Archer: Cowboys keep Tony Romo clean in pocket

Cotton

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Cowboys keep Tony Romo clean in pocket

August, 25, 2013

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com


IRVING, Texas – The most impressive part of Tony Romo’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin was not the throw or the catch.

It was the pass protection. More specifically it was how clean the pocket was.

Romo was able to survey the field and go through all of his reads. As he stepped up, there was not a Cincinnati defender near him with center Travis Frederick knocking Wallace Gilberry so off balance that Gilbert actually wobbled.

Over the last few years, that has hardly been the case. Quarterbacks can deal with pressure off the edge because it is in their sight. Pressure up the middle is much more difficult and Romo has noticed a difference in the interior pass protection.

“When you are able to have that kind of time you can do a lot of things as a quarterback, moving a lot of different people a lot of different ways,” Romo said. “That's a testament to the guys up front giving me that kind of time. That play doesn’t happen over time in the past per se, so that was a (tribute) to the guys, how well they were playing and the stuff they are doing. That touchdown doesn’t happen unless they are playing at a high level up front.

“To me there is a lot of stuff I can do to help this football team if you are afforded that opportunity. They have been doing that. That is going to pay dividends as the season goes on.”
 

L.T. Fan

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Cowboys keep Tony Romo clean in pocket

August, 25, 2013

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas – The most impressive part of Tony Romo’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin was not the throw or the catch.

It was the pass protection. More specifically it was how clean the pocket was.

Romo was able to survey the field and go through all of his reads. As he stepped up, there was not a Cincinnati defender near him with center Travis Frederick knocking Wallace Gilberry so off balance that Gilbert actually wobbled.

Over the last few years, that has hardly been the case. Quarterbacks can deal with pressure off the edge because it is in their sight. Pressure up the middle is much more difficult and Romo has noticed a difference in the interior pass protection.

“When you are able to have that kind of time you can do a lot of things as a quarterback, moving a lot of different people a lot of different ways,” Romo said. “That's a testament to the guys up front giving me that kind of time. That play doesn’t happen over time in the past per se, so that was a (tribute) to the guys, how well they were playing and the stuff they are doing. That touchdown doesn’t happen unless they are playing at a high level up front.

“To me there is a lot of stuff I can do to help this football team if you are afforded that opportunity. They have been doing that. That is going to pay dividends as the season goes on.”
Now how can this be when most of the posters on this site says the OL "sucks".
 

Cowboysrock55

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Smitty

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I doubt Bernie falls on every play...

Even if he is blocking at a lower success rate then the rest of the guys it's not like your talking about a horrific amount of bad plays.
Not every play, but an unreasonable amount of plays compared to the average competent NFL lineman. Enough to consistently end drives.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Enough to consistently end drives.
Not really. Even the play you showed didn't end up in some massive disaster. The majority of the time he will get in the way of his defender well enough to allow a RB or QB to adjust if everything else is perfect.
 

Smitty

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Not really. Even the play you showed didn't end up in some massive disaster. The majority of the time he will get in the way of his defender well enough to allow a RB or QB to adjust if everything else is perfect.
It resulted in a loss of yards, yes?

Those types of plays are what kill drives off. Third and longs instead of third and 6's.
 

Smitty

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You're talking about a third and 8 instead of a third and 6 though.
Not if it's a loss of 2-3 instead of a gain of 2-3.

The bottom line is that those type of things end drives just as much as penalties do. You brushing it off like it's no big deal is very naive.
 

2233boys

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Free was just as sketchy. He'd run towards the defense with his head down hitting no one he did it twice that I saw.
 

Jiggyfly

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It resulted in a loss of yards, yes?

Those types of plays are what kill drives off. Third and longs instead of third and 6's.
It was the only play Atkins made all night and the real problem on the play was Hannah getting blown up it was his guy that made the tackle.
 

Smitty

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Free was just as sketchy. He'd run towards the defense with his head down hitting no one he did it twice that I saw.
He didn't get beat in the passing game TOO much, but he also didn't do much in the run game either, I agree.
 

Genghis Khan

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Not really. Even the play you showed didn't end up in some massive disaster. The majority of the time he will get in the way of his defender well enough to allow a RB or QB to adjust if everything else is perfect.
Correct.
 

Smitty

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It's not correct. Look at the video of Phil Costa.

I guess Romo could have "adjusted" out of those blunders.
 

Genghis Khan

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No it's very correct. Parading around a single photo from a drive that didn't find it "impossible" to move the ball is pretty obtuse.
 

Smitty

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No it's very correct. Parading around a single photo from a drive that didn't find it "impossible" to move the ball is pretty obtuse.
No it's not correct.

It's one photo that encapsulates a recurring problem. A problem that makes it generally impossible to convert the number of times you need to sustain consistent scoring drives.
 
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