How Tony Romo Became the Cowboys Quarterback

L.T. Fan

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How can a QB own all the records in Dallas and not be a good QB? The frustration belongs with the coaching staff and the GM personnel decisions for a good part of his career. You saw how the team has performed without him. Give the man his dues he has performed well at the position even though he has had a few snafus.
 

ravidubey

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Hating on Romo is misdirected emotion.

Using that hate to claim Dak is a better QB is just stupid.

I will say that because Dak is a rookie, the OC has actually been forced to fucking coach and call sensible plays.

Now let's keep that sensible playcalling, get Romo healthy and starting, and have Dak learn all while being the best backup in the game.

This offense is so damned potent we should be blowing people out and not just getting by them.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Hating on Romo is misdirected emotion.

Using that hate to claim Dak is a better QB is just stupid.
It's not hating on Romo to suggest Dak is better for this offense. It has everything to do with Dak and almost nothing to do with Romo. You shouldn't take offense that Dak and this offense are performing at amazing elite levels.

It's about the team and what they are doing right now.
 

ravidubey

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You shouldn't take offense that Dak and this offense are performing at amazing elite levels.
We should stop mixing in the whole offense, including the elite rushing attack and pass protection, when evaluating Dak. Those aspects of the offense are still there with any competent QB.

A telling stat is we are dead last in the NFL in pass attempts.

Right now the passing game is "working", not elite.

We're also tied for 23rd in passing TD's, 25th in passing yards, and 19th in YPG. Yes, we're 5th in YPA, but a lot of that is how we carefully pick our moments.

With this talent level we should be aiming higher than just "working".

The NFL is weak so far this year, and I want us to be one of the teams that rise not just now but at the end. Dak can get us there but he has to develop in a hurry. It might happen, but it's unfair to ask.

If Romo doesn't come back, it won't be because of Dak but because of his inability to overcome his injuries.
 

townsend

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Why was he not ready in 2005?

It was a rebuilding team and Romo could have had a couple of years under his belt while the team was getting better, what exactly did we get from Testeverde?

He most definitely should have started the season in 2006 that team would have probably played a home playoff game.
I don't know if I'd say it was a rebuilding team. It had a really strong start until Adams went down.

It was considered a playoff push at the time. We made a bunch of big moves in free agency.

Henry, Ferguson, Rivera, Aaron Glenn, Scott Fujita, Bledsoe (who was doing fine until our oline completely disintegrated), Price. We also signed Tank Johnson but it turned out he was spent.

That was just after our best draft if the decade.

That would have probably been an 11-5 if we had devoted resources to a swing tackle instead of 3rd running back, 4th receiver, or a guard that needed back surgery.
 

Cowboysrock55

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We should stop mixing in the whole offense, including the elite rushing attack and pass protection, when evaluating Dak. Those aspects of the offense are still there with any competent QB.

A telling stat is we are dead last in the NFL in pass attempts.

Right now the passing game is "working", not elite.

We're also tied for 23rd in passing TD's, 25th in passing yards, and 19th in YPG. Yes, we're 5th in YPA, but a lot of that is how we carefully pick our moments.

With this talent level we should be aiming higher than just "working".

The NFL is weak so far this year, and I want us to be one of the teams that rise not just now but at the end. Dak can get us there but he has to develop in a hurry. It might happen, but it's unfair to ask.

If Romo doesn't come back, it won't be because of Dak but because of his inability to overcome his injuries.
So you're pissed off that we are one of the few NFL teams that run a balanced offense? You might want to back away from the crack pipe. Offensive efficiency is what matters and we are the best in football at it. If you think Dak is just a bystander to that then you really might be smoking something right now.
 

ravidubey

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So you're pissed off that we are one of the few NFL teams that run a balanced offense? You might want to back away from the crack pipe. Offensive efficiency is what matters and we are the best in football at it. If you think Dak is just a bystander to that then you really might be smoking something right now.
#5 rush attempts #32 pass attempts.

Balanced.

We are 32nd in pass attempts because like 31st Eagles the teams are limiting their rookies' exposure.

They are rookies.
 

Cowboysrock55

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#5 rush attempts #32 pass attempts.

Balanced.

We are 32nd in pass attempts because like 31st Eagles the teams are limiting their rookies' exposure.

They are rookies.
Maybe every NFL team should do that with their QB, it leads to winning. We did the same "limiting" in 2014.

By the way, balanced refers to your run pass ratio. Could care less if most of the NFL is pass happy. We had years of that with Romo and years of failure.
 

1bigfan13

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We should stop mixing in the whole offense, including the elite rushing attack and pass protection, when evaluating Dak. Those aspects of the offense are still there with any competent QB.

A telling stat is we are dead last in the NFL in pass attempts.

Right now the passing game is "working", not elite.

We're also tied for 23rd in passing TD's, 25th in passing yards, and 19th in YPG. Yes, we're 5th in YPA, but a lot of that is how we carefully pick our moments.

With this talent level we should be aiming higher than just "working".

The NFL is weak so far this year, and I want us to be one of the teams that rise not just now but at the end. Dak can get us there but he has to develop in a hurry. It might happen, but it's unfair to ask.

If Romo doesn't come back, it won't be because of Dak but because of his inability to overcome his injuries.
You do know the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls playing this exact style of football, right?

You talk down on our passing game as if gaudy passing stats are all that matters.

Stop living in fantasy football land and actually watch the games.
 

ravidubey

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Maybe every NFL team should do that with their QB, it leads to winning. We did the same "limiting" in 2014.

By the way, balanced refers to your run pass ratio. Could care less if most of the NFL is pass happy. We had years of that with Romo and years of failure.
Dallas was 16th in pass attempts in 2014, not fricking 32nd.

In any case no pass offense that's last in attempts and 25th in passing TDs can be called "elite".

We're running more than we're passing right now. It should be either even or slightly reversed. We're also leaning on Zeke too much.

As for the pass-happy years, if Dak had the crap Romo had to work with in the past, I doubt he'd have been very successful either.
 

ravidubey

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You do know the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls playing this exact style of football, right?

You talk down on our passing game as if gaudy passing stats are all that matters.

Stop living in fantasy football land and actually watch the games.
The Giants aren't what I aspire to.

I'm a Cowboys fan.

Staubach, Dorsett, Pearson, Irvin, Emmitt, Aikman.

AND elite defenses.

My standards are much higher than the god damned Giants.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Dallas was 16th in pass attempts in 2014, not fricking 32nd.

In any case no pass offense that's last in attempts and 25th in passing TDs can be called "elite".
If they are #1 in QBR they sure as shit can be.
 

townsend

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Dallas was 16th in pass attempts in 2014, not fricking 32nd.

In any case no pass offense that's last in attempts and 25th in passing TDs can be called "elite".

We're running more than we're passing right now. It should be either even or slightly reversed. We're also leaning on Zeke too much.

As for the pass-happy years, if Dak had the crap Romo had to work with in the past, I doubt he'd have been very successful either.
Dak'a been tied or ahead at the half in every game this year (except in the loss to NY where he threw 45 times). Romo had to play from behind a lot more frequently in 2014.
 

ravidubey

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Dak'a been tied or ahead at the half in every game this year (except in the loss to NY where he threw 45 times). Romo had to play from behind a lot more frequently in 2014.
Agreed. Some of that has been the quality of opponent and success of Zeke but a lot of it has been Dak.

Romo's back contributed to a couple of very poor performances vs Philly and the 49ers.

All I can say is his net performance was still amazing.

That Williams TD vs Watt and the 3rd and 20 conversion in back to back weeks vs Houston and Seattle were both amazing QB play. The play in Seattle was after taking a cheap shot late hit to the stomach from Bobby Wagner.

I'll remember those plays for the rest of my life. Dak ain't there yet. He hasn't faced that kind of pressure yet.
 

townsend

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Agreed. Some of that has been the quality of opponent and success of Zeke but a lot of it has been Dak.

Romo's back contributed to a couple of very poor performances vs Philly and the 49ers.

All I can say is his net performance was still amazing.

That Williams TD vs Watt and the 3rd and 20 conversion in back to back weeks vs Houston and Seattle were both amazing QB play. The play in Seattle was after taking a cheap shot late hit to the stomach from Bobby Wagner.

I'll remember those plays for the rest of my life. Dak ain't there yet. He hasn't faced that kind of pressure yet.
I'm a huge Romo fan. Without him, we'd have been a 2 to 6 win team for most of the last decade.

But he hasn't gotten any more durable. I feel like Dak's youth, size, and strength are the reason he should stay in the lineup, all 3 losses Romo racked up in 2014 reg season (including the one where he forced himself back into the lineup, when his backup was playing fine) were due to his bad back. It was clearly bothering him in Green Bay too.

Dak can take hits and still continue to play well.
 

Texas Ace

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Dallas was 16th in pass attempts in 2014, not fricking 32nd.

In any case no pass offense that's last in attempts and 25th in passing TDs can be called "elite".
You're a pretty smart guy, Ravi, but you're way off here.

These things you're pointing out would be a problem if we were struggling to score points and move the football, and if we were just getting by and squeezing wins out of our ass.

But that's not what's happening. We are scoring close to 30 points a game and we're dominating teams with an efficient offense that limits its mistakes.

You're quick to point out that we aren't passing for many TD's, but you are conveniently leaving out that we are scoring a lot of rushing TD's. Why would we try and force a TD pass if we can easily run it in?

If a game or stretch comes where we can't run the ball and our passing game proves incapable of picking up the slack, then we can entertain this conversation.

For now, your stats don't hold water because of the games we're winning and the points we're scoring while doing so.
 

Smitty

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I was at that game, the weather was completely ridiculous, right around freezing, not cold enough for snow but a pretty consistent rain/sleet/freezing rain mixture. We won like 20-0 or something though with Hasselbeck's brother throwing like 5 interceptions so that was nice.
Hey, I was at that game too.
 

Smitty

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Maybe every NFL team should do that with their QB, it leads to winning. We did the same "limiting" in 2014.

By the way, balanced refers to your run pass ratio. Could care less if most of the NFL is pass happy. We had years of that with Romo and years of failure.
I dont think we were 32nd in pass attempts in 2014.
 
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Smitty

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You do know the Cowboys won 3 Super Bowls playing this exact style of football, right?

You talk down on our passing game as if gaudy passing stats are all that matters.

Stop living in fantasy football land and actually watch the games.
Ravid has said some crazy things in this Romo-Prescott debate but I don't think his point is meritless here. At some point to be an elite offense he's gonna have to be able to let the ball rip; you can't be an elite offensive team for an entire season without the threat of a 350 yard 3 TD passing performance to scare teams off the line.

So far Dak has been very efficient and it has been just enough in some games and more than enough in other games; and that includes wins against some very good teams.

But I do think I am waiting for him to show me he has that 300 yard wing it all over the field ability on at least a semi consistent basis. We haven't really needed it yet but is there a long term franchise QB, aside from maybe Russell Wilson, who doesn't have the ability to drop 300 in any given week?

Not saying Dak can't but I haven't seen it yet and I do have some reservations about it.
 
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