Tag archives for tony romo

NFL Week Eight Review

2nd November 2009 by SportsFags under NFL     

The NFL season is closing in on the halfway point and thankfully that brings an end to Favre’s revenge on the Packers. With both Packers / Vikings games behind us let’s take a look at the big stories from another weekend featuring more blowouts than close games.

Dallas QB Tony Romo has gone 3 straight games without an INT

Dallas QB Tony Romo has gone 3 straight games without an INT

Seattle Seawhawks 17
Dallas Cowboys 38
Tony Romo’s 3rd straight game without an interception and the Cowboys are on a 3 game winning streak. In he three Cowboys losses the team is -10 in the turnover battle, in their 5 wins +10. Romo completed passes to ten different receivers on Sunday and appears to be settling into an offense where he doesn’t have to worry about one receiver demanding the ball and all of the attention.

Denver Broncos 7
Baltimore Ravens 30
Baltimore’s offense continues it’s hot start by putting up 30 on what had been the leagues best defense through the first six games of the season. The Ravens took on their fourth straight division leading opponent on Sunday and knowing they had lost the previous three — New England, Cincinnati and Minnesota — this was a critical game and a huge win. For Denver the remaining schedule has four winnable games, Oakland, Washington and two against the Kansas City Chiefs which should be enough for the Broncos to win the division.

Houston Texans 31
Buffalo Bills 10
The Texans are now 5-3 but have only played two teams with a winning record, Arizona and Cincinnati. The second half of the schedule includes the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins and two dates against the Indianapolis Colts. Nine wins is not going to get you into the playoffs in the AFC so the Texans will have to pull off a big win against one of those three teams. Buffalo falls to 3-5 as they Bills only muster 204 yards. Of course it’s not TO’s fault, it’s the quarterback, right?

Ted Ginn Jr. returns 2 kickoffs for TDs in Miami's win at New York

Ted Ginn Jr. returns 2 kickoffs for TDs in Miami's win at New York

Miami Dolphins 30
New York Jets 25
The Dolphins win at New York was not a big surprise as they are clearly better than their record. However, the Dolphins only managed to gain 104 yards offensively and needed two kickoff returns for TDs from Ted Ginn Jr. to survive the Jets. Miami has made it through the toughest part of their schedule against teams whose combined win-loss record is 32-18. The Fish appear primed to make a playoff push against a remaining schedule whose combined win-loss record is 30-35. For the Jets, Mark Sanchez was solid against the Dolphins completing 20 out of 35 for 265 yards and 2 TDs and no interceptions but this loss is hard to explain. At the end of the year this is likely to be the game the Jets point to as the reason why they missed the playoffs.

Side note: Would someone please inform the Jets the novelty of the throwback uniform is lost when you wear it every friggin week!

Cleveland Browns 6
Chicago Bears 30
As expected, the Chicago Bears beat up on the lowly Browns. Jay Cutler directed the offense to two offensive TDs but did not throw a TD pass for the first time this season. Good news for Brady Quinn admirers, Quinn replaced a struggling Derek Anderson late in the fourth quarter but the Browns have now lost 13 of its last 14 games. The remaining schedule for the Bears gets considerably tougher with Arizona, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minnesota up next.

Brett Favre celebrates a triumphant return to Green Bay

Brett Favre celebrates a triumphant return to Green Bay

St Louis 17
Detroit 10
Enough said.

Minnesota 38
Green Bay 26
Brett Favre was booed loudly in his return to Green Bay, but, like he did in Minnesota earlier this year, he leaves the field with his arms raised in victory against his former team. Hopefully now the Favre versus Green Bay stories will come to an end and we can focus on how well this Vikings team is playing. A NFC North Division championship seems like a certainty, unless the Bears are able to knock them off twice in the second half of the season, a really unlikely scenario.

Indianapolis Colts 18
San Francisco 14
The Colts get a TD pass from running back Joseph Addai on a half-back option in the fourth to beat the 49′ers. The Colts other quarterback, Payton Manning, gets sacked three times and fails to throw a TD pass but the Colts defense shut out the 49′ers in the second half. 49′ers quarterback Alex Smith, a gay favorite, played well in his first start in nearly two years, going 19-32 for 198 yards and 1 TD. If the 49′ers can get healthy on the offensive line, a favorable schedule could keep them in the playoff race till the end.

Oakland Raiders 16
San Diego Chargers 24
The good news for the Chargers is that they’ve won two in a row and they’re known as a team that goes on long winning streaks. The bad news for the Chargers is that they are also known for losing streaks and their next three games are at the NY Giants, who were just embarrased, home for the Eagles and at Denver. The Raiders showed some signs of life and have some nice young talent but are rudderless with JaMarcus Russell at the helm.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young celebrates (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young celebrates (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Jacksonville Jaguars 13
Tennessee Titans 30
Jeff Fisher was forced to start Vince Young at quarterback by owner Bud Adams and Young responded well completing 15 of 18 passes for 125 yards and 1 TD. However, the most important number for Young was 0 turnovers, which is something that has plagued his less than stellar NFL career. There’s no chance in hell of the Titans of making the post season, so consider the rest of the season as Vince Young’s opportunity to convince the Titans not to draft a quarterback in next year’s draft.

Carolina Panthers 34
Arizona Cardinals 21
Although it probably will not impact whether the Cardinals make the post season, this was a really bad loss for Arizona. Carolina racked up 270 yards on the ground against the NFLs top rush defense. Before he could throw an interception, Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme left the game with a chest injury. And in a strange reversal of fortunes it was Cardinal’s quarterback Kurt Warner who threw five interceptions. To their credit, the Panthers took advantage of the Cardinal miscues but Arizona should just write this one off as a game they gave away and move on.

New York Giants 17
Philadelphia Eagles 40
The Giants, who have now lost three in a row, are looking up at both Philadelphia and Dallas in the NFC East and have a brutal schedule down the stretch. Eli Manning was awful, going 20-39 for 222 yards with 1 TD and 2 INTs, finishing the day with a 55.7 rating. Donovan McNabb once again proved why Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot, completing 17 of 23 passes for 240 yards and 3 TDs. The Eagles got 82 yards on 11 carries from rookie running back LeSean McCoy and another 75 yards on 8 carries from fullback Leonard Weaver, who had been used primarily as a run blocker and outlet receiver this season.

Atlanta Falcons
New Orleans Saints
To be considered an elite team in the NFC, the Falcons need to beat a quality opponent, and they got another chance tonight against New Orleans. The emergence of Pierre Thomas has taken some of the pressure off of Drew Brees and the Saints must win to stay ahead of the Vikings in the race for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

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Glory days for Cowboys haters

12th October 2009 by SportsFags under NFL     

If you are a Cowboys hater, like me, these are our glory days. Yes, they beat the winless Chiefs on Sunday but few would argue that the on-the-field product is headed in the right direction. As it stands five games into the 2009 season the Cowboys are on the outside of the playoffs looking in and barring injuries it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which they would play better than Atlanta or Philadelphia to take a spot away from one of them.

So this season will mark 13 years since the Cowboys won a playoff game. Calls to dismiss Wade Phillips are growing louder but it’s not his fault. Imagine you manage a team at your place of business and the boss of you makes the final hiring decisions and encourages your employees to come to him their issues and grievances. Don’t you think your credibility would be undermined a bit? You think they would truly have respect for you?

jerry_jonesWe all know that no coach of the Cowboys will be successful unless Jerry changes his ways. Do we really think they guy who just put down close to $1B of his own money on some new diggs is about to stop micro-managing the product that plays under that roof? That’s why this is so great for us Cowboys haters — this could realistically last until Jerry steps aside. He’s only 62 years old! As Cowboy haters we should continue to stir up the discontent felt by Cowboys fans, but let’s not blame it on the owner. Let’s use reverse-pyschology and Jerry’s ego to keep him fired up and going.

As Cowboys haters we should be eternal optimist with Jerry’s man Tony Romo. Let us step forward and bombard talk radio and message boards about letting TO go was such a bad idea — remember it was Stephen Jones, Jerry’s son, who pushed for TO to go. Stephen may just be smart so let’s convince Jerry otherwise. Wade is a defensive genius alright but don’t you think Jerry should have some more input on blitz packages?

If you look at the successful teams there’s no doubt who’s in charge. You think the Rooneys are jacking around with Tomlin in Pittsburgh? Josh McDaniels rolled into Denver, laid down the law and All-Pro and All-Universe Douchebag Jay Cutler was traded to Chicago. He instilled discipline from day one and was able to win over Brandon Marshall with a tough love approach. In your wildest imagination could you ever dream of a scenario where say Bill Cowher takes the Cowboys job, has an argument with Romo and is able to move him to another team? Hell no!

A coach in charge is not the only key to success — see Kansas City, Cleveland and Tampa Bay — but no franchise has shown an ability to win without it. So Cowboys haters let us extol the virtues of Jerry’s fabulous new stadium, his football acumen, his coaching decisions and player selection. If we keep stroking the ego we can keep these glory days rolling!

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The QB Debate

7th October 2009 by under NFL     

No I’m not going to debate that Peyton is the best QB in the league; you can’t debate such an obvious fact as that. This particular debate is about something else. I’ll let the great Ray Lewis and Rodney Harrison explain it:

The new roughing the passer rules that have been enacted are in place to protect the QB from serious injury. I support that concept because even though it is football and it is a physical sport, no one wants to see someone get injured. Leave that stuff for the thrill seekers watching NASCAR for the crashes. However, that being said, IT’S FOOTBALL!!! Give me a break! Rules prohibiting helmet to helmet tackles or spearing and leading with your helmet are all great rules, but rules attempting to punish a player for something uncontrollable like his momentum as he’s running to do his job and make a sack are ridiculous. I think that these rules are created with the best of intentions, but the problem with them is that impossibility to standardize them. The calling will always be at the discretion of the referee making the call and therefore mistakes will always be made. This leaves the league open to the criticism that certain QBs (Brady, Manning’s, Romo) are getting special treatment while your Russell, Quinn, and Campbell get ignored.

It seems that the next step is to make it so that the QB simply plays in a bubble and can’t be touched at all. I don’t tune in every week to watch touch or flag football. As Lewis said, they’re playing too and wearing the uniform like everyone else. When you lace up those cleats and step out onto that field, you do so with the acknowledgment of what you’re getting yourself into. Stop coddling the QBs and let them play the game!

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Little D in Dallas

24th September 2009 by SportsFags under NFL     

romoAs fans, bloggers and just general observers of sports we are quick to point out players who don’t play well or make mistakes. Fairly or unfairly, a struggling quarterback usually bears the wrath of disgruntled fans.

Such is the case with Tony Romo this week. To his credit, Romo accepted full responsibility for the Cowboys loss. So did CB Orlando Scandrick whose mistakes are harder for the average fan to pick out but just as costly. These Cowboys shy away from finger pointing and reflect upon their own performance or the team as a whole. Individual accountability is in vogue in this locker room. That in and of itself is a not just a small step but a huge leap towards developing team chemistry. Something that was almost non-existent with Terrell Owens in the locker room last season.

But to simply say that Tony Romo costs the Cowboys against the Giants is a lazy sports fans observation. Romo may be the scape goat but the defense has been atrocious. Mix one part struggling QB and one part poor defense and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Yes, at this stage in his career, Romo should be beyond the inconsistency that usually plagues younger quarterbacks. It should come as no surprise to Cowboy nation that over the course of a NFL season Tony is going to make some poor decisions and turn the ball over. You are what you are. Wade Phillips and Jerry Jones need to be honest with themselves about what they have at quarterback.

The Cowboys have a quarterback who will make some big plays and, against better defenses, will probably make some bad decisions. After all, Romo’s big plays and the ground game overcame a poor defensive effort in the first game against the Bucs. And consequently, after the Giants game the talk is of Romo’s turnover and the poor defense. What’s the common thread here? Poor defense.

A good defense, or even a decent one, can help pick up the quarterback when they make mistakes. Not this one. This defense is absolutely horrible right now. In training camp we heard all about how the Cowboys upgraded its secondary speed which would allow them to be more aggressive with man-to-man coverage. Well it’s time for Jerry and Wade to be honest with themselves about what they have on the defensive side of the ball.

When Mario Manningham and Steve Smith (not the All-Pro Steve Smith of the Panthers) rack up 20 catches on Terrance Newman and Orlando Scandrick you may want to re-think the man-to-man look. And considering the good Steve Smith, the All-Pro one, is coming to town Monday night the Cowboys need some help in the secondary.

The Cowboys rank 30th in yards allowed per game (438.5) and 30th in passing yards allowed per game (303) and 24th in rush yards allowed per game (135.5). It’s the only defensive unit in the NFL that hasn’t created a single turnover or registered a sack through the first two games of the season. You have to be honest with yourself before you can improve.

I would argue that defensively the Cowboys were lulled into a false sense of security against the Bucs. Tampa Bay’s game plan was to run and throw short passes — they averaged 6.6 yards per catch against Dallas. If, like Wade, you believed you had a speed advantage in the secondary it wouldn’t have been exposed against that offensive game plan. So the Cowboys rolled into the Giants game feeling good about their aggressive man-to-man scheme. Against the Giants, the Cowboys geared up to stop the ground game Brandon Jacobs and, in turn, Eli Manning picked apart the slow man-to-man coverage of the Cowboys.

There’s a football saying that teams improve the most between week 1 and week 2 of the football season. After seeing the secondary exposed against the Giants, I expect Wade Phillips to adjust his defensive game plan and rebound well in week 3 against the Carolina Panthers.

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