News: Sturm: Morning After: Garrett And Romo Join In Blame For This Catastrophe

[WoodysGirl]

BOB STURM |
Published: Monday, December 16, 2013, 10:33am

Let's get the positive spin out of the way at the very top here. The positive spin of such a day like Sunday is that nothing much changed in the pursuit of the NFC East and its divisional title which will still come down completely to whether or not the Cowboys can handle its divisional mates who come with just as much inconsistency and dysfunction as they do. The idea that they only need to beat a Washington team that doesn't beat anybody this season and then prepare for a no-hold-barred, anything-goes showdown in Week 17 for the entire divisional flag against those Philadelphia Eagles in the climate-controlled home confines is still very much alive and well (thanks to the Eagles equally silly loss to a Vikings team that was playing without their best player and isn't very good even when he does play).

But.

Otherwise, there is nothing that anyone wants to hear on a morning like this one that will smooth over the catastrophe that occurred at the Death Star on Sunday afternoon with a ridiculous loss to a Green Bay Packers side that appeared accepting of its fate for much of the day. The Packers, playing without their machine gun QB for yet another depressing week, had almost no fight and resolve for the entire 1st half of football that was a masterpiece of ease and domination from the Cowboys. Green Bay was ready to be put out its misery down 26-3 at the half and Dallas might have enjoyed the intermission considering a scenario where Week 17's matchup with Philadelphia might not even matter anymore.

The 332 yards and 26 points in the first half exceeded the yardage output of 8 games from this season and the points output of 5 games. Meanwhile, Green Bay needed a final play before the half that was merely cosmetic in its yardage compiled to exceed 100 yards in the half and embarrassingly wandered back into its own locker-room to ponder 2014 and its poor fortune with QB health.

But.

More: http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/s...And-Romo-Join-In-B?blockID=973275&feedID=3799

 

[perrykemp]

Love this from Sturm:

"Meanwhile, after the game, Garrett uncharacteristically did not protect his QB to the media. This can be described as the scramble for the available life jackets and boats that always occur when people know their time is short. "

 

[SultanOfSix]

Love this from Sturm:

"Meanwhile, after the game, Garrett uncharacteristically did not protect his QB to the media. This can be described as the scramble for the available life jackets and boats that always occur when people know their time is short. "

"Uncharacteristically"?

I don't think it's in his character to do anything but protect himself by shirking responsibility, so characteristically or uncharacteristically when it comes to someone else is irrelevant unless it helps him in the former.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Meanwhile, after the game, Garrett uncharacteristically did not protect his QB to the media. This can be described as the scramble for the available life jackets and boats that always occur when people know their time is short.

Cowboys = Titanic

 

[pastordug]

The ship has hit the ice burg and it is a mad scramble for the life boats. Problem is JJ provides the boats.

 

[Eddie]

The team's a big joke and run by a clown. We're the laughing stock of the sports world.

I am PO'd. I call a better game on NFL 2k5. No matter how complicated you want to paint the picture of the NFL, it's still a simple game. Doesn't take too much to decipher.

I lost faith in Romo last year. It came very clear to me. He's only gone on to solidify that image in history.

I'm PO'd but not surprised the least bit. 5 possessions ... 5 TD's. I love it. Pathetic isn't the word.

I said we were an 8-8 team. We still have 2 games to prove it. I think we land where we belong. 8-8 ... and out of the playoffs once again.

Have another great off season. Maybe we can trade more draft picks for that shiny new toy.

 

[bysbox1]

Here's another stat of this teams ineptitude in 2013:

"the NFL has only blown 3 home leads of this size since 1999. 3 times, of which the Cowboys have authored 2 of the 3 with Jason Garrett and Tony Romo at the helm. That's right. The Cowboys have done it twice in the last 3 seasons with this loss and the home loss to Detroit back in 2011 (when they enjoyed a 27-3 lead early in the 3rd Quarter before ultimately losing)."

 

[Super_Kazuya]

At least Sturm has an excuse for not blasting the defense: he devotes a separate weekly column to it!

 

[Eddie]

Here's another stat of this teams ineptitude in 2013:

"the NFL has only blown 3 home leads of this size since 1999. 3 times, of which the Cowboys have authored 2 of the 3 with Jason Garrett and Tony Romo at the helm. That's right. The Cowboys have done it twice in the last 3 seasons with this loss and the home loss to Detroit back in 2011 (when they enjoyed a 27-3 lead early in the 3rd Quarter before ultimately losing)."

It definitely seems like dejavu ... same situations, same mistakes, year after year after year. I pinch myself ... seems like I'm lost in a time warp.

 

[burmafrd]

Sturm is my favorite Boys writer by a huge margin. He tries to be fair and look hard at the situation before responding.

In this case I agree pretty much 100% with everything he said.

But I would say its more 70% Red Ball and 30% Romo. Romo for that bad play and the other bad throws; and Red Ball MOST OF ALL FOR NOT RUNNING THE BALL.

And Red Ball for not being able to realize that with the Defense nonexistent he HAD TO KEEP THE GB OFFENSE OFF THE FIELD. The ONLY WAY TO DO THAT is to have LONG DRIVES USING THE RUNNING GAME.

 

[Deep_South]

I like Sturm, but not mentioning Callahan - the one who is calling the plays and is famous for not running the ball - is unforgivable. Inventing a 50-50 scenario of responsibility for play-calling for Tony and Jason is simply a fairy tale. Callahan is in there, too, and both he and Garrett rank above Romo in the Cowboys hierarchy.

Although convenient to his narrative, leaving out the 5 touchdowns the defense gave up in the 2nd half is just wrong. The historic meltdown of the defense cannot be excused by simply saying it is bad and that has to taken into consideration by the offense. It is the reason we lost. The offense put up 36 points.

 

[JackWagon]

Only thing thats great about yesterday ... its only 58 days until pitchers and catchers start reporting.

 

[khiladi]

Here's another stat of this teams ineptitude in 2013:

"the NFL has only blown 3 home leads of this size since 1999. 3 times, of which the Cowboys have authored 2 of the 3 with Jason Garrett and Tony Romo at the helm. That's right. The Cowboys have done it twice in the last 3 seasons with this loss and the home loss to Detroit back in 2011 (when they enjoyed a 27-3 lead early in the 3rd Quarter before ultimately losing)."

Romo didn't do it with Parcells or Wade at the helm...

 

[perrykemp]

I like Sturm, but not mentioning Callahan - the one who is calling the plays and is famous for not running the ball - is unforgivable. Inventing a 50-50 scenario of responsibility for play-calling for Tony and Jason is simply a fairy tale. Callahan is in there, too, and both he and Garrett rank above Romo in the Cowboys hierarchy.

Although convenient to his narrative, leaving out the 5 touchdowns the defense gave up in the 2nd half is just wrong. The historic meltdown of the defense cannot be excused by simply saying it is bad and that has to taken into consideration by the offense. It is the reason we lost. The offense put up 36 points.

Do we really know who is calling plays? Is it Garrett, Callahan, or Romo? I have no idea and nobody else seems to know either.

 

[IrishAnto]

Ultimately the following is the root cause of our woes:

"They choke."

"The Pressure got to them again."

I don't like of those explanations. They don't consider 100 different nuanced factors that bring this team to its knees at this time of year - every single year. They don't look at the attrition that then takes us down the trails of poor drafts, even poorer salary cap management, and the diseased ways of Jerry Jones running an organization straight into the ground while coordinating art work, underwear emporiums, and monster truck rallies at his temple constructed unto himself.

 

[Deep_South]

Do we really know who is calling plays? Is it Garrett, Callahan, or Romo? I have no idea and nobody else seems to know either.

Nope, we don't. Romo acknowledged he called an audible away from a running play and threw the pick that was intended for Miles. On the second pick, Beasley acknowledged that pulling up on his route was not an actual option on the play called, and said if he would have kept running the ball would have been right to him. But, the biggie is who decided not to try to run the ball more in the 2nd half, and that is up in the air. For me, Callahan would be the number one suspect.

Tony has said on several occasions there are roughly 3-6 plays a game for which the defensive alignment necessitates his changing the call at the line of scrimmage. Because Garrett is now is in direct communication with Tony during every offensive down he is on the field, Garrett can tell him at any time what to do. Before Garrett took over, it was Callahan. They are the ones who can say, "Tony, just disregard any change in the defense and execute the running play as called." Tony is at the bottom of the food chain on play calling. That's why he and Witten came off the field yelling at the coaches. It wasn't because Tony was getting the plays he wanted to run.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Nope, we don't. Romo acknowledged he called an audible away from a running play and threw the pick that was intended for Miles. On the second pick, Beasley acknowledged that pulling up on his route was not an actual option on the play called, and said if he would have kept running the ball would have been right to him. But, the biggie is who decided not to try to run the ball more in the 2nd half, and that is up in the air. For me, Callahan would be the number one suspect.

Tony has said on several occasions there are roughly 3-6 plays a game for which the defensive alignment necessitates his changing the call at the line of scrimmage. Because Garrett is now is in direct communication with Tony during every offensive down he is on the field, Garrett can tell him at any time what to do. Before Garrett took over, it was Callahan. They are the ones who can say, "Tony, just disregard any change in the defense and execute the running play as called." Tony is at the bottom of the food chain on play calling. That's why he and Witten came off the field yelling at the coaches. It wasn't because Tony was getting the plays he wanted to run.

The other biggie is that we didn't run the ball more in the first half. The first drive we scored we were moving the ball at will until we stopped running it in that particular drive. This resulted in a 47-yard FG. The next drive we use a nice run-pass ration and get it inside the 5, but we then decide to throw it 3 straight times...leading to a 23 yard FG. The 3rd score we had a nice run-pass ration and scored a TD.

Now we are up 13-3. So what does the 3-head idiot monster of Callahan-Garrett-Romo do? They throw the ball 7 times in a row, not once running the ball. This forces a 43 yard FG. The next drive is more pass-pass-pass and results in a 50-yard FG.

Sorry, but that could have been 27-3 even before we score the TD. Could have easily been up 34-3 at the half. Sure, Romo could have found a way to blow that lead as well, but, it's even more unlikely. And that's the problem with this organization, including Romo...a real lack of sense of urgency. A lack of doing things right and to your fullest ability on every play. Instead of insisting on scoring TD's, we'll lackadaisically call plays and lackadaisically execute them and say 'well, at least we got a field goal.'

As many yards and points the team had in the first half, they should have had more. They didn't and it came back to haunt them.








YR

 

[Super_Kazuya]

The other biggie is that we didn't run the ball more in the first half. The first drive we scored we were moving the ball at will until we stopped running it in that particular drive. This resulted in a 47-yard FG. The next drive we use a nice run-pass ration and get it inside the 5, but we then decide to throw it 3 straight times...leading to a 23 yard FG. The 3rd score we had a nice run-pass ration and scored a TD.

Now we are up 13-3. So what does the 3-head idiot monster of Callahan-Garrett-Romo do? They throw the ball 7 times in a row, not once running the ball. This forces a 43 yard FG. The next drive is more pass-pass-pass and results in a 50-yard FG.

Sorry, but that could have been 27-3 even before we score the TD. Could have easily been up 34-3 at the half. Sure, Romo could have found a way to blow that lead as well, but, it's even more unlikely. And that's the problem with this organization, including Romo...a real lack of sense of urgency. A lack of doing things right and to your fullest ability on every play. Instead of insisting on scoring TD's, we'll lackadaisically call plays and lackadaisically execute them and say 'well, at least we got a field goal.'

As many yards and points the team had in the first half, they should have had more. They didn't and it came back to haunt them.








YR

LOL, what a lame "analysis". Here's a trivia question for you, you've made 17 posts since yesterday's game, how many times have you mentioned our historically bad NFL defense? Oh wait, I forget... since we know they're bad, they get no blame. What a joke.

 

[CyberB0b]

To ask the defense to handle its business is asking your toddler to get a job. It would be nice if he would help pay the bills, but evidence shows you are wasting your time on that front.

 

[beevomav]

It's a given Sturm will blame Romo, he always does. Last week he was calling out Romo and the coaches for not being more aggressive. Well Bob got his wish, and now he says it's not aggression, it's Romo choked.

If Romo was afraid/choker, he would have run the ball and not changed the play to a pass. It is just the opposite. Romo thinks he can make the plays and sometimes it gets him in trouble.

but..once again, none of that would have happened if not for a defense that allows every team it plays to score at will. To Bob it is much more fun to trash Romo. BTW..I might remind Bob that after the first interception, GB got the ball at mid-field and scored in a minute. A