Sturm: Decoding Linehan - Carolina

[Alexander]

The predictability accusation is one we have been hearing since 2008. There is undoubtedly truth to it. If Garrett wants to fix the issue, he will need to seek help. He will have to defer to someone else. Can he do that?

Both Reed and Lewis, two smart players called it out. So it is the same as it ever was. You are right about the seeking help, but I think he is too confident in his scheme. It is far easier to just blame poor execution. It has got him this far, why admit that now when you basically have no reason to risk anything?

 

[CATCH17]

Good article, Bob.

I do wish you expounded more off of this statements.





We already know it was one of Romo's worst games.

What you quoted from the article is what I've been saying for years. Like, since TO was here.



Everyone has gave it a pass because Romo produces regardless of how awful the scheme is.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

4 seconds is 'plenty of time.' I think the average in the NFL is about 2.4 seconds. IIRC, last year Romo had more time to throw than most every QB in the league and he was at a whopping 2.8 seconds. Having 40%-50% more time than normal is 'plenty of time' to throw the ball.

YR

he could have 100 seconds...if they arent open, they arent open. Time is irrelevant when the defense is pwning you.

 

[CATCH17]

That blocking when Romo broke the clavicle again is pathetic. They looked so lacksidasic there it's not even funny.

This offense needs to be scrapped asap!

They aren't playing hard? hmmmmm

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Rich I know you love piling on Romo and you certainly didn't miss a chance today but you must've been the only person in this whole forum who didn't hear, read or know what Tony said in his post game press conference. He admitted he wasn't right, he admitted that lack of reps hurt him, he was not processing coverage and tried to fit the ball into spaces he would never normally do.

Yours was the critical cheap shot summation - this is the critical fair summation.

"Romo made bad decisions against Carolina and admitted as such. If he wasn't right and not seeing the field, Lineman should've just dumbed down the game plan, Romo should've checked down, made higher percentage throws and tried to work through it to get us to the fourth quarter where he could've worked some magic but it just didn't happen. The thought process that makes him great also makes him vulnerable and if he''s not physically and mentally right - he's going to get exposed and the was obviously exposed against the Panthers."

A fair and honest appraisal with context and not the hyperbole you injected.

Further --

What game were you watching? In the very same thread that has a video showing a 3 on 5 defensive sack that got him hurt you claim he had plenty of time. He was also never going to beat them with the pass. Not with his limited work leading up to the game. The only way we were going to win that game was pound the ball, maintain possession, get some turnovers and pick our spots with some throws in the red zone.

Nice try - but see how easy it is to just give the facts and not lose credibility?

I didn't read his post game interviews because I rarely read much about any player's post game interviews.

But, I guess you missed all of those posts where I said he was rusty in the Miami game and clearly didn't look right in the Carolina game. I would think that it would not be a leap in logic to understand that I would think that rustiness is due him missing 7 games with a clavicle injury.

So, I don't see your point about me 'piling on'.

He played terrible. That is a fact. Even Bob Sturm said that Romo basically lost the game for us.

I don't agree with the statement of 'The O-Line betrayed him.' If your QB is lousy, for whatever reason, the O-Line can only do so much.

Did I 'pile on' Matt Cassel when he couldn't beat the blitz that Tampa thru against us and making it nearly impossible to run the ball because the lanes were clogged with blitzers?

Did I 'pile on' Matt Cassel when I posted about how we could finally run the ball against Miami because as rusty as Romo looked early on, he started to beat Miami downfield and that opened up the running lanes and that is what Cassel could not do?

Romo had 4.45 seconds (according to my stop watch) to throw the ball on that stop watch which is a ton of time in the NFL. He didn't get the ball off. Maybe nobody was open...then throw the ball away then.

I find it continually ridiculous that people get so butthurt when people point out that Romo didn't play well or made a bad play. There are people here on this forum that seemingly think Romo is completely infallible which is arguably the most absurd thing I've ever encountered in football.






YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

he could have 100 seconds...if they arent open, they arent open. Time is irrelevant when the defense is pwning you.

Then throw the ball away.

That's what a good QB does.



YR

 

[CATCH17]

Then throw the ball away.

That's what a good QB does.



YR

Fair enough but I think most QB's would hold it as long as possible when facing a 3 man rush and down by 20 + points like we were.

 

[khiladi]

That Kuechly INT is clear proof that scheme and knowing the play matters. Even the first INT, after the birds-eye view angle during the actual game, it was clear that the defender had the read and came across the field.

This idea about just executing via all these Garrett defenders is utter absurdity. It also is proof of point that Spygate was pretty damn relevant.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Fair enough but I think most QB's would hold it as long as possible when facing a 3 man rush and down by 20 + points like we were.

He had the ball for 4.5+ seconds. That's a long time in the NFL. Claiming that the O-Line abandoned him is ludicrous. There's only so much an O-Line can do. Regardless of the reason why the QB is performing poorly (lack of talent, coming off injury, etc)...the fact is you're not going to muster up much of a run game when your QB can't beat the defense with the pass and throws 3 picks in the first half.

Cleveland has shown this over the years. One of the best O-Lines in the league...but no real threat in the passing game (except the occasional Josh Gordon appearance). And that's why their offense stinks every year.




YR

 

[khiladi]

What I see is a very talented and very SMART defensive team.

Is that why every team does it to us?

 

[khiladi]

He had the ball for 4.5+ seconds. That's a long time in the NFL. Claiming that the O-Line abandoned him is ludicrous. There's only so much an O-Line can do. Regardless of the reason why the QB is performing poorly (lack of talent, coming off injury, etc)...the fact is you're not going to muster up much of a run game when your QB can't beat the defense with the pass and throws 3 picks in the first half.

Cleveland has shown this over the years. One of the best O-Lines in the league...but no real threat in the passing game (except the occasional Josh Gordon appearance). And that's why their offense stinks every year.




YR

And our routes are 4.5 seconds long.. He was still going through his progressions. And even then, the defender comes from his blind-side, after being blocked by three men.

That being said, there was no reason to panic at that time. They had plenty of time to come-back. Dallas didn't have to go deep, but that's the playbook for you.

 

[Alexander]

Amazing how Romo has a horrible game and he is no longer a savior---all in the space of less than a week. How exactly does that kind of flip flop work?

 

[Yakuza Rich]

That Kuechly INT is clear proof that scheme and knowing the play matters. Even the first INT, after the birds-eye view angle during the actual game, it was clear that the defender had the read and came across the field.

This idea about just executing via all these Garrett defenders is utter absurdity. It also is proof of point that Spygate was pretty damn relevant.

I agree.

I will say that there's always going to be players that know plays are coming. I don't think anything changed last year, but opposing teams couldn't stop it. It's not so much about knowing the plays because I'm sure guys like McClain and Lee can pick out plays that are coming.

The bigger issue is that we refuse to use motion to get our receivers and TE's in favorable matchups. We just use motion as more or less to tip off who is in man and who is likely in zone.

On the Dez TD against Miami, supposedly they don't like to run Dez in the slot because they don't like the prospects of having Dez with a LB and a safety over the top. If true, I find that remarkably ignorant on our coaching staff.

As far as SpyGate goes, cheaters always try to point out that their cheating didn't really benefit them. Just like the steroid users in baseball tried to claim it provided little benefit because you still have to have the hand-eye coordination to hit the ball (what they didn't point out was that the creator of the BALCO drugs said that tests were performed and found that it actually helped hand-eye coordination).

So of course, the Patriots and their blind lemmings were going to claim it didn't help.






YR

 

[CATCH17]

He had the ball for 4.5+ seconds. That's a long time in the NFL. Claiming that the O-Line abandoned him is ludicrous. There's only so much an O-Line can do. Regardless of the reason why the QB is performing poorly (lack of talent, coming off injury, etc)...the fact is you're not going to muster up much of a run game when your QB can't beat the defense with the pass and throws 3 picks in the first half.

Cleveland has shown this over the years. One of the best O-Lines in the league...but no real threat in the passing game (except the occasional Josh Gordon appearance). And that's why their offense stinks every year.




YR

I agree about 4.5 seconds being plenty of time. It's almost double the amount of time needed. The interior did blow it on that play though.

I don't care if he did have plenty of time there is no excuse other than just a mental breakdown for letting that guy through.


Forget about the run game. We're never going to put up great running stats when we're down multiple scores.

Clevelands offense stinks every year because they don't have a QB like Romo.

 

[khiladi]

Amazing how Romo has a horrible game and he is no longer a savior---all in the space of less than a week. How exactly does that kind of flip flop work?

Because the homers and the media need to absolve Garrett of the mess... Babe was blaming Romo the year before 12-4, when it looked like Garrett was about to get fired. And so was everybody else, throwing out the BS notion that Romo kept checking out of the run plays Garrett was calling.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

And our routes are 4.5 seconds long.. He was still going through his progressions. And even then, the defender comes from his blind-side, after being blocked by three men.

That being said, there was no reason to panic at that time. They had plenty of time to come-back. Dallas didn't have to go deep, but that's the playbook for you.

The routes didn't take 4.5 seconds long. As I said, the average time a QB gets a pass off is about 2.4 seconds. You can see Witten running a flare, Dez and Beasley running a cross between the hash marks.

There may have been nobody open, then throw the ball away.

Romo had one of the worst games of his career. He obviously wasn't right, so I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that he didn't make the right decision on this play as well considering he made all of those poor decisions prior to the play.







YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I agree about 4.5 seconds being plenty of time. It's almost double the amount of time needed. The interior did blow it on that play though.

I don't care if he did have plenty of time there is no excuse other than just a mental breakdown for letting that guy through.


Forget about the run game. We're never going to put up great running stats when we're down multiple scores.

Clevelands offense stinks every year because they don't have a QB like Romo.

I agree that the O-Line blew it. Although they did their job for the most part. It's a far cry from people claiming that the O-Line abandoned Romo. I think Romo abandoned the O-Line. He was clearly rusty and had one of the worst games of his career and that's what happens when your QB plays terrible. Why people find it impossible to accept that is beyond me.





YR

 

[CATCH17]

Amazing how Romo has a horrible game and he is no longer a savior---all in the space of less than a week. How exactly does that kind of flip flop work?

We've seen crappy Washington defenses make him look horrible because of how easy our scheme is to defend.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Amazing how Romo has a horrible game and he is no longer a savior---all in the space of less than a week. How exactly does that kind of flip flop work?

Romo is usually good for 1 or 2 clunkers every year just by his style of football, Favre used to be the same way. But it's becoming apparent that his body is failing him and short weeks are getting harder and harder to get ready for.

Right now he's sitting at 3-1, which ironically breaks down to 12-4 on the year.

What's really bothering me is that the coaching staff couldn't even win a single game during the 7 game skid. In today's NFL, you stumble into at least a win or two. Had they been able to win 2 or 3 games, we'd be sitting at 6-5 or 5-6 and not in a position where you have to rush your 100 million dollar franchise QB back.

This season will obviously be remembered for Romo getting hurt, but I'll remember it as the year Garrett proved he's hardly an NFL head coach.

He's been holding on to Romo's cape for almost a decade now.

 

[Tommy]

My take on that is that the offense is so poorly put together and predictable, that it takes a top 5 QB to make something happen. Often after the original play breaks down. Thus when you have your back up QB in, he doesn't have the same Jedi powers that Romo has. Compare this year to the several other NFL teams playing their back ups this year.

In fact, last year was the aberration, they changed to more running to try to fix the offense, which worked.

This offense looked good with Kitna under center. He wasn't a top 5 QB.