Romo- the devil you know

[mmohican29]

Ok I'm a big pro-Romo guy I admit. And last night was just a horrific performance, no question about it.

The way I see it, this can go two ways.

One- we lose all confidence in a guy that is still young and has great upside and has put up staggering offensive numbers comparatively to other QB's in history.

We eat a huge contract and send Romo to another team and deride him like all other former Cowboys. We have that right, he hasn't delivered to this point when it "matters". We look to the future and look for a draft "slider" next spring and watch him struggle for two years minimum.

Two- we ride with this. We live with the bad days, and hope that they will become less and less frequent. Something HAS to go off in Tony's head that will make him realize that it is unacceptable to play like he does regardless of the confidence in his own ability.

He must manage the game better. He must make plays that can be made and not look to ones that are not there and try to create one.

Me? I am still convinced that Romo is a fabulous QB but does need to be reined in dramatically at present time and probably for the better part of his future career.

But I would still want the guy that should our "stout" defense falter- has the ability to accumulate yards and points in a blink like he has proven to be able to do in the past. That guy IS Romo also.

Let's all take a breath and realize that this is the second game and in truth- we are the BETTER team between us and the Giants, and we have 14 games left to prove it.


Let's get ready for Carolina- the team Romo took his first start against, and hope that he can get back to playing like that kid that day.

He has the ability to do so. A good fighter can get off the mat, why we are struggling so badly to do so is confounding, but we do it one day at a time and take pride in the fact that this is still a capable football team and maybe soon our capable QB can reach his potential along with his- to date- underachieving teammates.

 

[pugilist]

they need to just turn him into a game manager for the next 3 weeks, nothing more nothing less

just simple screen passes (even though he still screwed those up last night, but i digress) and dink and dunk type stuff to keep the defense honest while our running game is beasting up and down the field

 

[DALLASD94DW]

they need to just turn him into a game manager for the next 3 weeks, nothing more nothing less

just simple screen passes (even though he still screwed those up last night, but i digress) and dink and dunk type stuff to keep the defense honest while our running game is beasting up and down the field

I second that. Our offensive line was creating some nice gaps for our running backs yesterday. If they can keep this up they should limit Romo. We should save the long passing when it's needed. Pound the rock down their throats till they cant breathe.

 

[CowboyMike]

People around here need to just take the hits as they come. There will be bad days with Romo. We'll lose some of them. We'll win some of them (see Buffalo game, 2007). Romo will be lights out the rest of the time, and that's the payoff.

It happens to everybody. Cutler threw 4 interceptions last week, then comes out and squeaks out a win against Pittsburgh and now he's a great quarterback. Roger had bad games. Troy Aikman had three and four INT games, believe it or not.

Heck, my brother's high school football team dominated their first three games 40something to nothing, then came out last week and tied in a clunker against the worst team in the city. It friggin happens.

 

[DALLASD94DW]

Well its not so much that he should be come a pure clock manager. Than it takes all the fun out of watching. However someone has to know when to help him out on bad days. Especially when your doing such a good job at pounding the ball.

 

[Kangaroo]

What Romo has to do and he still does not do this an incompletion is not a bad play he forces some balls he should not. The Sam deep was a force looking for a big play he should have dropped off too another wr/te, rolled out and threw it into the dirt etc or run a few yards and lay down all those options would have been better than forcing that long ball for an int

 

[TD-33]

Well its not so much that he should be come a pure clock manager. Than it takes all the fun out of watching. However someone has to know when to help him out on bad days. Especially when your doing such a good job at pounding the ball.

Again, this is pretty much it right here. Romo is the focal point of the Cowboys offense. When he's on, (which is a lot btw) he's great. GREAT. When he is off he needs to not be the focal point. Pound the rock. As Gurode said "We were leaning on them". This is not a team that has to live and die by the pass. It's as simple as recognizing TR is having a crap day and let our 1/2 ton OL + 2 very good blocking TEs and blow the D up.

 

[RainMan]

they need to just turn him into a game manager for the next 3 weeks, nothing more nothing less

just simple screen passes (even though he still screwed those up last night, but i digress) and dink and dunk type stuff to keep the defense honest while our running game is beasting up and down the field

I think part of the quandary we're in with Romo, though, is that his biggest weakness (IMO) is that he's a TERRIBLE game manager. He's a fabulous, gun-slinging, play-making quarterback. But he simply seems unwilling to just drop back and "take what is given" play after play after play after play.

He'll dink and dunk for five minutes and then hurl that what-in-the-world-is-he-thinking???!?!??!?! throw to Hurd into double coverage.

This, to me, is our biggest issue with Romo. He's great when the big plays are available but downright bad when they're not.

And to date -- even with one Terrell Owens on this team -- the big plays are seemingly NEVER available in the big-time, must-win games.

I'm curious as your thoughts on this, because this is and has been my main problem with Romo. Perhaps I'm off base?

 

[RainMan]

Again, this is pretty much it right here. Romo is the focal point of the Cowboys offense. When he's on, (which is a lot btw) he's great. GREAT. When he is off he needs to not be the focal point. Pound the rock. As Gurode said "We were leaning on them". This is not a team that has to live and die by the pass. It's as simple as recognizing TR is having a crap day and let our 1/2 ton OL + 2 very good blocking TEs and blow the D up.

Agreed. It's a good point calling him the focal point of the offense, and suggesting sometimes he simply need not be the focal point.

But let me attempt to throw a monkey wrench into your question. What do you do when Romo's off and we're playing a team that isn't giving ground to our running game? We're consistently facing third and 7 because the running game isn't doing anything and, all of a sudden, we're trailing 10-0 or 13-6 or some such -- approaching that point where passing the ball more regularly is a must.

To me, this is the problem we have with Romo. You can't simply put him in a bubble to the side whenever he's "off." The great quarterbacks find ways to win games even when they're off -- either by dumping off, or on quick throws and letting their wide receivers run and get the yardage. Those tools just don't seem to be in Tony's box, though. Will they ever?

 

[DandyDon1722]

I am a big Romo guy and he did play awful but WHY would Jason Garrett even call a play that gave him the option to make that deep throw.

It's like an alcoholic that you slide a drink over to. Just hide the damn bottle.

 

[Kangaroo]

I am a big Romo guy and he did play awful but WHY would Jason Garrett even call a play that gave him the option to make that deep throw.

It's like an alcoholic that you slide a drink over to. Just hide the damn bottle.

because you have to keep the defense honest sorry all these people that think you can just run every play are hitting the bottle to hard. You have to make them respect the passing game and run deep routes etc the QB has to be smart sorry if Romo can't control himself then we got bigger issues

 

[EPL0c0]

Romo still has the potential, but has to learn to STOP making STUPID mistakes

 

[TD-33]

Agreed. It's a good point calling him the focal point of the offense, and suggesting sometimes he simply need not be the focal point.

But let me attempt to throw a monkey wrench into your question. What do you do when Romo's off and we're playing a team that isn't giving ground to our running game? We're consistently facing third and 7 because the running game isn't doing anything and, all of a sudden, we're trailing 10-0 or 13-6 or some such -- approaching that point where passing the ball more regularly is a must.

To me, this is the problem we have with Romo. You can't simply put him in a bubble to the side whenever he's "off." The great quarterbacks find ways to win games even when they're off -- either by dumping off, or on quick throws and letting their wide receivers run and get the yardage. Those tools just don't seem to be in Tony's box, though. Will they ever?

We really should be able to move the ball with the guys we have, the RBs we have. And if we can't (we did vs the best in the league last year with a hurt OL and our 3rd string RB) then we eliminate the weak link. Most of the time Romo is fine.

 

[pugilist]

I am a big Romo guy and he did play awful but WHY would Jason Garrett even call a play that gave him the option to make that deep throw.

It's like an alcoholic that you slide a drink over to. Just hide the damn bottle.

well it's hard to place blame on Garrett or Romo unless you know what play was called, whether it was a called pass or run, and if Romo audibled out of it or not

 

[DandyDon1722]

because you have to keep the defense honest sorry all these people that think you can just run every play are hitting the bottle to hard. You have to make them respect the passing game and run deep routes etc the QB has to be smart sorry if Romo can't control himself then we got bigger issues

Not only do I agree but you said exactly what I was thinking during the first half. They had a lot of people out, they were pressing and I felt we were so bottled up by short outs and curls. I wanted us to stretch the field and at least put the thought in their heads.

However, that throw in the second half was neither the time nor the place. We were up, we were running, we had good field position.

 

[DALLASD94DW]

Agreed. It's a good point calling him the focal point of the offense, and suggesting sometimes he simply need not be the focal point.

But let me attempt to throw a monkey wrench into your question. What do you do when Romo's off and we're playing a team that isn't giving ground to our running game? We're consistently facing third and 7 because the running game isn't doing anything and, all of a sudden, we're trailing 10-0 or 13-6 or some such -- approaching that point where passing the ball more regularly is a must.

To me, this is the problem we have with Romo. You can't simply put him in a bubble to the side whenever he's "off." The great quarterbacks find ways to win games even when they're off -- either by dumping off, or on quick throws and letting their wide receivers run and get the yardage. Those tools just don't seem to be in Tony's box, though. Will they ever?

But when you cant run the ball and your QB is off, great teams have help from their defense to create turnovers. And you right cant put him in a bubble, but why not go for shorter passes then and just get the YAC. And also out offense is a little to predictable at times, look on one of those interceptions, they just knew what was going to happen.

 

[pugilist]

I think part of the quandary we're in with Romo, though, is that his biggest weakness (IMO) is that he's a TERRIBLE game manager. He's a fabulous, gun-slinging, play-making quarterback. But he simply seems unwilling to just drop back and "take what is given" play after play after play after play.

He'll dink and dunk for five minutes and then hurl that what-in-the-world-is-he-thinking???!?!??!?! throw to Hurd into double coverage.

This, to me, is our biggest issue with Romo. He's great when the big plays are available but downright bad when they're not.

And to date -- even with one Terrell Owens on this team -- the big plays are seemingly NEVER available in the big-time, must-win games.

I'm curious as your thoughts on this, because this is and has been my main problem with Romo. Perhaps I'm off base?

Well my reasoning in my initial post was that being a game manager, in theory, should be conducive to finding a rhythm and not overthinking plays as a QB. Again, in theory, this should lead to an increased confidence in Romo's throws and perhaps we'll see more accuracy and better decision making as a result. Is it going to happen immediately? probably not, but over the course of 3 games I don't see how it is out of the realm of possibility.

 

[TD-33]

because you have to keep the defense honest sorry all these people that think you can just run every play are hitting the bottle to hard. You have to make them respect the passing game and run deep routes etc the QB has to be smart sorry if Romo can't control himself then we got bigger issues

Yeah you throw it occasionally of course but teams would be hesitant to stack the box anyway because they all know a play-action by Romo can break you. You have to be able to take the burden off the guy's back if he's playing a bad game. Luckily these bad games are spread out.

 

[Kangaroo]

Not only do I agree but you said exactly what I was thinking during the first half. They had a lot of people out, they were pressing and I felt we were so bottled up by short outs and curls. I wanted us to stretch the field and at least put the thought in their heads.

However, that throw in the second half was neither the time nor the place. We were up, we were running, we had good field position.

Like I said I had no problem with the call I have issue with the QB decision in that game if he had thrown it in the dirt it was still a successful play at that point because that showed the defense we will still run that play at that time in the game looking for the big hit.

Instead he forced a throw he should have know better that is the part that just irks me you have to understand game situations and what stage of the game you are in.

 

[gmoney112]

I think the problem is Romo wants to make that play too badly. It's almost like he gets the thought of a perfect deep strike in his brain and he's not going to change his mind. We've seen it over and over and he keeps saying he's going to work on it. I honestly think if he could change that aspect he would have by now, I'm starting to believe that urge to create a big play is something entirely out of his control.