This thread is ridiculous! Everyone is arguing the same point! For the most part it seems like everyone understands that Romo over threw the ball, it's hard not to, it's clear as day. It also seems like people understand that Williams was supposed to make a different adjustment.
What I have an issue with is the people that are saying "Who cares what the adjustment was, he got wide open!". That really isn't the point. What makes teams like NE and GB so dangerous offensively is that they are timing based. If you make a wrong read (QB or WR) you really are putting your team at risk. If Romo would've delivered the ball where the adjustment was supposed to be, you may very well have an interception.
I also saw a few people say how come the adjustment isn't what Williams did since he got so wide open. Well yea, that time he got very wide open! Who is to say that he didn't just straight up beat his man? Might not have had anything to do with the adjustment design, rather that Williams beat his guy. Hypothetically speaking, if Williams does that adjustment 10 times, and 9 of those times the DB is running stride for stride with him then I consider that a bad adjustment design. The play was a 3rd and 1, you're more so looking to extend the drive there. It seems as if the adjustment was designed to do just that. As a coach, you design and call plays to put your players in the best position to succeed. Even though Williams beat his guy badly, that doesn't mean that it would happen like that again.
Conclusion: Romo didn't make the throw he was supposed to. Williams didn't adjust the way he was supposed to. Both players deserve blame. Doesn't change the fact that this is exactly what pre-season is for. As Romo said, they need more work. This is a good thing.
The reality is that no one (or very few) here have the qualification to diagnose why that play didn't work out.
Garrett said that Williams ran the route correctly but that there was a miscommunication. From what I can gleam from what is being said is that Romo expected him to be further out than he was, and that while he was able to get open, they weren't able to connect.
The reality is that it was one play, with two players who haven't played much together, and that it is for the most part irrelevant at this point. And wouldn't have been discussed to this extent if it wasn't for the animosity that exists for Romo or the inability for the offense to get into the end zone because of two completely unrelated and uncommon fumbles. Combine that with Harris' original fumble and the 1st time offense hasn't really had that much of an opportunity to execute. So this is what we would call an extremely small sample size. Which makes these things look much worse than they are.
First Team Drives
1. Drive stalls after a penalty, incomplete pass, and a sack, followed by a 3rd and long. FIELD GOAL
2. Drive stalls after a penalty takes us from 3rd and 7 to 3rd and 12. Romo pass to Murray takes it to 4th and 1. BLOCKED FIELD GOAL
3. Fumble on Punt Return
4. Subject drive, where I would have suggested that we should have probably run the ball anyways.
5. Drive ends with Dunbar fumble
6. Drive ends with Bryant fumble.
So certainly not an impressive beginning, but I think it's terribly early to be too concerned about this carrying over into the next season, despite last year's issues.
