Romo and False Flags

[Doomsday101]

Seriously? How old is Tyron again? Romo is 34 years old and has had 2 back surgeries and looks HORRIFIC out there. Why on earth would you compare the 2?

Get real Dallas is not benching him after 1 fricken game. It is hard to have any serious conversation when people post things like this. Really you think Dallas is going to say Romo had a bad game he is done? Only fans would do such things

 

[Bluestang]

@TwoDeep3

You have some valid arguments about over reacting about Romo. I can agree with the notion that it is too early to really gauge where Romo is at.

But at the same time though, Steve Dennis brings a very, valid point to the argument as well.

Romo promised us that we would see the best version of him for the next 4-5 years. As soon as he said that, and then turned in this kind of performance it doesn't bode well for anyone in the organization. He also didn't take any responsibility for the play call change in his post game press conference whatsoever. Players that lack any accountability and HCs that don't enforce it can be a disease within the locker room.

Despite the missed practice time, and Mickey Spagnola trying to lay out the excuses for him on the post game show one has to wonder how many more times us fans are going to see one of these Romo-Coaster performances. Missed OTAs/camp practices/preseason time is a killer, there is no doubt about that, but why did the coaching staff stick with an aggressive game plan? The run was working, the pass was so-so until the turnovers started to pile up. This team, despite the miscues, had a real good chance to tie the score up but elected to be aggressive and it backfired in their faces.

It's one thing if this was an aberration, but it isn't the case with Romo. I also contend that he has become too stubborn to stick with the run calls when he sees the defense stack the box. Despite have a free defender in the hole, the RB should be given a chance to beat that man because that is the basics of football. Beat the man across you. Linehan had said during camp that the offense needs to be able to run against stacked boxes, Aikman/Emmitt made a living out of that, and Romo/Garrett/Linehan continue to beat themselves when it comes to trying to run the football in the end zone.

At this point Romo can turn it around next week, but the real question going forward is he really going to learn from this or will we see more performances like this?

 

[perrykemp]

Tony reminds me of Gary Hogeboom, when I was younger Hogeboom came in to sub for I think Danny White and he was electric

Speaking of Gary Hogeboom... shout out to Central Michigan University (Hogoboom's alma mater) who destroyed Purdue yesterday. Same Central Michigan University that had the 1st pick in the draft last year (Eric Fischer), same school JJ Watt went to (ok, just his first couple of years).....

Sorry, I couldn't help it. Ridiculous shout-out to my alma mater over.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Romo promised us that we would see the best version of him for the next 4-5 years. As soon as he said that, and then turned in this kind of performance it doesn't bode well for anyone in the organization. He also didn't take any responsibility for the play call change in his post game press conference whatsoever. Players that lack any accountability and HCs that don't enforce it can be a disease within the locker room.

Agree 100%

There is something I came to a few years ago that dawned on me as I got older. Just like most of the guys on this board, I enjoy an attractive woman. Now this goes past the obvious, because I appreciate them in a way I may not have as a younger man. But now, if they happen to see me and I smile they look away. Because I have aged and am not in their peripheral. So a game I could have played a decade ago or perhaps more is over. My mind still thinks the same. Fact is I am sharper now than I was a decade ago.

My point is this. That scenario I painted must be very similar to athletes who cannot do it any more. Their minds can certainly make the play, but their bodies can't.

So Romo's mind is making comments his body cannot deliver at this stage. Now is this merely his being out of tune with the game because of such a long lay-off? Or is it truly the guy is losing a step and cannot do what we all once believed was amazing?

I cannot answer that question frankly. You may very well be right. When Aikman fell from grace he did so at light speed. So there is precedent for Romo to be losing his mojo in front of our eyes.

My Cowboy heart says I hope not.

My Cowboy eye is shut tight right now in hopes. Something people think I don't do.

Despite the missed practice time, and Mickey Spagnola trying to lay out the excuses for him on the post game show one has to wonder how many more times us fans are going to see one of these Romo-Coaster performances. Missed OTAs/camp practices/preseason time is a killer, there is no doubt about that, but why did the coaching staff stick with an aggressive game plan? The run was working, the pass was so-so until the turnovers started to pile up. This team, despite the miscues, had a real good chance to tie the score up but elected to be aggressive and it backfired in their faces.

I suspect we will see more rather than less. Which brings us to the point made by so many that Romo was the center of the universe to the Cowboys. If he falls then this franchise is in deep do-do. Not only because of his salary which will perform a surgical procedure on the teams genitalia, but also with the state of this team and how there is a complete side of the ball that has nothing in the way of play makers.

This game is built by play makers and the supporting cast

But what strikes me is this. Does a guy like Dez, poised to make a bundle, suddenly decide to wait to sign and then test the FA waters? This team can't keep him if they get into a bidding war. So franchise tag and the depth of fiscal mismanagement is extended into perhaps the next decade.

The Romo Conundrum runs deeper than anything this franchise has done or committed to since I started watching in 1960. This is the end game if all things break bad. Another decade or more of being bottom dwellers. Or worse, a 500 ball club.

Romo forced to retire because he cannot do it any longer will make the Galloway trade, plus passing on Moss, and the R Williams trade together look so positive it will be like drafting Emmitt, considering the destruction of a Romo owe 75 million retirement would bring..

But to your point, can we be certain the aggression is the coaching staff and not Romo trying too hard?

It's one thing if this was an aberration, but it isn't the case with Romo. I also contend that he has become too stubborn to stick with the run calls when he sees the defense stack the box. Despite have a free defender in the hole, the RB should be given a chance to beat that man because that is the basics of football. Beat the man across you. Linehan had said during camp that the offense needs to be able to run against stacked boxes, Aikman/Emmitt made a living out of that, and Romo/Garrett/Linehan continue to beat themselves when it comes to trying to run the football in the end zone.

But isn't that stick with the run the same thing he does when he audibles overriding the coaches? He sticks with the pass.

How much of this is just simply us nitpicking the results? I don't have that answer either. You make sound arguments about Romo.

At this point Romo can turn it around next week, but the real question going forward is he really going to learn from this or will we see more performances like this?

Learning is what perhaps has the most dangerous potential of all. Because he still plays with a reckless abandon and takes risks. They all do. His are sometimes at the core of why I distrust him to a degree.

So waiting on him to learn may be like asking the rebels in the Middle East to have a bar-b-que and invite all their Christian friends.

Not likely.

 

[Bluestang]

Agree 100%

There is something I came to a few years ago that dawned on me as I got older. Just like most of the guys on this board, I enjoy an attractive woman. Now this goes past the obvious, because I appreciate them in a way I may not have as a younger man. But now, if they happen to see me and I smile they look away. Because I have aged and am not in their peripheral. So a game I could have played a decade ago or perhaps more is over. My mind still thinks the same. Fact is I am sharper now than I was a decade ago.

My point is this. That scenario I painted must be very similar to athletes who cannot do it any more. Their minds can certainly make the play, but their bodies can't.

So Romo's mind is making comments his body cannot deliver at this stage. Now is this merely his being out of tune with the game because of such a long lay-off? Or is it truly the guy is losing a step and cannot do what we all once believed was amazing?

I cannot answer that question frankly. You may very well be right. When Aikman fell from grace he did so at light speed. So there is precedent for Romo to be losing his mojo in front of our eyes.

My Cowboy heart says I hope not.

My Cowboy eye is shut tight right now in hopes. Something people think I don't do.

One thing is for certain though, Romo's ability to scramble is gone. Some of his best highlights have come from plays that broke down and the time he bought with his feet to make the play. You still see it from time to time but it's more painful to watch a 34 yr old Romo trying to do it nowadays.

I suspect we will see more rather than less. Which brings us to the point made by so many that Romo was the center of the universe to the Cowboys. If he falls then this franchise is in deep do-do. Not only because of his salary which will perform a surgical procedure on the teams genitalia, but also with the state of this team and how there is a complete side of the ball that has nothing in the way of play makers.

This game is built by play makers and the supporting cast

But what strikes me is this. Does a guy like Dez, poised to make a bundle, suddenly decide to wait to sign and then test the FA waters? This team can't keep him if they get into a bidding war. So franchise tag and the depth of fiscal mismanagement is extended into perhaps the next decade.

The Romo Conundrum runs deeper than anything this franchise has done or committed to since I started watching in 1960. This is the end game if all things break bad. Another decade or more of being bottom dwellers. Or worse, a 500 ball club.

Romo forced to retire because he cannot do it any longer will make the Galloway trade, plus passing on Moss, and the R Williams trade together look so positive it will be like drafting Emmitt, considering the destruction of a Romo owe 75 million retirement would bring..

But to your point, can we be certain the aggression is the coaching staff and not Romo trying too hard?

And if Romo is over-riding the game plan, who on the sidelines has the berries to tell him to play within the game plan or take the bench? The Cowboys were well within distance until Romo started to cough the ball up.

This is one of the many problems with the Cowboys, the inmates running the asylum is never a good thing. If Dez feels like he may be able to find a better QB, one that can elevate his career he may just find himself on the next ticket out of DFW. The same could be said about DeMarco Murray, who was already visibly upset on the sidelines when Romo had changed the plays.

There is only one person that played outside of the system and had some success doing it, and that was Brett Favre. And for all of that great play, he also did some goofy things and his career reflects that.

But isn't that stick with the run the same thing he does when he audibles overriding the coaches? He sticks with the pass.

How much of this is just simply us nitpicking the results? I don't have that answer either. You make sound arguments about Romo.

Learning is what perhaps has the most dangerous potential of all. Because he still plays with a reckless abandon and takes risks. They all do. His are sometimes at the core of why I distrust him to a degree.

So waiting on him to learn may be like asking the rebels in the Middle East to have a bar-b-que and invite all their Christian friends.

Not likely.

This is the root of the problem with Romo, this late in his football career. If he doesn't understand situational football at this stage in his career I'm not so sure that he will ever learn it. Parcells gave him his version of the QB commandments and it could visibly be seen in Romo's locker long after Parcells left. I don't know if he still has it posted there anymore but I can bet that he's not living by those set of rules anymore.

Steve Young lit Romo a new one, on his 2012 MNF performance vs the Bears. IIRC, he said that the QB's job is to "stop the bleeding" when the team gets in trouble and Romo took the knife and twisted it deeper when he kept trying to do too much.

And if that's the case, the Cowboys need to find someone else that does as painful as that breakup will be.

 

[CCBoy]

@TwoDeep3

You have some valid arguments about over reacting about Romo. I can agree with the notion that it is too early to really gauge where Romo is at.

But at the same time though, Steve Dennis brings a very, valid point to the argument as well.

Romo promised us that we would see the best version of him for the next 4-5 years. As soon as he said that, and then turned in this kind of performance it doesn't bode well for anyone in the organization. He also didn't take any responsibility for the play call change in his post game press conference whatsoever. Players that lack any accountability and HCs that don't enforce it can be a disease within the locker room.

Despite the missed practice time, and Mickey Spagnola trying to lay out the excuses for him on the post game show one has to wonder how many more times us fans are going to see one of these Romo-Coaster performances. Missed OTAs/camp practices/preseason time is a killer, there is no doubt about that, but why did the coaching staff stick with an aggressive game plan? The run was working, the pass was so-so until the turnovers started to pile up. This team, despite the miscues, had a real good chance to tie the score up but elected to be aggressive and it backfired in their faces.

It's one thing if this was an aberration, but it isn't the case with Romo. I also contend that he has become too stubborn to stick with the run calls when he sees the defense stack the box. Despite have a free defender in the hole, the RB should be given a chance to beat that man because that is the basics of football. Beat the man across you. Linehan had said during camp that the offense needs to be able to run against stacked boxes, Aikman/Emmitt made a living out of that, and Romo/Garrett/Linehan continue to beat themselves when it comes to trying to run the football in the end zone.

At this point Romo can turn it around next week, but the real question going forward is he really going to learn from this or will we see more performances like this?

That all is fully on the table already. A fan's frustrations or not. A single game, despite being a current displeasure, does not a transcript of the season make. That still hasn't changed...only degree of attachment to conjecture based upon emotion...not observed and connected events.

I can't say in the now, with certainty, that Romo is on his last legs or not. But I will place more credibility to the dignity and professional levels presented by the current coaching staff. I'm not going to question Tony, until there is a reasonable and current body of evidence, not just apprehensions.

But your discussion with TwoDeep is a good thing...

 

[Hook'em#11]

IMO you need a training camp and preseason to get your head and body back into football shape after you take a 3-4 month hiatus.

Understood.

And, Romo had neither.. That is why the gameplan should be altered to use other strengths on offense. Say , a RB that is averaging 5-6 yds a carry.

 

[lostar2009]

are you sure you watched pre season? Romo was throwing ducks all over the field and wa lucky he didnt get picked off a few times.IMO he has lost it ,his back is shot and he cant throw balls with acceptable velocity.

How long do you think he need to get himself together? I'm not a Romo stand but this is way below his level of play.

 

[ConstantReboot]

The discussion in chat during the game seemed to turn to Romo being done as a quarterback.

My take is Romo didn't do enough during his recovery and training camp. Now he may have rehabbed enough to get to a point where he was ready. But there is more to this than that.

Spags quoted Romo on the radio last night stating he thought he needed to play the last preseason game of this year to get into shape. Not physical so much but mental. His comment included getting his eyes seeing everything.

My contention is this team worries so much about injury they have withheld players, and especially Romo from getting up to game speed. He needs the reps to get his mind sharp.

So the balls we all saw which were under throw were thrown late and the receiver ran out of range. Or he missed an open guy because he wasn't mentally in game shape. He also wasn't as sharp with his delivery. But then Romo does that every now and then. And I would suspect more so if he didn't throw 200 passes a day during training camp.

When Dallas got down 13-3 Romo began to press. And all the wonderful things he is are tainted at that point when he makes mental mistakes and tosses the ball into coverage. I have been saying this for four years here.

You saw it in spades yesterday.

Do I know if he's done? Nope. How could I, or anyone else on this board.

But people are overreacting. Take a breath. Step back. This was a game destine to go in the 9ers favor, and all the chatter before the game got some people believing. Nothing wrong with that.

But once the truth is confirmed, maybe locking yourself in a garage and turning on the car is a bit too much.

But.....

There were a number of false flags that kept Dallas in the game. This defense did not play well. Or as well as people suggested.

The Niners took their foot off the gas in the second half. Mentally anyway. But they had enough to move the sticks.

What made the Dallas D look so "good," and I question that label, were the calls that continued to bail them out and put the 9ers in a hole.

Dallas could very well be 2-1 going into week 4. Those very same people who were ready to lynch Romo may be singing a different tune.

But this schedule, this defense, this team will end up being in the lottery this year. No excuse covers a defense that cannot get a pass rush. The team is in chaos. Not just from this game but from the entire preseason. From the moves they have made.

The pity is they seem to have got a nice OL and a running back who finds holes, and a premier receiver and some really nice complimentary receivers. Those two positives have been surrounded with an aging quarterback.

Downside, Witten may be closer to done than what Romo looked like yesterday.

I said 5-11. That was my opinion. Right now, that looks about right.

Well Romo is Romo. As what Parcells stated a while back, he has to constantly be coached. However, the problem is that we don't have a real head coach in Dallas. Garrett doesn't cut it as coach because he just doesn't know what it would take to get Romo to be his best.

Its funny that when Romo was his best was when he was coached by Sparano. Things started going downhill when Garrett took the offensive reigns and gave Romo more decision power in the offense. Romo is not Peyton Manning. He is Romo. He needs to be coached still to this day. This is where Garrett fails miserably. This is why we have a totally collapse on what happened yesterday. Having a good coach to coach Romo would have been a godsend and would fix most of the problems we see now. However, were stuck with Garrett and this is the byproduct of having a coach that doesn't know how to coach.

 

[CCBoy]

Well Romo is Romo. As what Parcells stated a while back, he has to constantly be coached. However, the problem is that we don't have a real head coach in Dallas. Garrett doesn't cut it as coach because he just doesn't know what it would take to get Romo to be his best.

Its funny that when Romo was his best was when he was coached by Sparano. Things started going downhill when Garrett took the offensive reigns and gave Romo more decision power in the offense. Romo is not Peyton Manning. He is Romo. He needs to be coached still to this day. This is where Garrett fails miserably. This is why we have a totally collapse on what happened yesterday. Having a good coach to coach Romo would have been a godsend and would fix most of the problems we see now. However, were stuck with Garrett and this is the byproduct of having a coach that doesn't know how to coach.

I doubt that there is much substance on site as to how Jason Garrett really coaches...blatant generalizations and stereotype doesn't do a fan much good except for venting one's own frustrations.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Well Romo is Romo. As what Parcells stated a while back, he has to constantly be coached. However, the problem is that we don't have a real head coach in Dallas. Garrett doesn't cut it as coach because he just doesn't know what it would take to get Romo to be his best.

Its funny that when Romo was his best was when he was coached by Sparano. Things started going downhill when Garrett took the offensive reigns and gave Romo more decision power in the offense. Romo is not Peyton Manning. He is Romo. He needs to be coached still to this day. This is where Garrett fails miserably. This is why we have a totally collapse on what happened yesterday. Having a good coach to coach Romo would have been a godsend and would fix most of the problems we see now. However, were stuck with Garrett and this is the byproduct of having a coach that doesn't know how to coach.

CR, do you believe if Garrett was under a different GM than Jerry he would be more assertive and that his power stick is diminished because there is the potential of being undercut by the GM now?

 

[Risen Star]

The ease with which SF moved and scored in the first half was setting up a rout. Players in that position ease up regardless of their intent. To suggest they didn't come out of the locker room after scoring a TD last in the first half thinking this was on ice is naive.

That defense was exposed, and if you watched, it was red flags that stopped them more than Dallas. Or was the gashing of runs and the completing every third down within reason not enough evidence?

You're building hope on flags and not facts. Dallas had no pass rush. They had no pass defense. They had a team that thought it was in the bag and stopped hustling.

When SF let up and started running the ball a great deal is when Dallas started to look like they were competing. But even Dallas knew they let up and were just trying to run the clock so they played for the run. Then on third downs they got clocked because Kap and his guys could complete anything they wanted.

I understand digging deep and finding pieces to latch onto. But blue sky ain't one of them. or in this case red flags.

Right. It's human nature to let up when you're up that big.

 

[Risen Star]

CR, do you believe if Garrett was under a different GM than Jerry he would be more assertive and that his power stick is diminished because there is the potential of being undercut by the GM now?

That's what I wonder. I can not judge Jason Garrett as a head coach when he's attached to a lunatic and his incompetent son.

But at this point, I don't care. He's got to go. The only way we can win anything while Jerry lives is by having an established big name head coach. So that's my hope. I, personally, would love to get the next great coach rather than a retread but that can't work here. So bring on Gruden or Dungy or Holmgren and hope for the best.

 

[TwoDeep3]

That's what I wonder. I can not judge Jason Garrett as a head coach when he's attached to a lunatic and his incompetent son.

But at this point, I don't care. He's got to go. The only way we can win anything while Jerry lives is by having an established big name head coach. So that's my hope. I, personally, would love to get the next great coach rather than a retread but that can't work here. So bring on Gruden or Dungy or Holmgren.

Even if Jerry were to be whisked away to Mars, the idea of Garrett now the tough nosed head coach would be impossible. The laughter coming from inside the locker room would cause the refs to throw a flag for excessive celebration.

 

[Risen Star]

Even if Jerry were to be whisked away to Mars, the idea of Garrett now the tough nosed head coach would be impossible. The laughter coming from inside the locker room would cause the refs to throw a flag for excessive celebration.

I agree. It couldn't work here. He's already been presented and viewed as the puppet.

But can I say definitively that Jason Garrett can't follow the Sean Payton route elsewhere? I can not. As much as I want to hate him for the product on the field I have to keep reminding myself of the situation he's in.

I didn't judge Wade Phillips by his time in Dallas either. He proved to be a loser head coach before he ever got here. A guy like Garrett I can't possibly know about until he gets de-Jerryed.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Just once I'd like to see Garrett lose it on the sidelines.

Call a ref a name and get kicked out.

Fire an assistant coach in the second quarter.

Pull and bench a premier player after the second pick and start the long snapper if need be. Then rip the team a new one in the lockerroom after bolting the door and taking the phone off the hook so Jerry has no input.

I'd also like to spend a weekend Blake Lively, which may be more likely.

 

[maxdallasfan]

In today's NFL, you have got to be able to move. Manning and Brady are the exception, but for the rest of the QB's, that threat has to always be in the opponents mind.

 

[Clove]

Please,
Romo actually should have had 5 picks, but defenders dropped 2 easy ones.

Tony has had no deep ball or deep accuracy for 2 years. We have relied on the short passes, and at one point last year we incorporated Dez into the short game but alas, defenses are on to that and are taking the short stuff away.

As soon as SF backed off at the end of the game, our usual dink and dunk worked to perfection. However, if we can't take advantage of the deep stuff, or put the ball into tight windows with accuracy, it will be a matter of weeks till we see Weeden. Oh joy.
QBs who continue to produce well into their 30's are the aberration, not the norm. Tony will not likely get much better, Jerry and company know this, if you heard their comments last week. However, most chose not to listen.

Hey mods, just this one time can I give this guy a 1000 likes?

 

[skinsscalper]

If Romo still has mental issues at this point in his career, then more film study won't fix it. He's been a full time starter for nearly 7 and a half seasons.

Brees, who also missed a ton of the preseason, did not look his normal self yesterday either. Some very uncharacteristic throws/reads/INT. How long has he been in the league? It's a matter of reps not years in the league.

 

[CyberB0b]

Brees, who also missed a ton of the preseason, did not look his normal self yesterday either. Some very uncharacteristic throws/reads/INT. How long has he been in the league? It's a matter of reps not years in the league.

Right, but his answer is more film study, which isn't going to do squat.