Archer: Jerry - Cowboys need more from Romo

Jerry: Cowboys need more from Romo

November, 21, 2013

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com


IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones showed his faith in Tony Romo in the offseason when he showered the quarterback with a $108 million contract extension.

At 5-5 with six games to play, Jones was asked if the Cowboys need more from Romo.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, and (more) than we had against New Orleans. But yes we do.”

Since throwing for a career-high 506 yards in a 51-48 loss to the Denver Broncos on Oct. 6, Romo’s numbers have declined. In the five games since, Romo has had two games in which he completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes. He has two games with less than 200 yards. Against Detroit he had 206 yards passing, and 110 of those yards came on two touchdown passes to Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams.

As a team the Cowboys have had fewer than 300 yards of offense in three games. In their only win in the past three, the Cowboys needed Romo to direct a 90-yard drive to beat theMinnesota Vikings in the final minute.

But Jones has no concern that Romo will find the mark once again, starting Sunday against the New York Giants.

“There’s an old adage that once you’ve seen players do it then you know they can do it,” Jones said. “Will they do it again? Or can they do it again? Or how often do they do it again? That’s the question. But they can do it. And Tony can do what we want him to do. And do what it takes to win this ballgame. That’s where I am. I am not concerned. As a matter of fact, we’re going into the game, Tony’s one of, if not the strength, one of the most important strengths of our entire team.”

Romo has a 6-6 regular-season record against the Giants. He has thrown for 3,268 yards with 27 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. He has five 300-yard and three four-touchdown games against the Giants.

A big time QB takes a team in turmoil and hoists them up on his shoulders...in closing, I don't expect that from Antonio.

Owner wants more out of Romo and the offense, which is averaging 278.4 yards per game the past five games

Since the Cowboys gained 522 yards against the Broncos in Week 5, including a career-best 506 passing yards by Tony Romo, they have sputtered. The Cowboys are averaging only 278.4 yards per game their past five games.

"I’d like to see us play like we did against Denver," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "I’d like to see us play like we played frankly against St. Louis. Those good games where we had good offensive games. I’d like to see that kind of offensive continuity. We need to get some drives going. We need to keep that defense off the field, all of that. That’s what I’d like to see."

Romo's numbers have fallen, too, and Jones said the Cowboys need more out of their quarterback, who signed a $108 million extension in the off-season.

"Yes,” he said. “Yes, and [more] than we had against New Orleans. But yes we do.”

In the past five games, the quarterback has completed 57.1 passes for an average of 231.6 yards per game with eight touchdowns and four interceptions. Romo explained it by saying he has thrown more passes away than normal to avoid taking sack, but he expects the offense as a whole to play better the rest of the season.

"Each week is going to come up different," Romo said Thursday, "but inherently you want to get to a point where you are playing at a high level week in and week out. That is our goal, and I think we are taking steps to ensure that."

-- Charean Williams

Romo agrees he needs to do more
November, 22, 2013

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said quarterback Tony Romo needs more production and that he can't have another game like he did against the New Orleans Saints.

Jones, of course is talking about Tony Romo, who is coming off a distasteful effort where he completed 10 of 24 passes for 128 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions in a 49-17 loss to the Saints two weeks ago.

Romo, when told about Jones' comments, agreed.

"Yeah, I think we do need more," Romo said. "I don’t think that’s going to get the job done. We just need to play better and we will."

Romo has produced a solid season with 21 touchdowns and just six interceptions. Romo is eighth in the NFL in completion percentage, though he's under 60 percent the last five games, and tied for third in touchdown passes. It's that Saints game, the last one he played in, that's currently on everybody's mind.

"You don’t want that ever to happen that’s over the course of years, it’s going to happen once," Romo said. "You just have to figure out why and make sure it doesn’t happen again, that’s our goal and objective going forward and you probably won't see another game like that for a while."

The man in charge of fixing the offensive woes of late, offensive coordinator/play caller Bill Callahan, said the bye week helped the Cowboys pinpoint what some of the biggest problems are.

The Cowboys have converted just eight of their last 36 third down passing attempts, which include a 0-9 stretch against the Saints. The Cowboys have also misfired on their last 12 third-down pass plays, with the last conversion coming in the third quarter of a tight victory against the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 3.

"I keep going back to third downs and those are crucial downs and if you're going to have success there, you will have another opportunity to extend drives," Callahan said. "So I would say that we haven’t had as many sustainable drives and opportunities which keeps your numbers down. If you're not, and you had a day that we did [against the Saints], then your numbers are not going to be up. That's my job to make sure those numbers need to be up."

When told about Jones' comments regarding more production from Romo, Callahan said something that could best describe everything: "We need more from everybody."

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Notice Romo said we and not I.