That Deep Ball Though!

[DallasEast]

Play action pass is easy to do when you have a solid run game and defenses are forced to play man to man on the outsides.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

We have almost the same exact talent on offense this year as we had last year outside of adding Martin.

The Packers players were on record saying how devastating our run game looked on film and that it was the BEST zone running game in the entire league in their opinion and that NOBODY could stop it. And how shocked they were when the Cowboys kept throwing the ball.

Now that we are more run oriented the offense is more efficient and CONSISTENT. We don't get those painful days where we insist on throwing the ball 50 times a game and completely neglect the run for no reason other than we want to throw the ball and the opposing defense is baiting us right into doing that.

When he throws more often, the offense becomes more predictable and the opposing defense can switch things up with stunts, blitzes and coverages and it creates a high risk offense that has to dink and dunk. And Tony often over-thinks things and makes the wrong decision because he over-thought it.






YR

So adding a pro bowl talent on the offensive line... Which upgrades four spots: right guard, right tackle, center (get to play next to martin) and left guard (two former starters now competiting for one spot) is immaterial?

That's before you account for the natural progression from two first year starters (leary and fred) and Tyron who are all babies.

And that's all before you talk about the maturation from our weapons in Gavin, Terrace, Dunbar, Randle and Dez....

It is the height of stupidity to boil down our improvement on offense to "just adding Martin."

 

[tyke1doe]

I am so sick of hearing "less is more with Romo." It's not true. More from everyone else is more for Romo. Any time ANY QB has to shoulder a team, with no talent, they are going to make some bad plays because they are trying to do too much. I know you weren't calling out Romo, but let's not fall into the trap of qualifying the statement with "with Romo" when it is equally applicable to every QB, ever, except maybe Peyton Manning.

You're actually arguing his point. We had to rely TOO MUCH on Romo. Now we don't have to rely too much on Romo. So how is that not "less is more with Romo"?

 

[tyke1doe]

We have almost the same exact talent on offense this year as we had last year outside of adding Martin.

The Packers players were on record saying how devastating our run game looked on film and that it was the BEST zone running game in the entire league in their opinion and that NOBODY could stop it. And how shocked they were when the Cowboys kept throwing the ball.

Now that we are more run oriented the offense is more efficient and CONSISTENT. We don't get those painful days where we insist on throwing the ball 50 times a game and completely neglect the run for no reason other than we want to throw the ball and the opposing defense is baiting us right into doing that.

When he throws more often, the offense becomes more predictable and the opposing defense can switch things up with stunts, blitzes and coverages and it creates a high risk offense that has to dink and dunk. And Tony often over-thinks things and makes the wrong decision because he over-thought it.

YR

I understood EXACTLY what you were saying. And we have examples where this is true, i.e., the Green Bay game of last year, or the Commanders game of two years ago or the Detroit game of two years ago. There have been times when we've put the ball in Tony Romo's hands instead of handing it to the ground game. And because we put too much on him, he threw costly interceptions.

I agree he has always been a very good quarterback. But he had a penchant to make mistakes because he was pressing too much.

You are correct. Less is More with Romo.

 

[tyke1doe]

It is the height of stupidity to boil down our improvement on offense to "just adding Martin."

Can some of you have a conversation with resorting to "You're stupid to hold your opinion"? Sheesh!

 

[casmith07]

"B" is really significant. I was at the 49ers game with endzone seats. You could tell his reaction time was a bit off and he was overcompensating. In my opinion, he made a few poor decisions trying to "pass his way" through his condition at the time, depending more on his arm than his offensive line and Murray--especially in those goal line/redzone situations. In short, he was playing very tight, but he has gotten more loose every week since. Heck, I do not think I have seen him as relaxed as he was in the Giants game since the 2007 season. I think we have only seen a glimpse of the Romo-magic that's coming our way this season.

I knew he was no longer rusty and got his football legs back when he duped JJ Watt with the spin move for the big TD pass a couple weeks ago.

He looks fully comfortable now and should be able to make it happen no problem the rest of the way.

Also, this success should be sustainable. We have a young, fresh, stout offensive line (absent Doug Free who is pushing 30) and they're only going to get better. A lot of teams' success relies upon the receivers staying good, or Seattle's defense, for example, which now has been somewhat exposed. One thing you can't do is gameplan for our offensive line as a defensive coordinator. Short of putting 11 in the box to stop the run, you pretty much line up and know that we're going to punch your defense in the face for 30+ minutes TOP, probably.

 

[egn22]

As I've said for going on 3 years now...less is more with Romo. The offense moves far more efficiently when we limit his pass attempts to less than 36 in a game.

When you do not threaten to run because:

a) You simply refuse to run the ball

b) You are using shotgun all of the time

It limits your ability to effectively throw the ball downfield. You end up throwing a lot of dink-and-dunk pass patterns and the plays become as such that you need a lot of things to go right in order to just complete the pass. You have to have the receivers lined up correctly, the receivers have to read the coverage and be in tune with what the QB sees, you have to get a good snap from the center, the O-Line has to pick up the stunts and blitzes correct, the QB has to make a good throw and the WR has to catch the ball. And you end up having to do all of those things and more often times just to complete a 6-yard pass. A lot of risk for less reward.

Now that we run the ball, even when the run isn't working that well we can get a lot more simplistic coverages and less blitzes and stunts when we do decide to throw the ball. It makes the QB's job easier and makes the receivers job easier. And I've never met an O-Lineman that prefers to pass protect over run block.






YR

Man this is a great post. I wish I would've typed it!
This is why I'll take our offense over anyone else's, and this is why I think we will dominate Philly.
We are kicking the league in the teeth every week with these hogs up front and there's nothing they can really do about it.
If you stack the box up with 8 and Murray still gains 100 yards.... Now what? Chances are Dez or Twill probably have a TD and you haven't had much time to get your offense in a rhythm.
If it's cold outside we are running, raining outside.... Running.... Snow... Etc.
We are built to last and we ain't going away anytime soon

 

[casmith07]

So adding a pro bowl talent on the offensive line... Which upgrades four spots: right guard, right tackle, center (get to play next to martin) and left guard (two former starters now competiting for one spot) is immaterial?

That's before you account for the natural progression from two first year starters (leary and fred) and Tyron who are all babies.

And that's all before you talk about the maturation from our weapons in Gavin, Terrace, Dunbar, Randle and Dez....

It is the height of stupidity to boil down our improvement on offense to "just adding Martin."

He's had an anti-Romo bias since the guy hit the roster in 2003. Don't worry about it.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Can some of you have a conversation with resorting to "You're stupid to hold your opinion"? Sheesh!

Did not call him stupid. Buy what he said was a gross exaggeration. Simply put it was a stupid statement. I stand by that.

 

[Joe Realist]

I really miss Cory Procter, Derrick Dockery and Bill Nagy

 

[tyke1doe]

Did not call him stupid. Buy what he said was a gross exaggeration. Simply put it was a stupid statement. I stand by that.

I still think it was inappropriate given his attempt to explain is position. And it does nothing for the civility of this forum. A simple, "I disagree with your statement, and here's why." The "stupid" tag is just oneupsmanship.

 

[Doomsday101]

I think at least if Dallas has to go into a passing war with another team the Cowboys are capable of doing that. No doubt anytime you can be balanced it is a major benefit to the offense but nice to know we can air out just as well

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I understood EXACTLY what you were saying. And we have examples where this is true, i.e., the Green Bay game of last year, or the Commanders game of two years ago or the Detroit game of two years ago. There have been times when we've put the ball in Tony Romo's hands instead of handing it to the ground game. And because we put too much on him, he threw costly interceptions.

I agree he has always been a very good quarterback. But he had a penchant to make mistakes because he was pressing too much.

You are correct. Less is More with Romo.

I also think it forces too many other things to go right in order for the play to work. A lot of check with me's, option route patterns, etc.

At its most basic form, throwing the football is a higher risk and higher reward play. You're likely to gain more yards on average when you throw the ball than when you run it. But, the likelihood for a turnover (strip fumble or interception) increases. Also, there is a likelihood your QB gets sacked. Not only is that a big loss of yards compared to what you can lose running the ball, but you're risking your QB getting injured. And the likelihood for negative plays in general increases (more penalties, loss of yards, 0 yards (incompletes), etc). Then you have to consider how much time it does not run off the clock. Even if your offense is efficient, if it is a pass happy offense you are leaving your defense on the field for a longer time. And the history of the NFL shows that defensive players are twice as likely to get injured as offensive players. So you may rack up points and victories early on, but come December your defense could be depleted with injuries.


Running the ball at its most basic form is lower risk and lower reward. You're not as likely to have as many negative plays and much less likely to turn the ball over. But, most carries in a game for football are not for 4-yards. They are more likely 1, 2 or 3 yard attempts. Then the RB breaks a few bigger carries and gets their average yards per carry over 4.0.

With Dallas, I kept seeing plays where a lot of things had to go right for us to just complete an 8-yard pass. And to me, while 8-yards beats out a 4 yard run, it's too risky because if something does not go quite like it is supposed to, we can see a turnover, sack or a penalty.

What eventually happens is when you throw the ball and the defense knows you're throwing the ball, they can now make themselves unpredictable. They can blitz 7 or rush 3 and drop back 8. They can throw all of these stunts, blitzes, and coverages at not only the QB, but the entire offense. And a lot of times the mistakes made were not the result of Tony pressing, but simple miscommunication. Most fans would blame anybody but Romo. The problem is that because we were throwing the ball and the defense knew we were throwing the ball, they could make it confusing for Romo and the offense and that is why there was a miscommunication.

As talented as Romo is, he's not that Brady, Brees, Rodgers or Peyton type that can throw it 50 times in a game and be just fine. But, very few QB's can do that. Instead, I would rather we use him like the Steelers used to use Roethlisberger. And say what you will about Roethlisberger, but he and Romo are both big play QB's. When you optimize the low-risk plays, that makes it easier for him to make the big plays thru the air. Now that the Steelers are becoming a more pass happy team, their defense is no longer as intimidating. It all goes hand-in-hand.






YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

So adding a pro bowl talent on the offensive line... Which upgrades four spots: right guard, right tackle, center (get to play next to martin) and left guard (two former starters now competiting for one spot) is immaterial?

We've had Free and Smith on the team since 2011.

We had virtually the same O-Line last year.

And the offense has never looked as efficient and as effective as it does now.

The Packers defenders last year stated how what they watched on game film showed we had the BEST running game in the league and that NOBODY could stop it. And Romo is FAR MORE effective and the entire offensive is far more effective this year than they were last year.

Why?

Because we have limited the amount of passing attempts that Romo has had to make. We were down by 10 points against Seattle and down by 21 points to St. Louis...both on the road...and instead of going into passing mode we stuck with the run and got right back into the game and won both of them.

It is the height of stupidity to boil down our improvement on offense to "just adding Martin."

Okay, let's have Romo throw 45 times against the Commanders. It would lessen the load for Murray and because less is NOT more with Romo (according to you), then we should pass more because that will allow the Cowboys to score more points, blow out the Commanders and give Murray some much needed rest.

Let's just see how that works out.







YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

He's had an anti-Romo bias since the guy hit the roster in 2003. Don't worry about it.

Yes, because saying less is more with Romo is CLEARLY an anti-Romo argument. And arguing that the main improvement for Romo's play and the offense's play is that the playcalling is geared towards Romo not having to do as much is CLEARLY an anti-Romo bias.

Sounds more like an argument against how Romo was *coached* to me.







YR

 

[Plankton]

Can some of you have a conversation with resorting to "You're stupid to hold your opinion"? Sheesh!

There are some who apparently cannot.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

We've had Free and Smith on the team since 2011.

We had virtually the same O-Line last year.

And the offense has never looked as efficient and as effective as it does now.

The Packers defenders last year stated how what they watched on game film showed we had the BEST running game in the league and that NOBODY could stop it. And Romo is FAR MORE effective and the entire offensive is far more effective this year than they were last year.

Why?

Because we have limited the amount of passing attempts that Romo has had to make. We were down by 10 points against Seattle and down by 21 points to St. Louis...both on the road...and instead of going into passing mode we stuck with the run and got right back into the game and won both of them.



Okay, let's have Romo throw 45 times against the Commanders. It would lessen the load for Murray and because less is NOT more with Romo (according to you), then we should pass more because that will allow the Cowboys to score more points, blow out the Commanders and give Murray some much needed rest.

Let's just see how that works out.







YR

So you're just going to ignore my point about how adding Martin improved 4 of our 5 offensive line positions?

You're going to ignore my point about obvious progression from one year to the next of young offensive lineman?

You're going to ignore my point about improvement in virtually all our skill position players not named Romo and Witten?

You're going to ignore Murray being healthy being a difference from last year?

You have to ignore a lot of things all to make a pretty bad point. But do your thing.

 

[etw926]

he's not that Brady, Brees, Rodgers or Peyton type that can throw it 50 times in a game and be just fine.

YR

Watch games much??

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't mind saying less is more hell this team won 3 SB by having a very good QB yet not asking him to carry the entire team. Troy was not putting up as many 300 yard games as others were in the league he did not have to he had a league leading running back who could help shoulder the load and in the end it was Dallas with the rings.

 

[Red Dragon]

I think we can chalk a lot of that up to the fact that Tony can stand back there in the pocket, make a sandwich, practice his golf swing, read "War and Peace", and finally look up, spin away from a rusher and launch a pass downfield.

It would no doubt lead to a hefty fine, but just once, I'd like to see a QB pull out a cell phone after the snap, pretend to chat 3-4 seconds, then heave a deep ball to a WR for a touchdown.