Tony Romo is a perplexing oddity

[Bob Sacamano]

he really is, and the one play exemplifies that, his fumble in the endzone vs. the Lions, when we were backed up, it showed Tony's recklessness, composure, athleticsm and playmaking ability, all in a single play, it's amazing how his fumble made him look look pathetic, but in the very same instant, he turns into the 2nd coming of Roger Staubach, scrambling, then completing the 1st on an athletic throw to give us breathing room which started a TD drive

cut down on the recklessness, and we have a heck of a QB folks

 

[DipChit]

I hope so.

But for all the surprisingly good thing's he did early on, he sure looked pretty ordinary down the stretch.

From the standpoint of giving him the benefit of the doubt I'd like to assume that just had to do with the ways teams were defending us. And not so much him in particular but the offense as a whole.

I know if I were defending us I wouldnt have given our running game a second thought. Wouldnt have respected it a lick. Between no ability to create holes and a RB who didnt have much penchant for making something out of nothing I would've strictly played coverage.

Take away the outside guys and whats left as an option.. Witten? Sure but lets not confuse him with Shannon Sharpe footspeed wise when it comes to being difficult to cover. Course when he does get open he's gonna catch it.

And part of it could in fact be just pegging Romo's weaknesses themselves. Which is fine, that happens after a number of starts and they guy just has to get through it.. not just himself but with the help of the staff. That might indeed be what we're seeing cause he's had a specific number of starts that leaves him where he is.

Not just 6 before the end of the season where all we saw was the good stuff and not 16 where we saw the good, the bad, and then another handful of games to see if he worked through it. But a number halfway inbetween which means we have to wait til next year to see what the real deal is.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

that's fair, but you can't deny that Romo has the makings of a very good QB, the ability is there, the composure, he's just way too careless w/ the football and what he does w/ it, he really is Favre part deuce, which wasn't bad until Favre started hitting the twilight of his career

another year may all Romo needs to learn how to play less carefree, so yes, next year is when we'll start to see if he's the real deal, and I think he'll come through

 

[Aikmaniac]

he really is, and the one play exemplifies that, his fumble in the endzone vs. the Lions, when we were backed up, it showed Tony's recklessness, composure, athleticsm and playmaking ability, all in a single play, it's amazing how his fumble made him look look pathetic, but in the very same instant, he turns into the 2nd coming of Roger Staubach, scrambling, then completing the 1st on an athletic throw to give us breathing room which started a TD drive

cut down on the recklessness, and we have a heck of a QB folks

I think we already have a heck of a QB. We just had to rely too much on him in shootouts late in the season. Still inexperienced however the negatives you mentioned will be curbed to a point. Too much reigning him in, and he'll look like a glorified Henson out there by thinking too much.

I haven't been this excited about a QB since Troy left.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I think we already have a heck of a QB. We just had to rely too much on him in shootouts late in the season. Still inexperienced however the negatives you mentioned will be curbed to a point. Too much reigning him in, and he'll look like a glorified Henson out there by thinking too much.

I haven't been this excited about a QB since Troy left.

I'm not saying rein him in, even BP isn't talking about that, just that he really does need to play less recklessly, hold the ball at the proper height when he's moving around, throw it away when nothing's there, look for his checkdowns more etc.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

he really is, and the one play exemplifies that, his fumble in the endzone vs. the Lions, when we were backed up, it showed Tony's recklessness, composure, athleticsm and playmaking ability, all in a single play, it's amazing how his fumble made him look look pathetic, but in the very same instant, he turns into the 2nd coming of Roger Staubach, scrambling, then completing the 1st on an athletic throw to give us breathing room which started a TD drive

cut down on the recklessness, and we have a heck of a QB folks

Very good post and good timing... I was gonna start a similar one...

The $64,000 question is.... Can/Will he cut down on his wrecklessness? I am not sure/convinced... he might be one of those "he is what he is" types.... developing situation I guess... wait and see....

My post was going to include the following... I think Romo gives us something special at QB.... let me explain... we saw Brady throw 3(almost 4) INT's against Chargers.... yet... when it was on the line... he got the TD that they needed at the end and was instrumental in getting the even more important 2pt conversion.....

We saw Romo either get it done at the end of games this year or come very close to getting it done at end of games this year (ie. Detroit...(and a few other games during the year) and Seattle in a different way when running toward endzone)

He gives us/shows us this in his first starting year that only had 10 starts to it....

In summary: He gives us a chance... to the very end.

 

[DipChit]

that's fair, but you can't deny that Romo has the makings of a very good QB, the ability is there, the composure, he's just way too careless w/ the football and what he does w/ it, he really is Favre part deuce, which wasn't bad until Favre started hitting the twilight of his career

another year may all Romo needs to learn how to play less carefree, so yes, next year is when we'll start to see if he's the real deal, and I think he'll come through

For sure.. dont get me wrong I'm still positive about the guy.. and like I say the staff is going to have a big say in this matter too.

By in large I thought one of his strengths early on was the simple ability to get the ball to the open guy. Now certainly he missed a few of them down the stretch but overall I question how many there ended up being the longer it went because again of what i said about how the defenses began to go about it.

When we look at TO's numbers down the stretch in truly pivotal games and to a degree, Terry's as well for that matter, was the problem they were still getting open consistently and Tony didnt see it or was it they werent getting open as much overall in the first place?

 

[cnhnyy]

Romo is special. We asked him to do too much when our defense basically collapsed. With the rate of our defense giving up points, it was like a 2-minutes offense for him every game in the second half.

One thing for sure though, he can not be the holder any more.

 

[gbrittain]

I saw a ton of stuff that I really loved about Romo obviously. I saw saw some things that concern me.

I think one must take into account one thing when discussing Romo. He has only started 11 games his entire career.

The bench may be a great place to develop a QB who was as raw as Romo was coming into the league, but the bench can not totally prepare a player like real game experience can.

I think after next season we will know what we have in Romo, and I still think we will be pleased with the outcome.

All that said, Dallas needs to draft another QB this year. Wether Romo is the real deal or not Dallas needs to stay ahead of the QB curve by continuously developing one.

 

[Cliff]

he really is, and the one play exemplifies that, his fumble in the endzone vs. the Lions, when we were backed up, it showed Tony's recklessness, composure, athleticsm and playmaking ability, all in a single play, it's amazing how his fumble made him look look pathetic, but in the very same instant, he turns into the 2nd coming of Roger Staubach, scrambling, then completing the 1st on an athletic throw to give us breathing room which started a TD drive

cut down on the recklessness, and we have a heck of a QB folks

Agreed.:starspin

 

[Bob Sacamano]

For sure.. dont get me wrong I'm still positive about the guy.. and like I say the staff is going to have a big say in this matter too.

By in large I thought one of his strengths early on was the simple ability to get the ball to the open guy. Now certainly he missed a few of them down the stretch but overall I question how many there ended up being the longer it went because again of what i said about how the defenses began to go about it.

when the running game gets going again, and D starts stopping people again, we'll see that Romo, Romo's struggles coincided w/ the D was giving up 90 points in 3 games

When we look at TO's numbers down the stretch in truly pivotal games and to a degree, Terry's as well for that matter, was the problem they were still getting open consistently and Tony didnt see it or was it they werent getting open as much overall in the first place?

that's a good question, I think it's both, teams were focusing heavily on TO at the end of the year, even by midseason when he was on a tear w/ Romo, and I like Terry Glenn alot, but he's been disappearing in the 2nd half for the past 2 years, and part of it is definitely on Romo, you may have to ask someone who paid more attention than I

 

[Bob Sacamano]

All that said, Dallas needs to draft another QB this year. Wether Romo is the real deal or not Dallas needs to stay ahead of the QB curve by continuously developing one.

we're already developing another one, Matt Baker, and he has some nice attributes

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

For sure.. dont get me wrong I'm still positive about the guy.. and like I say the staff is going to have a big say in this matter too.

By in large I thought one of his strengths early on was the simple ability to get the ball to the open guy. Now certainly he missed a few of them down the stretch but overall I question how many there ended up being the longer it went because again of what i said about how the defenses began to go about it.

When we look at TO's numbers down the stretch in truly pivotal games and to a degree, Terry's as well for that matter, was the problem they were still getting open consistently and Tony didnt see it or was it they werent getting open as much overall in the first place?

Agreed.

Reminds of when(dont remember which game) Romo was throwing towards the left side of field(not really left sideline) and Romo's ball was tipped but TO broke away from defender and was wide open for TD... that would have been SOOOOO sweet

 

[gbrittain]

we're already developing another one, Matt Baker, and he has some nice attributes

That may be...honestly do not know enough about him.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

That may be...honestly do not know enough about him.

true, but you could say that about any rookie we bring in

 

[dboyz]

Romo had 10 starts to show is worth and ended up with a 95 or so quarterback rating. That's pretty darn good. Sure there was some bad stuff too, but I didn't see it as much of Romo getting figured out, as the cowboys defense getting killed and Romo just not taking care of the football as well as he should have.

 

[newlander]

This is a good thread. I have a VERY strong feeling he's going to be solid for years to come guys. I've been watching NFL football since 1977. So I've seen some good quarterbacks: Aikman,Marino,Staubach, Bradshaw, Stabler, Moon, Montana, Young, Favre, etc....Romo absolutely has the physical and mental attributes to be a great quarterback in this league. As others have stated, his recklessness was born out of trying to make plays that weren't there to make. Mostly because his O-Line SUCKS. We have a keeper, believe me. When the running game settles in and our line improves the sky will be the limit for this guy. He's compared a lot to Favre and does have some of his characteristics, but he reminds me more of Danny White. Real good athlete, not a cannon for an arm but accurate. Let's hope he'll be a better leader than White was. I'm guessing he will.

 

[Don Corleone]

With a full offseason under his belt as a starting QB, he should be able to refine his skills and understand/correct the mistakes that he made this past season.

Despite all the doom and gloom of this season, I think we have finally found a starting QB. A position that has plagued us since the start of the new millenium.

As far as him looking ordinary down the stretch, it was due to opposing defenses forcing him to stay in the pocket. I saw a post in this forum where they showed Romo's stats in the pocket in comparison to outside the pocket. He is deadly accurate while throwing on the run outiside the pocket (his is #1 in the league in that category). Romo needs to work on reading the defenses and throwing from the pocket this offseason. If he can get better there, he will be unstoppable.

 

[Billy Bullocks]

Being as though many of you thought we were going to go 7-9 or worse once we made the switch, I would say what Romo did was nothing short of amazing. 6-4, throw in the Commanders loss, and he should be 7-3, with the way the defense palyed, and I can't see how you can be angry about this kid.

 

[DIAF]

I haven't been this excited about a QB since Troy left.

That's not saying much, honestly. I don't think Romo is anything special or will ever BE anything special, but he excites me more than any other QB since Troy left. Heck, i'm more excited about sitting in my office all day at WORK than I am about any QB we've had since Troy left.