Thoughts after 2 weeks

[DFWJC]

Romo got better as the game went on and he is both rusty and not in his ideal shape.

However, IMHO I believe Romo is going to get better as the year goes on. I think by the New Orleans game, weeks 4-5 we're going to be able to rely on the big play from him again.

That 3rd down conversion on the right side to Dez while Romo rolled out of the pocket and placed the ball low purposely where only Dez could get it tells me he still has it and just needs to play without further injury.

As long as the defense stays solid and the o-line allows us to sustain long drives and keep the defense in good field position then I am willing to hold jury by week 4 on if Romo is in inevitable but current decline.

We converted a large number of 3rd downs (6) by passing today.
The pass complimented the run

 

[LatinMind]

I could have sworn that Johnny Football is currently Johnny Back Up in title town Cleveland to the living legend Brian Hoyer.

They just dont want to start Manziel yet. If you go back to preseason they had identical stats.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Mo played a little better today but still needs work.

He had a chance to win major brownie points with me but he missed the tackle on Walker 61 TD romp.

 

[AKATheRake]

They just dont want to start Manziel yet. If you go back to preseason they had identical stats.

Preseason means nothing, regular season games do and Hoyer is the starter.

Manziel was relegated to hand offs and a pass just to throw him out there.

Hoyer won the game today and Johnny is his backup as we speak.

 

[AKATheRake]

We converted a large number of 3rd downs (6) by passing today.
The pass complimented the run

I think we were 56% on conversions and 3 were pass and 3 were runs.

I agree that the pass complimented the run today.

I also believe, as I'm sure many others do to, that if we have run 30 times in a game that is a positive indicator that we should be winning or in a position to win the game.

 

[LatinMind]

He had a chance to win major brownie points with me but he missed the tackle on Walker 61 TD romp.

lol Walker is like 50 lbs heavier

 

[LatinMind]

Preseason means nothing, regular season games do and Hoyer is the starter.

Manziel was relegated to hand offs and a pass just to throw him out there.

Hoyer won the game today and Johnny is his backup as we speak.

Yup but whenHoyer struggles which he will. Manziel will take over. Thats a given.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

i can't wait to see McClaine and Lee together next year.

 

[kevm3]

Claiborne, Carr and Moore played excellent. You can get on Claiborne for not bringing down Walker, but Walker outweights Claiborne by 50+ lbs. I don't know what some of the folks here are expecting from our corners.

McClain looks excellent and I want to see him with Lee in the line-up. If we can ever manage to get our defensive guys healthy, it will be interesting to see Lawrence, Lee, Carter and McClain play together.

 

[AKATheRake]

Yup but whenHoyer struggles which he will. Manziel will take over. Thats a given.

Manziel will struggle as well if/when he takes over.

Bottom line is that Romo, even as is right now, is better than Manziel.

We're also stuck with Romo no matter what till the end of next season.

Manziel would not have been the right pick.

We're better off investing in another drafted QB, one that is surer to make it in this league.

RG3 looked better than Manziel coming out of college and take a look at that now.

Manziel is a backup because he is not pro or starter ready.

 

[big dog cowboy]

lol Walker is like 50 lbs heavier

All Mo did was run into him with his shoulder. What the hell kind of tackle was that? Just wrap him up was all that he had to do. Quit making business decisions and play football. At least grab a leg until help arrives.

 

[diehard2294]

Claiborne, Carr and Moore played excellent. You can get on Claiborne for not bringing down Walker, but Walker outweights Claiborne by 50+ lbs. I don't know what some of the folks here are expecting from our corners.

McClain looks excellent and I want to see him with Lee in the line-up. If we can ever manage to get our defensive guys healthy, it will be interesting to see Lawrence, Lee, Carter and McClain play together.

How about he does what he's taught and wrap up when he tackles??

 

[DFWJC]

I think we were 56% on conversions and 3 were pass and 3 were runs.

I agree that the pass complimented the run today.

I also believe, as I'm sure many others do to, that if we have run 30 times in a game that is a positive indicator that we should be winning or in a position to win the game.

Actually, I underestimated it....
We had SEVEN 3rd down conversions via the pass.

1) 3rd and 7..Romo to Witten for 13 yards
2) 3rd and 2...Romo to Bryant for 12
3) 3rd and 4...Romo to Bryant...pass interference for 1st down
4) 3rd and 15...Romo to Bryant for 18
5) 3rd and 2...Romo to Bryant for Touchdown
6) 3rd and 7...Romo to Beasley for 10
7) 3rd and 4...Romo to Bryant for 5


After that, the rest of the conversions were via the run game.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I still think Romo is not 100% physically. And I don't mean he is injured but I don't think he is 100% physically fit. Due to the surgery, he probably didn't get to train his lower body and it's showing in his passes.

Parcells was a huge believer in working out lower body strength for his QBs. Vinnie Testeverde was a huge beliver in doing heavy squats during the season. Hopefully, with time and proper training, he can get some of the lower body strength back.

I think romo is not 100% mentally. he is still dusting off the off-season pre-season cobwebs....

 

[gimmesix]

There is something wrong with Romo, and there is no way to get around this. He's still good enough to get by but for how long? He would be 27.4 mil in dead money if he was cut this coming offseason. Or 13.7 if released as a june cut and another 13.7 in 2016. Does Dallas go that route? A big decision has to be made tho this offseason. Because if he is on the roster next yr he probably has to take another restructure. Maybe its rust but there just seems like a lack of mobility and lack of zip on his throws. Lack of everything if you ask me.

He's coming off back surgery, still feeling it and working his way back into things.

Do people really just expect players to immediately bounce back from something major like back surgery? It seems so, because we see it every year when the player is not immediately the same. It shouldn't surprise us if something is wrong with Romo this entire year because it often takes players a full year to bounce back from a major injury. (The announcers talking about his back hurting after the first game should be a pretty good indication to us that he's still not all the way there yet.)

Based on the Titans' game, though, I don't think it will take him a full year. He made a lot of good throws and then had a period of time where the ball just seemed to get away from him. Hopefully, we will be able to weather such periods until he gets back to the usual level we expect from him ... well, not the level some expect from him that is contrary to the reality of his career.

 

[conner01]

romo lost some weight in the off season but i suspect he could'nt workout all that much with a back problem. i think it's a combination of conditioning and rust. he looked better as the game went on to me and thats a good sign.if the conditioning thing is a part of it then that should work it's self out in a couple weeks. hopefully i'm right and its rust and conditioning. fingers crosssed

 

[guag]

If Romo knows changing his style of play will--

A.) Extend his career
B) Make the offense more efficient
C) Translate into more wins

He'll do it and Linehan will adjust the playbook accordingly.

I think this is a really good point. I can certainly see that happening (Romo tweaking his style a bit) and continuing to have some success. If what he has done in the past is causing him pain and/or does not agree with his body anymore, he should absolutely adjust accordingly. Romo is still a good QB whether he scrambles or not -- if less moving around in the pocket, quicker/shorter passes, etc. will allow Romo to be more efficient, this should be the plan.

 

[xwalker]

Bruce Carter is back to his 2012 form. Guy is creating havoc around the LOS. And he's been close to blocking a couple punts. You have to applaud Marinelli seeing that Carter was not a WILL and sticking with him at the SAM.

They were in Nickel most of the game. Carter is in the same Nickel position that he played last year. There's more to his improvement than moving to SLB in the base.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

As badly as we need to find our next QB I wouldn't have picked Manziel, way too many red flags. I would rather we found a prototypical pocket QB with a strong, accurate arm. Give me a Phillip Rivers/ Andrew Luck type QB and I'll be happy!

 

[DFWJC]

As badly as we need to find our next QB I wouldn't have picked Manziel, way too many red flags. I would rather we found a prototypical pocket QB with a strong, accurate arm. Give me a Phillip Rivers/ Andrew Luck type QB and I'll be happy!

I thought Zack Mettenberger was maybe worth a stab.
It wouldn't surprise me if he's starting in Tennessee by next year.