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By David Moore , Staff Writer Contact David Moore on Twitter: @DavidMooreDMN


Tony Romo isn't making excuses. He's not saying what happened to the Cowboys last season should be dismissed.

But he doesn't see it happening again.

"I feel like last year is an anomaly,'' Romo said. "If we're going to base it all on that then...you have to come back and prove differently.

"The fact we went 4-12, whether I was playing or not, we didn't do a good enough job. We have to do better. I think part of that is me being healthy. I think part of that are guys getting better and improving.''

Every team suffers injuries. But not every team losses their top two offensive players the way the Cowboys did with Romo and Dez Bryant. Not every team starts four quarterbacks in a season the way the Cowboys did in 2015.



Did other teams around the league manage to win games despite losing key players? Sure. Green Bay was still a very good team without receiver Jordy Nelson.

But if the Packers lost quarterback Aaron Rodgers in addition to Nelson, would they still have made the playoffs?

The third week of organized team activities is underway for the Cowboys. A constant refrain from coaches and players to this point has been how good Romo looks throwing the ball.

Some will scoff and say big deal. It's only June.

You can count Romo in that group.

"Well, I don't think anything matters until you play football games,'' Romo said. "No one actually cares at this time of year what's going on because they don't see you.

"But us as football players, we can tell when we take a step or improve. I'm excited what I feel like is an improvement in some areas. That makes you excited to go play in the football game. We'll see what happens. But I think we're going to have a good chance.''

Romo tinkers with certain mechanical aspects of his game this time every year until they are ready to incorporate into his game. This offseason is no different.

"Some of the things I've been working on have taken a couple of years,'' said Romo, who never divulges what he's refining until after the fact. "I'm pretty excited about seeing them come to fruition.

"I've got a long way to go, but it's a good start. That's all it is right now. A good start. If I can continue to build off that and certain techniques that I won't bore you with, I think they're going to be able to hold up.



"I feel very excited about what that could possibly entail moving forward.''

Cowboys coaches and players are excited by what they have seen.

"He does look really good,'' tight end Jason Witten said. "The tempo, the energy he's bringing, everything he's doing at the line of scrimmage. He looks really good.

"I think that excites us all to know someone at that position, what is asked of him, how well he's playing, it gives us such positive feelings moving forward to see him back healthy and even better than what he was before.

"I know he's worked really hard to get to that point.''

Romo understands that fans will look at his age (36) and number of games missed last season (12) due to breaking his clavicle twice and be concerned about what that means going forward. But as he said, "you know, it's a collarbone. I don't think my collarbone is going to be anything that takes you out every year you play football.''

Again, injuries to Romo and Bryant -- and don't forget Orlando Scandrick, the team's most consistent cornerback -- are no excuse for a 4-12 season. But it does put what happened in a different perspective.



If key players are healthy and producing up to standards, the Cowboys aren't a four-win team.

"I think you've got to look at it critically,'' Witten said. "You have to look at it and understand, learn from it and move forward. To be the team we talk about becoming, you've got to move forward. You can't allow that to hang over your head.

"People are going to do that. That's where we are. We're coming off a 4-12 season. We have to understand that's who we are. But we're working to change that.''

Last season was an anomaly from the standpoint it was the Cowboys worst record in 26 years. But here's something else to consider: this team has missed the playoffs in five of the past six seasons and owned a winning record just once in that span.

That appears to drive this group as the third week of OTAs is underway.

"I think you want to play with that chip on your shoulder and our team needs to play with that,'' Romo said. "They need to work like that.

"So far this offseason they've been doing that.''
 

cmd34

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I like how this team (fans and leadership) like to point to things like "Would Green Bay have made the playoffs if they lost Jordy Nelson AND Aaron Rodgers?" as if they compare to these organizations.

Why not compare your shit GM to their GM...
Would Ted Thompson be fired if his performance was as bad as GM Jerry's?

Why not compare your team's performance to their 7 straight years (and 8 of the last 9) making the playoffs...
Would Mike McCarthy (104 wins, 55 losses, 1 tie) be fired if his record matched Garrett's record (40 wins, 40 losses) ?

You can't just (attempt to) compare yourself to winning organizations in an attempt to justify your sub-par performance. Compare everything..and when you come up short on most categories, realize YOU are the problem.
 

ThoughtExperiment

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^^ Amen.

And on that note, I'm so sick of people saying when you mention quality organizations like New England and Green Bay winning games without their QB, "Oh, it wasn't just losing Romo, it was losing Dez too!"

We went 1-7 in games Dez played without Romo. So people need to stop acting like that mattered. It was Tony, period. And losing your QB isn't an excuse for rolling over and going 1-11.
 
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Saw an article about Kellen Moore who said that its one thing to know the offense and playbook but Romo does things different, so Kellen said he studies Romo as well. Makes you wonder if the reason for the collossal failure of 4 QBs and the passing offense was that there is no scheme outside of Romo. They have a playbook and a scheme that is largely just something that was a foundation in 2010 but now is so far away from the original that it's largely unteachable and probably fairly alien to the coaches as to how Romo works his own offense.

It's still indicting that the rather mediocre running game outperformed
the passing game
 

boozeman

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Both are anomalies. This is firmly an 8 win team as long as Garrett is around.
 

onlyonenow

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Saw an article about Kellen Moore who said that its one thing to know the offense and playbook but Romo does things different, so Kellen said he studies Romo as well. Makes you wonder if the reason for the collossal failure of 4 QBs and the passing offense was that there is no scheme outside of Romo. They have a playbook and a scheme that is largely just something that was a foundation in 2010 but now is so far away from the original that it's largely unteachable and probably fairly alien to the coaches as to how Romo works his own offense.

It's still indicting that the rather mediocre running game outperformed
the passing game

The running game was not mediocre- it was top 5 in the NFL. However we had no real big plays for all intents and purposes, just a steady slogging. THAT is hopefully the key difference in having Zeke.

Last year made it painfully obvious even to all but the most psychotic of Romo haters that he truly is the straw that stirs the drink.

He takes the mess that Red Ball sends him and finds a way to make plays with it. But it clearly is something that only a very few QBs can do. Kitna could do it; but to be blunt no other QB we have had has been able to do it like Romo, not even close.
 

onlyonenow

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Facts don't mean much to the moron.
only moron around here is you.

But I guess I need to clarify for the idiots here

Dallas was #5 in yards per carry which I consider the most important stat. But hey gomers like you never seem to be able to deal with reality.
 

onlyonenow

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bottom line is that we had a decent to good running game last year, and with no passing game to split the D's attention I thought they did about as good as one could have reasonably hoped for. McFadden had more left in the tank then I thought he had. Had we stayed with him from the beginning he might have sniffed 1500 yds last year. Of course he could also have worn down like Murray did in 2014, or gotten injured.
 

SixisBetter

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Dallas was #5 in yards per carry which I consider the most important stat. But hey gomers like you never seem to be able to deal with reality.

Yeah but that's not what you said dipshit.
Guess we'll have to get all the stat people to change how they rank teams now.
I'd think seriously about getting an avatar you dimbulb,or I'll get you one and you won't like it.
Get over yourself,you're not that fucking smart.
See.Anyone can try to make their point by insults.
 
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Mediocre in the sense that largely the yards per carry were low but then a few longer runs brought the largely inefficient and ineffective running game to the appearance of a mid league production level statistically.

Was watching the week 11 Dolphins game with Romo and there were times with McFadden that in the open field Elliot will make a difference and some of the short yardage power rushes that Turbin was given that Elliot will at least manage Turbins output. But it was still the play calling even with Romo that just did not make sense. They really need to keep 3WRs at least one with true deep speed, a TE and a RB in the game for most plays. There are just more options and the field is not reduced as it is with 5 receivers.
 

Doomsday

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Dallas was #5 in yards per carry which I consider the most important stat.
Except, it's not and that's not how they are ranked.

You got caught being a dumbass again, so you cherry-picked a number instead of just admitting you were wrong. Again.

For example were I dishonest and a asshole for the sake of being a asshole - like you - I would cherry pick Dallas' 21st ranking in rushing touchdowns and say Dallas' run game ranked 21st.

Your act is wearing thin.
 

onlyonenow

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Except, it's not and that's not how they are ranked.

You got caught being a dumbass again, so you cherry-picked a number instead of just admitting you were wrong. Again.

For example were I dishonest and a asshole for the sake of being a asshole - like you - I would cherry pick Dallas' 21st ranking in rushing touchdowns and say Dallas' run game ranked 21st.

Your act is wearing thin.

Is there any reason I should care what you have to drivel about?
 

onlyonenow

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Yeah but that's not what you said dipshit.
Guess we'll have to get all the stat people to change how they rank teams now.
I'd think seriously about getting an avatar you dimbulb,or I'll get you one and you won't like it.
Get over yourself,you're not that fucking smart.
See.Anyone can try to make their point by insults.

yawn. want some cheese with your WHINE?
 

onlyonenow

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yds per game has always been a dumb way to rate either an offense or Defense. Brutally speaking points (not counting for the D special teams or fumble returns and pick 6 plays) and for the O no D scores or special teams. After all that is how the score is kept in the end.

As regards rushing then yards per carry makes more sense then any other stat. Sure it has flaws but fewer over all. For passing it should be QBR. Best of a series of bad choices with the passing game- yards per attempt is pretty good but also has flaws.
 

SixisBetter

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yds per game has always been a dumb way to rate either an offense or Defense. Brutally speaking points (not counting for the D special teams or fumble returns and pick 6 plays) and for the O no D scores or special teams. After all that is how the score is kept in the end.

As regards rushing then yards per carry makes more sense then any other stat. Sure it has flaws but fewer over all. For passing it should be QBR. Best of a series of bad choices with the passing game- yards per attempt is pretty good but also has flaws.

I'll alert the NFL moron.
 

Doomsday

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As regards rushing then yards per carry makes more sense then any other stat.
Except it doesn't and that's not how they are ranked.

Here's what renders YPC meaningless you dumbass - when you rank 20th in rushing attempts per game. This is why the teams are NOT ranked that way.
 
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