Dallas Cowboys Nation

Tag Archives: Tony Romo

Beyond Perception

The Cowboys have been relatively quiet this off season, and we are about the witness the last move in this free agency period at least until the draft. Roy Williams has asked to be released or traded by the end of the day today, though I wouldn’t expect a release since the Cowboys would take a considerable hit in the cap area. So I thought we’d take a look at the Cowboys moves in a “Perception Versus Reality” aspect.

A week ago the Cowboys made a jaw dropping move by trading a perceived valuable corner back for a “washed up” Quarterback in John Kitna. Our perceptions are typically based on media, bad tape, and yes even playing video games. But this is reality. The market this year wasn’t great for Quarterbacks, especially backups…Sure there was Byron Leftwich, Jeff Garcia, Kurt Warner-but good luck getting them to agree to a back up roll. John Kitna is a proven jump starter, not flashy, not a star, but solid! He adds the arm strength and accuracy to at least solidify our offense in times of need with huge playmakers like Witten, Owens and Barber. Like it or not (and I like it) Tony Romo is our Quarterback and I wouldn’t have it any other way, so give me a John Kitna as a band aid when small scrapes come along.

Now I’m not stupid and I get frustrated with GM Jerry, but I am getting viciously frustrated with the fair weather fan; who doesn’t understand and verbally slaughters the Keith Brooking signing. This isn’t rocket science, Keith has had a legitimately great career and though he didn’t make a lot of show stopping plays last year, he has that potential. You’re talking about implementing a great player, at a cheap price, in a scheme where he was consistently flourishing. Not to mention he brings leadership unseen since Darren Woodson, and he’ll be able to teach our younger linebackers. He is instant stability in a defense lacking ferociousness.

Lastly, Roy Williams. A great player. We shouldn’t expect much, maybe a 3rd or 4th rounder at best. But let me say this: Was he beat in coverage? Yes. Was he inconsistent? Absolutely. But when he flashed, HE FLASHED! Bone Jarring Tackles, and he instilled fear. 5 pro bowls will say it all… Some years were harder than others but I appreciate what he has done. If he goes you’ll never hear me say anything negative.

It’s easy to get caught in the opinion that is often influenced by media, but perception is not reality in all cases, lets not judge these books by their cover….

The Ray Lewis Saga Continues

It’s Wednesday, just about 28 hours until free agency begins tomorrow night, and the rumors are soaring across the news vine as though they were powered by a jetpack. Ray Lewis seems to be at the top of the list as far as Dallas is concerned, and no I don’t mean that Dallas is considering it, though they certainly may be.

The latest is from FanNation.com and it seems to add fuel to the fire. Apparently Ravens’ owner Steve Bisciotti is irritated with Lewis for not showing loyalty to the team in Hawaii. That is where Lewis made it known that he’d like to play for either the Jets or Cowboys.

I’m still of the mind that Lewis won’t be a huge factor in Dallas and the reasons are clear, this teams’ biggest problem is on offense, and he’ll be brought in as another player, not the commander of the vessel. A point worth debating is whether or not he could control Terrell Owens and inspire Tony Romo to take charge, but the point remains that it wouldn’t be his job to do either.

After the stories came out about DeMarcus Ware and Ray Lewis sharing some not-so-subtle remarks about Lewis wanting to be a Cowboy, it seems this idea is now going wholesale to the public.

The Dallas Cowboys have roughly $12 million in available cap space, and have options to add more by cutting players like Brad Johnson and Roy Williams, but the bulk of it is expected to go to Ware in the form of a new contract, a contract that is expected to be near the top in the history books for a defensive player.

Still, makes you wonder what could be. Bart Scott looks to be real close to signing a new deal in Baltimore, and he had already taken over some duties from Lewis last year. Are the Ravens getting ready to move on without Lewis?

It seems logical to assume they’d only do that if Ray was asking too much to stay, and if so that same asking price wouldn’t translate well to the Cowboys. But would he take a lower figure to fulfill his dream of being a Dallas Cowboy?

Then again, maybe the speculation that Bisciotti is irritated with Lewis is just more fanfare instigated by Lewis and/or his agent to drive his price up, Seems kind of an odd way to do it though.

Given that the rumors and talks of him wanting to come to Dallas have helped Lewis’ worth so far, how much can you take away from that if he does start negotiations with the Cowboys?

We might very well know the answers come Friday afternoon.

And Then Came Injury

See, my theory is that Tony Romo being injured caused more problems for the Cowboys than in just the three games he missed. Sure, suffering through the play of Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger was bad, but nobody seemed to catch on to just how limited Romo was after he came back.

Most people can tell you about the split he wore on his hand, and how that did affect his game, but overall, the split couldn’t have been the cause for his troubles after his return. Just look at the numbers from the season and you can see that before Romo’s injury, he played a lot better than he did after. Just for the record, the before represents the 6 games he played before, including the loss to Arizona where he was injured. The After represents the 7 games he played starting with the second Washington game.

Tony Romo Yds. YPG Comp. % TD INT Fumb Turnovers Sacked Rating
Before 1,689 281.5 64.2 14 5 6 11 7 103.7
After 1,759 251.3 60.1 12 9 7   16   13 82.9

The only real confusing statistic there is that he had more yards after his injury, but remember he only played 6 games before, and 7 games after. His average yards per game tells the story better, but looking at his average yards per completion is the most telling.

Before his injury, he averaged 13.2 yards per completion, and never had an average below 10.7 or above 15.3. After his injury, his average per completion was only 11.7 yards, with his low and high being 8.7 and 15, respectively.

Now those numbers show that Romo was obviously different after returning from his broken pinkie finger, but it wasn’t just his injury that caused problems. Another injury that compounded the affects of his injury was that to Pro Bowl Punter Matt McBriar, who was also injured in week 6 against the Cardinals.

He was averaging 49 yards per punt, and his replacement, Sam Paulesque only averaged 41.8. Sam did punt the ball twice as many times as McBriar did, but looking to McBriar’s numbers from last year shows that he punted 10 more times than Paulesque did and still averaged 47.1 yards. In a game where field position means so much, this is a huge statistic.

During the same time frames of before and after Romo’s injury, the running game played a part as well. Never mind that Felix Jones didn’t take another snap after that Arizona game. The Cowboys ran the ball an average of 23.5 times per game before, and 20.8 times per game after Romo’s injury. As we all know, the primary job of a defense is to make a team one dimensional, and these numbers clearly show that once Romo came back, this team was forced to rely on its passing game more.

That also lends to the increased number of times that Romo was sacked after his injury than over the first 6 games of the season.

So when someone says that every team sustains injuries in a season, I have to agree, every team does; just look at New England. But unlike the Patriots, who only lost one key player for the season, the Cowboys lost several. It doesn’t take long to figure out that the game against the Cardinals affected every game we played after.

It’s also not hard to understand that Romo, as a quarterback, had less to do with this team’s failures in 2008 than people want to believe. It’s still something he has to work on, but every quarterback spends all year working on less turnovers and more completions. That’s his job.

Talking Owens, from a reader

Got a comment today from a reader, and I want to expand on what he correctly identified as another topic. The Wizard wrote:

“I’m in agreement with you about Garrett, who I truly believe is the biggest problem on the team right now. People can point at TO all they want. But, when they were 13-3 and Owens was heavily involved in the offense there were no problems. In fact, he was being called a model teammate. Now, with Sparano gone and Garrett’s reluctance to use Owens more effectively he was upset.

But, that is another topic.”

Something that always comes to mind about T.O. is what he says about getting the ball, “When I get the ball, good things happen.” He’s right, when he gets the ball, the Cowboys win the game, and that has yet to be proven otherwise.

Owens caused a lot of distractions late this year in his interview with Sanders where he called out Garrett’s scheme. He started an uproar when he had a meeting with Garrett about his perceptions of ball distribution. And he has been labeled as a trouble maker since he left San Francisco after problems, only to start a similar problem with his new team, the Eagles. We all know this stuff.

Continue reading →

Tony Romo breaks his silence

Was it an attempt to quell the ever widening witch hunt that was mounting in his silence? Or was it simply a frustrated quarterback finally feeling up to a media chit-chat? Your call.

But reading the new story on DMN last night made me feel better about the comments Tony Romo made after the blowout loss to Philly this past Christmas. “If this is the worst thing that ever happens to me, then I’ll have lived a pretty good life” Romo said after the game.

Not exactly the words of a warrior, and certainly not what the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys should ever be saying. This prompted Troy Aikman to offer his opinion on the matter while speaking Michael Irvin on his radio show.

Tony Romo“I think maybe things happened so quickly for Tony in terms of obscurity to all of a sudden national spotlight that he hasn’t fully grasped what being the Cowboys quarterback is all about. And you don’t go to Cabo the week before a playoff game. You just don’t do it.

To say, ‘I don’t worry about perception,’ you better worry about perception because it is a big part of making it through some very difficult times.”

This coming from a man that has being the Dallas Cowboys quarterback down to a science. It’s good advice that Tony will likely hear considering its source.

Through his still young career, we’ve seen a couple of different sides to Romo. Under Parcels he was very determined, a little quite, and was the first person to accept blame for the offense.

This past season though, we saw a lot less discipline from him. We saw more of the celebrity quarterback that no one likes.

It’s likely a result of coaching, and the absence of Bill Parcels. But I think that Parcels liked this guy for a reason, and Tony will live up to that soon and get back on track to being this team’s leader.

Nice to hear from Romo on the subject, either way.

Bill Parcels’ 11 Quarterback Commandments

1. Press or TV agents or advisors, family or wives, friends or relatives, fans or hangers on, ignore them on matters of football, they don’t know what’s happening here.

2. Don’t forget to have fun, but don’t be the class clown. Clowns and leaders don’t mix. Clowns can’t run a huddle.

3. A quarterback throws with his legs more than his arms. Squat and run. Fat quarterbacks can’t avoid the rush.

4. Know your job cold. This is not a game without errors. Keep yours to a minimum. Study.

5. Know your own players. Who’s fast? Who can catch? Who needs encouragement? Be precise. Know your opponent.

6. Be the same guy everyday. In condition, preparing to lead, studying your plan. A coach can’t prepare you for every eventuality. Prepare yourself and remember, impulse decisions usually equal mistakes.

7. Throwing the ball away is a good play. Sacks, interceptions, and fumbles are bad plays. Protect against those.

8. You must learn to manage the game. Personnel, play call, motions, ball handling, proper reads, accurate throws, play fakes. Clock, clock, clock, don’t you ever lose track of the clock.

9. Passing stats and td passes are not how you’re gonna be judged. Your job is to get your team in the endzone and that’s how you’re gonna be judged.

10. When all around you is in chaos, you must be the hand that steers the ship. If you have a panic button, so will everyone else. Our ship can’t have panic buttons.

11. Don’t be a celebrity quarterback. We don’t need any of those. We need battlefield commanders that are willing to fight it out everyday, every week, and every season, and lead their team to win after win after win.

 

The Tuna was certainly entertaining wasn’t he?

 

But these commandments do seem pretty sound, wonder how many of them Tony Romo feels like he broke. I bet it’s not half as many as I think he broke.