The 3rd Romo pick

[Hoov]

Looking at the game in total, there was a definite feel that the Commanders had more control for lack of a better word than the cowboys did - by control i mean they were the more physical team where as it felt like dallas was trying to get by or win in spite of not being able to dictate to the other team so much. You can see that due to injuries the defense was trying to hold on rather than really being able to get after washington and on offense dallas was just not really in sync for several drives. Including the 2:00 drive before halftime the cowboys had 4 consecutive possessions that yileded 3 points which allowed the Commanders to take the lead.

Despite all of that, the cowboys got the ball back with close to 4 minuets left in the game, all 3 time outs and a 2 minuet warning. It was an almost perfect situation for The cowboys to make a final drive, eat up clock and win or at least tie the game with little time left for washington.

From that perspective - I felt like despite how bad certain players had been throughout the game, as bad as the defense was aginst the run - the cowboys were right where they wanted to be and Romo's interception there was possibly the biggest factor in the outcome of the game.

That does not absolve any of the other players that performed poorly or put the loss on Romo so to speak as there was plenty of blame to go around, but the fact that Tony throws that pick all but seals the game right there. Now i would bet that a great majority of Commanders fans were holding their breath and fearing the cowboys were going to reclaim the lead and leave them without enough time to put together a last minute drive of their own. So the timing of the pick and the fcat that it was a complete game changer is why Romo is coming off as the goat - and quite frankly so would any other QB who does that at such a critical juncture.

I have to admit i was so disapointed by that play that i almost didnt watch the rest of the game. But after thinking about it today - i am realizing that the offense was pretty baged up and depleted at that time. Dez was out, miles i think was in but was not really contributing, beasley had a ball thrown to him and then he was taken out of the game after a big hit and washingtons blitz was putting a lot of pressure on romo - From Tonys perspective, im sure he anticpated another blitz and may have been thinking witten or murray as the two options he was going to rely on, when the blitz came he made a quick decision and made a costly mistake.

I give credit to washington - no doubt it was a tricky move and a nice defensive play call to slide the pass ruher out into coverage at that time, but i think most of us expect romo to be above getting fooled by that move at this point in his career.
In addition it was not a good throw.

So, in summary, I'll have to stick with Romo as the goat for this game but i am willing to allow that at that point the offense was fighting an uphill battle with the personel on the field. Still, there is always the option to throw the ball away if you have more downs coming up and that is the one option that Romo very rarely chooses to exercise.

Going forward, I expect him to remain the QB for the dallas cowboys, but i wish he would learn to throw the ball away and take another shot next play. That is something garrett should be working with Tony to reinforce or he will not reach the next level.

 

[perrykemp]

Going forward, I expect him to remain the QB for the dallas cowboys, but i wish he would learn to throw the ball away and take another shot next play.

Nice analysis. I disagree with you on this one item -- do you really think Tony Romo is going to change in a significant way at this stage of his career?

His MO is to run around, never give up on a play, and try to make a pass down the field. I don't see him ever becoming like Aaron Rodgers who seems perfectly happy taking sack after sack instead of putting the ball up for grabs.

 

[Venger]

Third pick, the Commanders LB runs UNTOUCHED up the middle - Romo has to have the ball out of his hands in less than TWO seconds. He threw it to his hot outlet but their LB dropped back off the line and made a nice play on the ball.

Don't like the throw? Romo is backpedaling because if he dares stop much less get into the throw he gets creamed - he has to get it over the blitzer to his outlet. It floats high, and the Skins LB makes a nice play on the ball.

He was supposed to - from what I've read here, get rid of the ball, or eat it, with the perfect hindsight of it being picked. "Get rid of it" is what he did. Pick.

 

[SportsGuru80]

Romo is what he is... A choke artist in the clutch of the biggest games, say what you want but the facts are there.

1-6

 

[Vtwin]

Third pick, the Commanders LB runs UNTOUCHED up the middle - Romo has to have the ball out of his hands in less than TWO seconds. He threw it to his hot outlet but their LB dropped back off the line and made a nice play on the ball.

Don't like the throw? Romo is backpedaling because if he dares stop much less get into the throw he gets creamed - he has to get it over the blitzer to his outlet. It floats high, and the Skins LB makes a nice play on the ball.

He was supposed to - from what I've read here, get rid of the ball, or eat it, with the perfect hindsight of it being picked. "Get rid of it" is what he did. Pick.

I was formulating my own version of your post while I was reading down through. I doubt he could have thrown it away without being called for grounding. He wasn't going to get outside the rushers to be able to just chuck it out of bounds. He takes that sack there and the drive is pretty much over anyway. He tosses it up on a wing and a prayer hoping that worst case the receiver prevents the int.

It is a bit telling that everyone wants to crucify Romo but little mention of the fact that the game was entirely on his shoulders at that point. The running game wasn't going to win it at that point and who was lined up at receiver? No running threat + no receiving threat = smashed QB.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Witten was open, but he shouldn't have been passing on that play any way. In my opinion, you call a run there. Oh well... spilled milk.

 

[DWhite Fan]

I was formulating my own version of your post while I was reading down through. I doubt he could have thrown it away without being called for grounding. He wasn't going to get outside the rushers to be able to just chuck it out of bounds. He takes that sack there and the drive is pretty much over anyway. He tosses it up on a wing and a prayer hoping that worst case the receiver prevents the int.

It is a bit telling that everyone wants to crucify Romo but little mention of the fact that the game was entirely on his shoulders at that point. The running game wasn't going to win it at that point and who was lined up at receiver? No running threat + no receiving threat = smashed QB.

That INT was vintage Gary Hogeboom in the '82 NFC title game and it made me feel just like I did back then. Sick to my stomach and wanting to vomit. It was a pass that never should have been thrown

 

[Kangaroo]

Third pick, the Commanders LB runs UNTOUCHED up the middle - Romo has to have the ball out of his hands in less than TWO seconds. He threw it to his hot outlet but their LB dropped back off the line and made a nice play on the ball.

Don't like the throw? Romo is backpedaling because if he dares stop much less get into the throw he gets creamed - he has to get it over the blitzer to his outlet. It floats high, and the Skins LB makes a nice play on the ball.

He was supposed to - from what I've read here, get rid of the ball, or eat it, with the perfect hindsight of it being picked. "Get rid of it" is what he did. Pick.

Yes because he called the wrong protection and got fooled on who was blitzing. He made a chance and shifted the blocking expecting a blitz from the lb who faked and faded to the RB.

 

[Tommy]

Third pick, the Commanders LB runs UNTOUCHED up the middle - Romo has to have the ball out of his hands in less than TWO seconds. He threw it to his hot outlet but their LB dropped back off the line and made a nice play on the ball.

Don't like the throw? Romo is backpedaling because if he dares stop much less get into the throw he gets creamed - he has to get it over the blitzer to his outlet. It floats high, and the Skins LB makes a nice play on the ball.

He was supposed to - from what I've read here, get rid of the ball, or eat it, with the perfect hindsight of it being picked. "Get rid of it" is what he did. Pick.

Exactly. A linebacker once again came untouched through the middle of the line. Romo has a split second to react. The defense called the perfect play in faking the outside blitz and made the int. I don't think any QB can address the inside blitzing linebacker and see the outside linebacker redirect himself toward Murray in that short time. I have a hard time blaming the QB when so many defenders were coming at him untouched.

 

[locked&loaded]

The play before the pic we had just gained around 12? yards. First down to Witten.

3 minutes left in the game, we have all 3 time outs.

They have been up the gut in Romos face all night.

Why not run the ball? Why throw there?

Where the hell was a screen? That mustve been the 5th time fletcher had gotten through.

 

[Hoov]

Nice analysis. I disagree with you on this one item -- do you really think Tony Romo is going to change in a significant way at this stage of his career?

His MO is to run around, never give up on a play, and try to make a pass down the field. I don't see him ever becoming like Aaron Rodgers who seems perfectly happy taking sack after sack instead of putting the ball up for grabs.

I dont know if he is going to change, instints take over in pressure situations, it is something that should be discussed though, IMO.

 

[DWhite Fan]

The play before the pic we had just gained around 12? yards. First down to Witten.

3 minutes left in the game, we have all 3 time outs.

They have been up the gut in Romos face all night.

Why not run the ball? Why throw there?

Where the hell was a screen? That mustve been the 5th time fletcher had gotten through.

That is exactly what is wrong with Jason Garrett. When the Commanders took the lead at 14-7, my cousin and I were saying this is were Garrett will abandon the run and he did. Garrett has a pass first mentality that is killing the Cowboys offense...

 

[DandyDon1722]

One of the things that I hope Wade Wilson or somebody notices is that in these types of games and situations, his mechanics become poor. He has been really good over the last few years of not fading back and throwing off his back foot but he did it on two picks last night and the ball sailed. His best defense against this has been to scramble out of trouble instead of fading back, but against both physical and mental pressure he reverted.

 

[Gemini Dolly]

Reminded me a bit of the JPP pick.

This has to haunt him worse than the Seattle blunder.

 

[Hoov]

I was formulating my own version of your post while I was reading down through. I doubt he could have thrown it away without being called for grounding. He wasn't going to get outside the rushers to be able to just chuck it out of bounds. He takes that sack there and the drive is pretty much over anyway. He tosses it up on a wing and a prayer hoping that worst case the receiver prevents the int.

It is a bit telling that everyone wants to crucify Romo but little mention of the fact that the game was entirely on his shoulders at that point. The running game wasn't going to win it at that point and who was lined up at receiver? No running threat + no receiving threat = smashed QB.

They actually were having some success running the ball, and it was a first down with plenty of time and all your timeouts, you should be running some so you dont score to quickly. I agree that the receivers were banged up and options were limited, but that was a broken play from the start. When Manning has a blitzer come right through untouched he automatically runs to the edge of the pocket and throws out of bounds - doesnt even look for an option. Then you can try something else next play.

 

[kojak]

Heart Breaker.

 

[FiveRings]

Romo is what he is... A choke artist in the clutch of the biggest games, say what you want but the facts are there.

1-6

I didn't realize we're the Dallas Tony Romos. It's a team effort, Romo is one out of 53 players that need to contribute to win. Just a few off the top of my head, Ware bit early all night long, Ogletree is dumb, our O Line did a good job blocking, bad job picking up blitzes and that all amounted to the loss. Remember, if the D makes the final goal line stop the choke artist has another shot.

 

[nalam]

They actually were having some success running the
....
. When Manning has a blitzer come right through untouched he automatically runs to the edge of the pocket and throws out of bounds - doesnt even look for an option. Then you can try something else next play.

Romo lives and dies by trying to do too much , A couple of possessions back he took a 15 yard sack which was another dumb play , instead of running backwards and do some thing why can't he take a couple of steps to the side and throw away the ball ? I can't understand , may be by making big plays by evading would be sackers he has a foolish confidence .

I still can't overcome the fact , everyone knows that D is running on fumes and it can hold barely and to win this game offense had to fire on all cylinders , still the offense game plan was so bad and skins with their def game plan really out-coached us. No answer for their all-out blitzing all game long.

Offense had to play good that means Romo has to play good but he was off-game and was off in the throws and throwing interceptions. Such a shame, when you expect the Franchise QB to be the savior , he turns into a goat. I respect Romo's abilities , stats etc but he is not a SB winning QB , at least he won't be unless he has enough offense and defense talent around him and he didn't need to win games by himself , just manage the game, like RG3 did y'day.

 

[boardn10]

I will give Romo one more year and that is it! No more. With a good line and a good back, he has a chance to be great, but if he does this next year, it is time for his replacement.

 

[CitySlicker202]

People like to mention when "The Book" comes out on RG3 he'll no longer be productive in the league. Well, "the book" on Romo is getting a hand in his face and he'll force a ball right to the other team on cue. There's a reason why RG3 only had FIVE Interceptions the entire season......he knows when to take a sack and live to see another down. Romo approaching 33 has yet to learn this. The 3rd Int was just a tragic train wreck you'd expect from a rookie QB.