Romo Stats Not Stans

[Idgit]

Come on people. You guys are now going to jump on here and say "I told you so!", when for the last 3 years, the majority of people who have had issue with Romo and this offense have done so, because they felt as if there was no balance to the offense and Romo was trying to do too much? Really?

If anything, Sunday's game should serve as confirmation that what many were saying is accurate.

If we are going to have an honest discussion, you must at the very least, be genuine in the facts.

There's been an awful lot of criticism of Tony Romo on the board that had nothing to do with his supporting cast. It's the Romo supporters who typically make the case that the passing defense has let him down over the years.

I don't think of it as much of an 'I told you so,' though, because Romo's not playing any differently than he has throughout his career. Other than the fact that it's obvious we're placing a huge emphasis on ball control and not forcing throws. It's more of a 'you were wrong about this before, and you're still wrong about Tony Romo.'

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Agreed. How do you beat Alex Smith? Make him play catch up, cause he can't. Then you'll expose all of his weaknesses. His NFC playoff game against the Giants a couple of seasons ago was comical. He couldn't complete a pass to save his life.

Right now Alex Smith is sitting comfortably. His game against the Eagles was a snoozer. All hail the "Check Down" king.

No, All Hail 3 and 0. At this point, Smith is playing as well as anybody is in the NFL. He's got his team off to a good start and I think anybody would be happy if our team was 3-0.

 

[Doomsday101]

This is one of the most maddening subject on the board. Romo is a good QB is he the best? is he a top 5 or top 10? Who cares he is a very good QB and this team can win with him at QB but like any QB it takes a team around them producing to win games.

 

[Jenky]

No, All Hail 3 and 0. At this point, Smith is playing as well as anybody is in the NFL. He's got his team off to a good start and I think anybody would be happy if our team was 3-0.

One and done if he gets to the playoffs. Bank on it.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

He hasnt tried to do too much, he has been forced to do so. Lack of an oline, running game, piss poor defense, you name it.

I don't agree with this. There have been plenty of times I've seen Romo get out of running plays etc. It's not just a one sided thing.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

There's been an awful lot of criticism of Tony Romo on the board that had nothing to do with his supporting cast. It's the Romo supporters who typically make the case that the passing defense has let him down over the years.

I don't think of it as much of an 'I told you so,' though, because Romo's not playing any differently than he has throughout his career. Other than the fact that it's obvious we're placing a huge emphasis on ball control and not forcing throws. It's more of a 'you were wrong about this before, and you're still wrong about Tony Romo.'

I don't agree with this. Yesterday, Romo played much differently then he has in the past several years. He allowed the running game to be a bigger part of the game plan. He used what he was taught, early on in his career. Ball Control does win games. Mistake Free Football does win games. Balance in the Offense does win games. None of this is new to Romo. He learned all of this for Three years watching. I hope he continues to buy into this because this is how you win football games. Not throwing it 50 times a game.

 

[Doomsday101]

There's been an awful lot of criticism of Tony Romo on the board that had nothing to do with his supporting cast. It's the Romo supporters who typically make the case that the passing defense has let him down over the years.

I don't think of it as much of an 'I told you so,' though, because Romo's not playing any differently than he has throughout his career. Other than the fact that it's obvious we're placing a huge emphasis on ball control and not forcing throws. It's more of a 'you were wrong about this before, and you're still wrong about Tony Romo.'

I like what Romo said in the press conferance after the game about not going down field to Dez as much and Romo said they are using doubles on Dez and it would be foolish to force it down field when I have one on one matchups else where. Right now Romo has 6 TD and 1 int and the 1 int was on Williams who failed to run the rout correctly. I think Romo is trying not to force the issue or try to do too much just stay within the offense.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't agree with this. Yesterday, Romo played much differently then he has in the past several years. He allowed the running game to be a bigger part of the game plan. He used what he was taught, early on in his career. Ball Control does win games. Mistake Free Football does win games. Balance in the Offense does win games. None of this is new to Romo. He learned all of this for Three years watching. I hope he continues to buy into this because this is how you win football games. Not throwing it 50 times a game.

I agree but then some of that is outside of his control. He can't run block or see the holes to run through that is on OL and RB. He can't play defense to keep the score down so that we are not playing from behind. He can try to be smart and not force things if teams want to double up on 1 player then find the open man else where.

 

[Idgit]

I don't agree with this. Yesterday, Romo played much differently then he has in the past several years. He allowed the running game to be a bigger part of the game plan. He used what he was taught, early on in his career. Ball Control does win games. Mistake Free Football does win games. Balance in the Offense does win games. None of this is new to Romo. He learned all of this for Three years watching. I hope he continues to buy into this because this is how you win football games. Not throwing it 50 times a game.

Yeah, we'll just disagree on it, then. Romo's happy to let the running game win a game for him when the running game can win him a game. It just usually can't. But we've seen performances like this before.

Throwing it 50 times a game is not something any team goes into a game hoping to do. It's what happens when you get behind. And then, when you're behind and the clock is against you, you're going to get blitzed more, and you're going to start forcing balls. Not surprisingly, that leads to losing football games.

Balance can win you a football game if it lets you avoid making bad throws, but you can win just as easily without balance if you still manage to avoid bad plays in the passing game. Increasingly, teams' pass/run ratios are skewing away from a balanced attack, and yet games are still being won at the same rate across the league that they always have been.

 

[Idgit]

I like what Romo said in the press conferance after the game about not going down field to Dez as much and Romo said they are using doubles on Dez and it would be foolish to force it down field when I have one on one matchups else where. Right now Romo has 6 TD and 1 int and the 1 int was on Williams who failed to run the rout correctly. I think Romo is trying not to force the issue or try to do too much just stay within the offense.

He is. But we're also taking the ball away and playing better pass defense overall (yes, including the yards we gave up to the Giants, everybody). Romo hasn't been in situations here early where he's had to go out and get points to win a game. That's what leads to forcing throws.

I should say, he's also had much better protection here early against some pretty good front-7s. But some of the dangerous stuff came out late in that Chiefs game when they were blitzing the daylights out of him and he was throwing the ball behind the receivers on crossing routes where the trailing Safeties were able to make plays on the ball. He also threw that pick to the (linebacker?) who ended up with a ticky-tacky foul on Jason Witten. Pressure when you have to throw it leads to mistakes. Last year, when we were trailing 75% of the time (that's an amazing stat, btw), we *had* to throw it into pressure a lot more often. That leads to passing ineffectively, and that gets you beat.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

Romo was very Aikman-esque yesterday. 17 of 24 for 200 yards--that's an Aikman stat line.

 

[Doomsday101]

He is. But we're also taking the ball away and playing better pass defense overall (yes, including the yards we gave up to the Giants, everybody). Romo hasn't been in situations here early where he's had to go out and get points to win a game. That's what leads to forcing throws.

I should say, he's also had much better protection here early against some pretty good front-7s. But some of the dangerous stuff came out late in that Chiefs game when they were blitzing the daylights out of him and he was throwing the ball behind the receivers on crossing routes where the trailing Safeties were able to make plays on the ball. He also threw that pick to the (linebacker?) who ended up with a ticky-tacky foul on Jason Witten. Pressure when you have to throw it leads to mistakes. Last year, when we were trailing 75% of the time (that's an amazing stat, btw), we *had* to throw it into pressure a lot more often. That leads to passing ineffectively, and that gets you beat.

I agree and that is why I want to see Dallas continue to improve their running game. Look it keeps defense from just pinning their ears back and going after the QB it slows them down. Seeing LB of safety taken a step up as the WR or TE get past them allows for bigger windows for Romo to throw in. We can get into semantics about importance of a run game but bottom line anything you can do to keep defense off balance is a major benefit to an offense. I heard analyst and former coaches say this a lot yesterday after a few games including the Cowboys. When we or any team becomes to 1 dimensional you will end up paying the price. While I don't expect games like yesterday each week in terms of running game I do expect a solid running game to help keep opposing defense off balance if we do that then we staying in better down and distance and we are able to do a lot more out of the playbook.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

One and done if he gets to the playoffs. Bank on it.

When's the last time we've one a playoff game, let alone even gotten to the playoffs?

That's probably not a discussion I would like to have if he does manage to get them to the playoffs.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I agree but then some of that is outside of his control. He can't run block or see the holes to run through that is on OL and RB. He can't play defense to keep the score down so that we are not playing from behind. He can try to be smart and not force things if teams want to double up on 1 player then find the open man else where.

Some of it is, that's true but, he has known his entire career what that kind of football can and will do for you. He has had plenty of influence in Dallas for at least the last three years and nothing had changed. I hope that after tomorrow, things do continue on this path but we'll see. It's not something you can just pull out and use for one game. You have to stick to this game plan and make it a part of who your football team is. He's got more control over that then anybody right now. Lets see what happens.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Yeah, we'll just disagree on it, then. Romo's happy to let the running game win a game for him when the running game can win him a game. It just usually can't. But we've seen performances like this before.

Throwing it 50 times a game is not something any team goes into a game hoping to do. It's what happens when you get behind. And then, when you're behind and the clock is against you, you're going to get blitzed more, and you're going to start forcing balls. Not surprisingly, that leads to losing football games.

Balance can win you a football game if it lets you avoid making bad throws, but you can win just as easily without balance if you still manage to avoid bad plays in the passing game. Increasingly, teams' pass/run ratios are skewing away from a balanced attack, and yet games are still being won at the same rate across the league that they always have been.

Yes we will because I don't agree with any of this at all. We have had plenty of opportunity to control our balance. You don't just run when you are making 5 YPC. You run to set up the pass. You run to save your OLine. You run to allow your Defense to have a fighting chance to stay in the game for four quarters. The excuse that we don't run when it's not there does not fly with me. Running is about wearing the other team down and keeping your guys fresh as much as anything.

We agree to disagree.

 

[DFWJC]

I don't agree with this. Yesterday, Romo played much differently then he has in the past several years. He allowed the running game to be a bigger part of the game plan. He used what he was taught, early on in his career. Ball Control does win games. Mistake Free Football does win games. Balance in the Offense does win games. None of this is new to Romo. He learned all of this for Three years watching. I hope he continues to buy into this because this is how you win football games. Not throwing it 50 times a game.

I think Romo played a lot like that in 2011; or as much as the line would allow.
2012 just got out of hand.

 

[Doomsday101]

Some of it is, that's true but, he has known his entire career what that kind of football can and will do for you. He has had plenty of influence in Dallas for at least the last three years and nothing had changed. I hope that after tomorrow, things do continue on this path but we'll see. It's not something you can just pull out and use for one game. You have to stick to this game plan and make it a part of who your football team is. He's got more control over that then anybody right now. Lets see what happens.

I don't think he ever forgot but when you can't run as has been the case and you are playing from behind you don't have much choice but to air it out. I think he and fans and coaches know that throwing it 50 times a game is not something we are striving for they talk week in and week out about finding a balance. In the last few seasons the only chance we had was for Romo to take risk sometimes it paid off other times it didn't but we were not moving the ball when he was not taking the risk.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Romo was great yesterday but he's done that before. Let's see what he does next week. Better yet, let's see what happens in December and January.

 

[DFWJC]

Romo was great yesterday but he's done that before. Let's see what he does next week. Better yet, let's see what happens in December and January.

They're all going to have bad days. You just want the good days to far outweigh the bad ones.

And seeing that he has been one of the very best in the league the last two Decembers, I hope he keeps it up.

 

[Idgit]

Yes we will because I don't agree with any of this at all. We have had plenty of opportunity to control our balance. You don't just run when you are making 5 YPC. You run to set up the pass. You run to save your OLine. You run to allow your Defense to have a fighting chance to stay in the game for four quarters. The excuse that we don't run when it's not there does not fly with me. Running is about wearing the other team down and keeping your guys fresh as much as anything.

We agree to disagree.

Well, note that I'm not saying we should abandon the run. I'm saying balance isn't what wins games. There are still definitely situations where you have to run the football, even when you're not doing it particularly effectively. And I'd agree that we don't always run it in those situations, and that that's hurt us. But that's because you have to run in some situations to setup the pass. Or you run in some situations because it's a safe play that's high-probability. Not because 'balance' matters when it comes to winning or losing football games.