid a shutout.
And 7 points against Washington in a game where Suisham could have iced the Cowboys.
And the Minnesota game is still fresh in everyone's mind.
Good teams have off days sometimes and can always be stifled by a good defense. But why do these Cowboys -- with all their offensive weapons -- just fizzle sometimes?
I don't know the answer, but my theory is that Hudson Houck's road-grader O-line is made for a running team, like the 90s Cowboys. Aikman was great, and he had weapons in Irvin and Novacek, but that was Emmitt's team, and his O-line was tailor-made for the Cowboy's offensive style.
Today's team has the size, and it has Houck again. But this is a passing offense in a pass-happy league. Houck's road-graders do not stay nimble enough in pass protection during the course of pass-heavy games. With the defense not getting turnovers, the offense often has a long field to navigate. The result: the O-line tires, Romo gets sacked (as mobile as he is, he got sacked 34 times in 2009) or hit and the offense falls apart.
Unfortunately, if that's the case, the answer is a wholesale revision of the O-line to find smaller, more nimble players who can pick up blitzes, protect Romo better and let the team be as pass-happy as Garrett wants. That's a tall order, and I doubt it will happen. So Jerry, Wade and Garrett will need to find a different solution that leads to more sizzle and less fizzle.
