Sturm: Tony Romo's Back May Explain Everything

[Gemini Dolly]

This a family site. Please watch your language.

Move it along before I cyber kick you in the gonads. Look away childrens!

 

[5Stars]

Move it along before I cyber kick you in the gonads. Look away childrens!

Your're so mean to me!

 

[5Stars]

Romo's playing days are numbered until the start of OTA's. He'll be alright.

 

[Nightman]

Looking back, Tony was very reluctant to run this year. I know it has never been a strength, but there were quite a few times when he could've picked up first downs with his legs, but chose to throw it instead. His ribs were hurt early and the play he hurt his back against WAS did not seem like the play to cause a herniated disk. It is likely he was hurting all year and on a lot of his deep throws he didn't look like the old Tony.

 

[Szczepanik]

I really doubt that the back issue is a long term thing. As dumb as Jerry can be he wouldn't of gave that much money to a cripple.

Honestly, he could of easily just herniated a disk any week earlier in the season.

After the Denver game his long ball seemed a little off but in Denver it was SPOT ON.

I imagine he had a herniated disk that he was dealing with it after that game sometime because his deep passes started to suffer a little bit. Any tweaking or torsion of the torso incorrectly can aggravate it. If Tony was being tough, which he usually he is I am extremely certain he was playing through the occasional pain. This can be the case until you make one wrong move... leading to the Washington game where he went down off that quick rotation.

I have had these before and it sounds eerily similiar to my back problems. A herniated disk can also affect the nerves on any side, and I have had nerve problem on my left leg and hamstring.

I don't think there is any room for concern here BUT don't quote me on it.

 

[hutch1254]

Romo will be missed once he's gone. Everyone wants to compare him to this other "elite" QB's. When people decide to do this, consider the fact that whoever you're comparing him to was drafted. That, in itself should say enough about him.

Sure does.

At the same time though I have no interest in comparing him to the other "elite." At this point I just want him to be surrounded with enough support on either side of the ball that would allow him to have a super bowl chance. Tired of seeing him forced into situations where he is forced to produce game winning drives game after game after game after game due to lack of support in the other areas or lack of game management by the coaching staff.

Strangely I'm starting to think Rodgers is in the same situation as Romo in Green Bay, at least personnel wise. He just got lucky with a thriving defense the one year and won a bowl.

 

[Red Dragon]

I'm not a fan of Sturm but that was a decent read from a Romo homer who is starting to see the light for the first time. I found this part below the most interesting. Shows a massive downhill decline and IMO what we are going to see in the future. Except it is going to get worse, not better. That is going to impact his teammates, the fans, and our future since we have so much money tied up into his contract.

"Romo's YPA for his career is 7.8 yards per attempt. From 2006-2009, his YPA for his first 4 years of his career was a stunning 8.1. I say stunning, because that ranks him #1 in the entire NFL for YPA during a 4 year span in front of the likes of Philip Rivers (7.8), Aaron Rodgers (7.8), Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady (all 7.7). It wasn't just good, it was elite. This offense made the most of its passing attempts and while Romo was having a few more passes picked off than those on that list, he was still making the venture worthwhile with big yards, big plays, and of course, playoffs in 3 of those 4 seasons.

In the next 4 years, from 2010-2013, many of the QBs on that list have remained right where they were, as Brees, Manning, and Brady all remain at about 7.7 YPA. Aaron Rodgers shot up to an absurd 8.5 YPA, Russell Wilson is at 8.1, with Rivers and Kaepernick at 7.9 before the usual suspects. But, what happened to Romo? Once #1, he has dropped down to #11 at 7.57 YPA. That is a drop that is a bit bothersome, but still up in the top half of the league. But, what if we slice it down to 2012-2013, then it is 7.38 for Romo. And just 2013? 7.16. And if we erase the results of the Denver game outlier where he averaged 14.1 YPA and simply focus on the rest of 2013? Then it drops again to 6.65 YPA.

The difference from the 8.1 where he was before 2010 to the 6.6 where he spent much of 2013 is basically the difference in a passing game that features Aaron Rodgers to one that features Ryan Tannehill or Brandon Weeden. In other words, a QB who you happily pay $20m a year versus one that Miami is wondering if they may need to keep shopping."

Yards per attempt is hardly something I would rank high as a measure of a QB's performance. Far more important would be such things as completion % and TD-to-INT ratio, as well as performance in close games.

 

[Red Dragon]

Romo's problem is that he reads every one of his clippings.

You know this how? Do you read over people's shoulders?

 

[TRUTH87]

Great read. And i think he is on the money with this article. Romo just looks scared. Maybe he knew he wasnt right with his back but didnt express it fully to trainers because of the contract he just got. But i wouldve rather had him be honest and get this surgery earlier then now. The defense was bad this team was .500, get yourself right. He let it be known after he got hurt that he was tweeked it earlier. Then did it again that night. Why risk more harm playing? Especially a back problem. Especially with a contract that can cripple this team if ur not the same after. Thats the type of selfish player Romo is.

Romo's problem is that he reads every one of his clippings. You can tell what the media and fans say about him affects him. Mentally weak. This further makes me wish Jerry would demand Romo take a pay cut.

yea lets make the ONE player who even makes this team .500 team take a paycut. and how can you even mention Romo not letting the trainers know about his back? are these trainers some type of idiots who dont kno wth they are looking at and go by what a player just ''tells them''? nope. im sure they knew from the get go what tha problem with Romo was and how bad it was.

 

[alicetooljam]

Thats the type of selfish player Romo is.

Huh? Ive heard him called a lot of things and some understandably so, but selfish?

 

[Nightman]

I really doubt that the back issue is a long term thing. As dumb as Jerry can be he wouldn't of gave that much money to a cripple.

Honestly, he could of easily just herniated a disk any week earlier in the season.

After the Denver game his long ball seemed a little off but in Denver it was SPOT ON.

I imagine he had a herniated disk that he was dealing with it after that game sometime because his deep passes started to suffer a little bit. Any tweaking or torsion of the torso incorrectly can aggravate it. If Tony was being tough, which he usually he is I am extremely certain he was playing through the occasional pain. This can be the case until you make one wrong move... leading to the Washington game where he went down off that quick rotation.

I have had these before and it sounds eerily similiar to my back problems. A herniated disk can also affect the nerves on any side, and I have had nerve problem on my left leg and hamstring.

I don't think there is any room for concern here BUT don't quote me on it.

That's what I meant. That he got injured sometime after DEN and gritted through the pain until he really tweaked it against WAS.

 

[noshame]

As I've been saying all year, you cannot dink and dunk your way down the field all the time. Ask yourselves how many deep outs you saw Tony throw, how many fly patterns he hit. If you have any doubt he had a significant surgery last year, think about how few deep balls he threw, and how he went down with the mere swipe of a hand.

Now we've had a second surgery and he 34 years old. I hope Orton can play even better with more reps. If a solid QB falls in round 1, we need to go get him. If you want some real stats, go look at Romo's stats for distance the ball travels before the catch, you see the true meaning of dink and dunk, and why defenses don't have to defend the deep area at all.

 

[LatinMind]

yea lets make the ONE player who even makes this team .500 team take a paycut. and how can you even mention Romo not letting the trainers know about his back? are these trainers some type of idiots who dont kno wth they are looking at and go by what a player just ''tells them''? nope. im sure they knew from the get go what tha problem with Romo was and how bad it was.

Its not about what he's done. If he cant bounce back from yet another surgery then what?

 

[percyhoward]

Yards per attempt is hardly something I would rank high as a measure of a QB's performance. Far more important would be such things as completion % and TD-to-INT ratio, as well as performance in close games.

When a passing stat ignores touchdowns and interceptions, that's kind of a red flag that it may not be the best stat. Sturm chose it because it appears to support the idea that Romo had an off year, but he didn't mention that Brady, Newton, and Luck all had lower yards per attempt than Romo.

 

[noshame]

When a passing stat ignores touchdowns and interceptions, that's kind of a red flag that it may not be the best stat. Sturm chose it because it appears to support the idea that Romo had an off year, but he didn't mention that Brady, Newton, and Luck all had lower yards per attempt than Romo.

Maybe that's because they actually attempt throws deeper down the field, and don't have a Dez and Witten to RAC.

 

[Mountaineerfan]

Just shows me even more that our coach is an idiot for letting him throw the ball 35-40 times a game. After all his own coach should have been able to see the difference, right?

 

[BourbonBalz]

A bad back means Tony better give up golf until he is done with football. Golf is tough on your back. If he continues to play golf, that will tell me that his football career isn't his priority at this point.

 

[percyhoward]

Maybe that's because they actually attempt throws deeper down the field, and don't have a Dez and Witten to RAC.

There are records kept of all this stuff. Rodgers, Brady, and Brees all got more yards from RAC (as a percentage of their passing yards) than Romo in 2013. Throwing deep more often doesn't correlate to winning. If it did, everyone would be doing it. It's how well you pass -- not how many long balls you attempt.

And in 2013, Romo had one of his best seasons on passes of 20+ yards in the air, completing 21 of 56 for 695 yards, 8 td 1 int and a 117.2 rating. That was 30 points higher than his rating in 2012 (87.1) when he wasn't hurt.

 

[Crown Royal]

There are records kept of all this stuff. Rodgers, Brady, and Brees all got more yards from RAC (as a percentage of their passing yards) than Romo in 2013. Throwing deep more often doesn't correlate to winning. If it did, everyone would be doing it. It's how well you pass -- not how many long balls you attempt.

And in 2013, Romo had one of his best seasons on passes of 20+ yards in the air, completing 21 of 56 for 695 yards, 8 td 1 int and a 117.2 rating. That was 30 points higher than his rating in 2012 (87.1) when he wasn't hurt.

OMG

Reality, pay this man

 

[Eddie]

He's not a young pup anymore. Giving him a $100 million contract was a mistake. QBs' health don't improve with age. He's reaching the limit of his abilities. Our fear of moving on to the unknown is going to throw this franchise even further back into the stone age. With our salary situation and the cap hit we're going to take when Tony's carried off the field for good is going to have us back to scouting the baseball farm leagues again for QB's.