How I Became a Fan

[Statman]

Watkins: A look at Tony Romo under duress

This is a post by mindswat, dated a little over two years ago.

"How a quarterback performs under pressure can make or break games or seasons. While Romo can make plays on the run, sometimes he holds the ball too long, which leads to problems."

And that's all I was trying to say.

I described it inaccurately, that's on me, and I'll take the heat. I also didn't qualify the statement with specific numbers and that left me open for being interpreted as saying this is an issue 100% of the time, which it obviously is not. I should have said, "on occasion" or "there is a significant number of times" or something similar.

I'll raise the white flag on this debate and admit defeat on the quick release take. I did learn more positive things about Tony's game while researching so I'm grateful for the challenge.

There may be some out there that thought I was going to hopelessly cling to a dying opinion, making me look even more foolish and stubborn. Sorry to disappoint you. My worst fear is looking like a hypocrite, I can't expect to sway opinions if I'm not open minded enough to accept a stronger case presented by another.

Nice to see posters coming together to create a tag team and high fiving each other for their contributions in kicking my ass. Apparently, I'm a uniter.

This is where you guys become the benevolent victors, instead of rubbing my face in it.......um, yeah.......let's see how that works out.

 

[peplaw06]

Hey that's how you cede to another side of the debate. None of us know everything there is to know about this game. We've all been wrong before.

 

[JBond]

, what a joke! And you guys think I'm a troll?

You guys act like Tony Romo is the second coming of Joe Montana. The guy was cultivated for three years. he was coddled, protected, and bottle fed by Bill Parcells. He's a smart, hard working innovative guy but he is not, nor has he ever been, a blue chip talent.

Tony Romo can find the open receiver but he better be real open, or Tony is looking elsewhere. Romo can't thread it, doesn't have the arm, never did. He has no quick release, his escapability has kept him in the NFL. He's a glorified bus driver that can only be successful if he has a state of the art team built for him.

Tony didn't play until Jerry Jones bought the best O-line he could find. He went above and beyond to find the best receivers, trading future draft picks, signing talented headaches like TO. They drafted RB's in the 1st and 2nd rounds.

From 2006 to 2010 no team had more O-linemen in the Pro Bowl than the Dallas Cowboys. There had been only one year in which he didn't have a thousand yard receiver and in 5 seasons he had 2.

In 2007 six of the eleven offensive starters made the Pro Bowl. They have been to the playoffs 4 times and what do they have to show for it?

Difficult to replace Tony Romo?.........they replaced him after he got hurt in 2011 when the Cowboys were 1-5 and they had a winning 2nd half of the season with Kitna.

I like Tony Romo but he is not difficult to replace, and Jason Garrett? Well, let's see.....as a former NFL quarterback and quarterback coach before becoming a coordinator and Head Coach.....I wouldn't be shocked of Jason already has his plans completely drawn up.

Yeah, yeah, I dared to question the ability of the sacred Tony Romo, man are you guys starving for some real accomplishments.

I am certainly enjoying you pissing off the perennial pissers and moaners. I am enjoying the ride of our current team, but to be honest I have little faith in JC. I am curious about your upcoming season predictions. I believe the the failure to aquire a lead rb will be our undoing. We will be good and look like contenders, but Cowboys fans count Lombardi trophies, not almost's.

Predictions of run/pass ratio? I expect the burden to shift back to Romo to pull our asses out of the fire multiple times this season. I expect at least seven games of 36+ pass attempts and will damn near guarantee our head coach will abandon the run in 3 losses when we had the lead in the third quarter. You are the new statguy. What do you think based on history and the current roster?

 

[Statman]

I am certainly enjoying you pissing off the perennial pissers and moaners. I am enjoying the ride of our current team, but to be honest I have little faith in JC. I am curious about your upcoming season predictions. I believe the the failure to aquire a lead rb will be our undoing. We will be good and look like contenders, but Cowboys fans count Lombardi trophies, not almost's.

Predictions of run/pass ratio? I expect the burden to shift back to Romo to pull our asses out of the fire multiple times this season. I expect at least seven games of 36+ pass attempts and will damn near guarantee our head coach will abandon the run in 3 losses when we had the lead in the third quarter. You are the new statguy. What do you think based on history and the current roster?

Well, I've looked at what I consider to be the best data and statistics when evaluating the offensive line and they are legit. This line is scary good and when you consider the aggressive moves to become even stronger this could be an historically elite squad. With the additions of Collins and perhaps Green, this squad is practically injury proof. You will have either Collins or Leary or even Free in a backup position. I'm not saying you can just pop anybody in there but the RB doesn't have to be a star, there just needs to be consistent effort.

At this point of their young careers, they are far better at run blocking than pass blocking, where they were pretty average. Teams were confusing them at times with their schemes but that is just inexperience. However, no HC or OC is going to pass up the opportunity to be aggressive in the run. I think there is going to be around a 50-40-10 percent ratio of plays involving the three eventual RB's and I think Randle is going to b the 40% guy. I just question his ability to be effective after 12-15 carries.

In this offense the RB also has important duties in the passing game and not just as a blocker. Murray was the teams 3rd leading receiver over the past 4 years. McFadden has shown he can be a receiving back but I'm definitely not sold on him.

It may have been overlooked but Chris Johnson has averaged 3 receptions per game played in his career. I'm not ruling out a surprise from rookie free agency. In any event, the Cowboys have options and they will find someone before opening day.

The balance is a must. The Cowboys are virtually unstoppable when Romo throws the ball less than 35 times, they only win 40% of the time when he throws more. About 32 throws is his sweet spot.

The greatest reason for overall improvement is simply familiarity with each other and the present system, For a while it seemed as though the defense or offense was changing their philosophy every year. Familiarity breeds consistency and a higher level of productivity as teammates become more cohesive.

Every relevant receiver has been in this system at least 3 years, Tony knows his guys, this offense will be like a machine. I'm real excited about the defensive line where we will see the greatest improvement. The front seven will be solid and I think we may find a pleasant surprise at CB.

Don't believe the naysayers, this team is going to do some really special things in the future, I think they build on what they accomplished in 2014, this team gets to at least the NFC championship in 2015.

As for Jason Garrett, he isn't the best gametime coach, he knows that and I believe he will improve. When you look back at the first 3-4 seasons of some of the best HC's in history, there were some real struggles, most got fired in their first gig. That includes many HC's whose teams eventually won multiple Super Bowls, guys like Belichik and Shannahan. I really think his strength is in organization, teaching, preparation, and team building by using competition and accountability among teammates as his main tools.

Tom Landry was not really that well liked among his players and his assistant coaches, they would call him Coach Sliderule, etc. Interestingly, accolades for leaders typically don't come until after they have succeeded in their goals, in this case, championships. Then history is rewritten somewhat, and the leaders are elevated to "charismatic", "innovative", and "inspirational".

A few years from now, I truly believe many opinions on Jason Garrett will change.

 

[JBond]

I became a fan before Hershal Walker. I had fans at a baseball game in the Bronx throw random things at me as a kid. This is a baseball situation. I vowed to mess with everyone in the tri-state area. Short version.

 

[SixisBetter]

Hey that's how you cede to another side of the debate. None of us know everything there is to know about this game. We've all been wrong before.

Quite so.