Cowboys' offense too Tony Romo-friendly. Romo-reliant

VA Cowboy

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Assuming Butler stays, maybe they think the position is already well-stocked. I know fans kid about Dallas drafting too many tight ends, but with Witten slowing down, Escobar being a massive bust and Hanna a JAG who does nothing particularly well, it might be wiser to go in that direction.
I'm not an Escobar fan mainly due to wasting a second on a TE we didn't need. But that aside I don't know how much is him being a bust but rather the staff being clueless on how to use him as a 2nd TE. A couple of games a year we'll target him and he'll make plays and score a few TDs ...then suddenly he vanishes off the face of the earth for games at a time. I have no idea why the coaches pushed so hard for him convincing JJ they would use and make the doubl ine TE set work and then rarely even try.

I pretty much expect that when Gavin leaves Dallas he'll be much more successful with his next team.

Long story short I have no interest in another TE until Witten is on his last leg or gone because we wasted picks on Benett and now Escobar primarily because the staff is clueless.
 
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Clay_Allison

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Dez included. Guy is rarely open. Even when healthy. Depends on athleticism to out jump DBs for ball.
Something tells me if Dez was in New England or Pittsburgh, in an offense that schemes to get opportunities for their top WR, he'd look wide open on a lot of plays.
 
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George: Is the Dallas Cowboys' offense too Tony Romo-friendly or too Tony Romo-reliant?

By Brandon George , Staff Writer

IRVING -- The Cowboys' team plane was rerouted from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Houston on Sunday night as they returned from their loss at Buffalo.

No, they weren't going to pick up cast-off quarterback Brandon Weeden, who started for Houston on Sunday and led the Texans to a 34-6 win at Tennessee.

Storms near D/FW Airport forced the Cowboys to divert to Houston. They were supposed to land at 8:40 p.m. but didn't get back until after midnight.

That's the kind of season it's been for the 4-11 Cowboys. Whatever can go wrong has.

But at the top of the list has been the Cowboys' inability to win without Tony Romo. Kellen Moore became the fourth Cowboys quarterback to start this season Sunday and met a similar fate as his predecessors Weeden and Matt Cassel.

Cowboys backup quarterbacks are a combined 1-10 this season. The common denominator among the three: They've played in the same offensive system that has been tailored for Romo to maximize his skill set.

Take a step back to February 2009. That's the first time Cowboys owner Jerry Jones uttered the words "Romo-friendly."

For more than five years, the Cowboys have tried to build an offense that is Romo-friendly. Is it too Romo-friendly, or simply too Romo-reliant?

Maybe it's both. For the fourth time this season, the Cowboys failed to score an offensive touchdown in losing to the Bills 16-6.

"I think our offense is flexible enough really to adapt to anybody," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Monday. "That's what we try to do. We believe in our system of football on offense."

Meanwhile, Weeden was completing 15 of 24 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns against the Titans. He even ran for a touchdown.

This wasn't check-down Weeden, the quarterback the Cowboys became used to earlier this season before they cut him Nov. 17. Weeden completed eight passes of 10 or more yards down the field, including two for touchdowns.

One of the reasons Weeden was replaced by Cassel was because he was handcuffed in the Cowboys' offense, told not to take chances down the field.

Suddenly, Weeden is flourishing in the Texans' offense, putting Houston in position for a playoff berth.

Cassel finally ended the Cowboys' 0-7 run with backup quarterbacks starting by winning at Washington earlier this month. But he, too, struggled in Garrett's offense with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan calling the plays.

Cassel's run as the Cowboys' quarterback came to a stumbling conclusion 10 days ago against the Jets in a game in which he appeared more lost than ever.
And that was Cassel's seventh start for the Cowboys.

"Basically if you have a quarterback with a skill set, everybody knows you want to adjust your team to the skill set of that particular individual," Jones said recently.

"Then ... you lose that guy to an injury, whether it be temporarily or it be for several games. The next guy has a different skill set, but ... all your blocking and all your receiving and all your timing had a lot to do with that [first quarterback's] skill set.

"It's a challenge. It's our game. To me, it's the life we've chosen."

For whatever reason, the Cowboys haven't figured out how to adjust their Romo-friendly offense to fit the skill set of their backup quarterbacks.

With Romo's body continuing to break down from back surgeries to fractured collarbones, the Cowboys need an offense that is more quarterback-friendly than Romo-friendly.

Linehan said he's never been a part of a season in which a team has struggled so much to score touchdowns.

"It's been an Achilles heel of ours, and there's going to be a time for that evaluation and talking about what we do and what the reasons are," Linehan said after Sunday's loss. "[You're] not going to win enough games if you don't put enough points on the board on offense, that's for sure."
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Are you fucking kidding me?? That's bullshit! This offense blows. I really think he believes this shit!!
 

Clay_Allison

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I wonder if Weeden was just a guy that Jerry liked and Garrett and Linehan didn't, so they pretty much refused to let him play and begged for another guy to replace him.

Weeden always looked better in relief than starting here, because the coaches would game plan him completely out of the offense when he was scheduled to start. Houston just runs the regular offense and he's able to get some work done with the one thing he has going for him that Garrett wouldn't let him use, his arm.
 

p1_

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Notice no mention of the failed bit that is Devin Street? Geez that was a major whiff. Guy couldn't catch a cold.
 

ravidubey

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Wheres that come from? Either way I want another WR because we have one #1 and no #2.
The funny thing is if they get a legit #2, it won't push Williams down to #3 but probably pushes him off the starting three-wide lineup.

These coaches don't believe in cross training the WRs, so we're stuck with Beasley in the slot no matter how much potential the real #3 has. The WR pipeline doesn't exist in Dallas.
 

L.T. Fan

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The funny thing is if they get a legit #2, it won't push Williams down to #3 but probably pushes him off the starting three-wide lineup.

These coaches don't believe in cross training the WRs, so we're stuck with Beasley in the slot no matter how much potential the real #3 has. The WR pipeline doesn't exist in Dallas.
Beasley is fine for the slot.
 

Chocolate Lab

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I wonder if Weeden was just a guy that Jerry liked and Garrett and Linehan didn't, so they pretty much refused to let him play and begged for another guy to replace him.

Weeden always looked better in relief than starting here, because the coaches would game plan him completely out of the offense when he was scheduled to start. Houston just runs the regular offense and he's able to get some work done with the one thing he has going for him that Garrett wouldn't let him use, his arm.
I'm hearing a lot of blame-shifting in the DFW media. The last few days some ESPN Dallas guys have claimed Garrett told Jerry over the summer he didn't think Weeden could do it. Then there was an article that Linehan was praising Weeden to Jerry. But the radio guys have also claimed Cassel was a Jerry move.

Notice how Garrett is blameless, like always. "Plausible deniability" should be JG's middle name.

But given Garrett's incredible conservatism and risk-aversion in everything from his game management to his press conferences, I have no doubt he was the one hammering away to be careful and not make mistakes to both Weeden and Cassel.
 

Cowboysrock55

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But given Garrett's incredible conservatism and risk-aversion in everything from his game management to his press conferences, I have no doubt he was the one hammering away to be careful and not make mistakes to both Weeden and Cassel.
Makes me wonder if he doesn't do that to Romo as well but that Romo is just such a crazy risk taker that it somehow works. For an average QB however it just beats them into dog shit. Not that Cassel and Weeden are even decent QBs but we sure as hell should have done better with them.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Makes me wonder if he doesn't do that to Romo as well but that Romo is just such a crazy risk taker that it somehow works. For an average QB however it just beats them into dog shit. Not that Cassel and Weeden are even decent QBs but we sure as hell should have done better with them.
I think Tony pretty much ignores Garrett as much as possible and does what he wants. Just look at how he treats him on the sideline this year at timeouts. It's almost like he's the coach and Garrett is just in the way.
 

ravidubey

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What good would it do to replace him without Romo. In fact who would perform.without him?
But we should have Romo.

And suppose the Cowboys beat Washington and pick 7th or 8th and Treadwell is available at that pick. With two Dez Bryants as receiving targets, that pushes Terrance Williams down from #2, but if Beasley remains in the slot then Williams becomes the 4th WR.

That's silly... no way should Beasley take the field before Williams. I'm a bit down on Williams-- but not that far down!
 
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