SB Nation User Blog: BoyfromOz

Who is Tony Romo?

BoyfromOz — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:30:37 -0000

Is Tony the next in the line of great Dallas Cowboy QB’s (Staubach and Aikman) or is he going to leave with good, perhaps even great, stats but ultimately the frustration of unmet expectations (Danny White)?

To assess this I have tried to pull together a summary of my view of the key attributes of Romo as I see them.

He is talented

There is little doubt he has the talent. He has a history of strong personal performance, going back to Eastern Illinois (3 x 3x OVC Player of the Year (2000–2002) and Walter Payton award in 2002.

He has performed from the first game he stepped into the starter’s role. In around 2.5 seasons he has already broken several Cowboy passing records. His QB rating is phenomenal – Aikman didn't break 90 till his 5th year, Brady never had a year better than Romo's until ’07 and Peyton's didn't until his 6th year. And he made the pro bowl his first two seasons.

He is a nice guy with a calm demeanour

You don’t hear of many NFL starting QB’s changing an old couple’s tire after a game or buying a homeless person a movie ticket – and then sitting next to them! He has real character. He is not a rah-rah but I am not sure he needs to be. But the downside of this personality in a locker-room or on the field is that he likely does not hold his teammates to account enough.

He has never won a playoff game, at any level

His high-school team wasn’t good enough to ever get in the playoffs. Eastern Illinios made the playoffs each of Romo’s 3 years as a starter but lost each time. In 2001 they lost narrowly despite a 5-TD effort from Romo. In 2002, they got killed including 2 turnovers from Romo. You are all more than familiar with his record in the NFL…. This creates a hurdle of self-believe but I think Romo's resilience can overcome this.

He is resilient

He has shown a great ability to bounce back from adversity. His 2007 performance was not impacted by the Seattle fumble. He came back from a 6 turnovers to help his team to victory against Buffalo. Sometimes those early losses set up a lack of belief that manifests itself in further failures (e.g. Levy’s Bills – lost SB narrowly then got blown out in later years….). I don’t think Romo is at this point yet.

I think the danger with this resilience is that he puts too much on himself and continues to take too many risks. In the playoffs this can kill you, as we have seen….

He is “philosophical” (but he does care)

Often with strengths there is another side to the coin. His nice guy personality and resilience I think also lead him to take a pretty balanced view of football – it is not the be-all and end-all for him. There has been a lot of flak over both the Calvin Watkins article and some of Romo’s press conference comments so I won’t rehash it here. But there is also a counter-point from Todd Archer.

This is where Aikman's advice resonates strongly. Romo has not handled perceptions well. Perhaps this is due to his rapid transition from obscurity to NFL star, perhaps due to his balanced view, but he does need to do this better. I personally don't believe his trip to Cabo was a big deal, but it undoubtly created much unneeded pressure and distraction. Perceptions do matter in the NFL, because the mediots are always looking for an angle.

He practices hard, but perhaps without sufficient discipline

These two articles also raise seemingly contradictory points about Romo’s practice habits which I had trouble reconciling. But after reviewing carefully and looking at other evidence (e.g. Woodson’s DC podcasts – great listening BTW) I think I have a view that reconciles them.

There is plenty of evidence of Romo’s work ethic in Archer’s article and from the past few years. Question is whether, as some believe, the fame and fortune has changed these habits. I don’t think so. If you read the CW article carefully it is not critical of HOW HARD Romo practices, but HOW he practices:

“ Romo, sources said, often forced throws in practice and often did not treat practice work consistently.”

I believe the issue is that he is not serious enough in practice and does not execute in practice how he should in the game. This carries over into game situations where he does force the ball when he shouldn’t or pre-determine which receiver is getting the ball regardless of coverage.

It seemed to me that there were a lot of throws this year where there was clear communication issues – even with Witten. Passes where the receiver never turned around or clearly wasn’t expecting the ball. Now I am sure that not all of those were Romo’s fault, but it is disciplined repetition in practice that would reduce the number of those errors or issues, whether by the receiver or Romo.

My “Romo recipe” for success

In my view Romo has both the physical talent and the resilience to be one of the Cowboy “greats”, but there are a few things he needs to do to get over that hump.

1. Lead by example. Got to hold yourself accountable before you can hold others accountable.

2. Continue to work hard – but practice with discipline, focus and concentration. Sset the tone for others as Aikman did. [The coaches hold the greater responsibility here though]

3. I don’t think he can change his nice guy personality and honestly I wouldn’t want him to. But he must hold people to account even if he knows they won’t take it well. If the player responds badly, then the coaches and other players must stand by Romo.

4. Manage perceptions - don't give the mediots any ammunition.

5. Don’t try to win it by yourself, limit mistakes and check-down or throw it away.

There was a short quote in his Eagles press conference that didn’t get much attention. “We didn’t show it today, and I’m disappointed and frustrated. But we will be better next year, I promise you that.”

I for one am looking forward to it.

We are 0-8 in our final regular season game this century

BoyfromOz — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:28:52 -0000

I knew we were bad in December under both Big Bill and Little Bum but I did not know we have not yet won our last regular season game this century.

While there were a number of meaningless games in there, there were also 2 awful losses to Detroit.

Will this be the week....

2007 27-6 loss to skins in a meaningless game

2006 That awful 39-31 loss to Detroit at home - in a game the Lions would have been better off losing. (Detroit!)

2005 20-10 Loss to St Louis after the team found out just before the game they weren't going to the playoffs either way.

2004 28-24 Loss to NYG - with them scoring 21 pts in 4th quarter to take the win (we both finished 6-10)

2003 10-5 boys lose to 7-8 saints 13-7

2002 Led by "the Chad" we go down 20-14 at the Skins (the last of the 5-11 years)

2001 A sorry 5-10 Boys team losses to an even sorrier Detroit 1-14 team (Detroit!) (again!)

2000 Ouch. 0-31 @ Tennessee. Maybe this one set the tone.

1999 Hooray - a win - vs NYG at home 26-18. Jason Tucker was our leading receiver with 122 yards (who?)

Colombo Re-Signed through 2012

BoyfromOz — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:56:15 -0000

Colombo Re-Signed through 2012

That's great - Thanks Jerry - nothing like continuity on an o-line. (Doesn't say much for Free though....)

Injury plague – bad luck or bad management?

BoyfromOz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:29:31 -0000

There was an interesting bit of analysis on Dallas in the Football Outsiders Prospectus for 2008.

We have (had?) the lowest injury rate in the NFL for the last 5 years to 2007 -by a considerable margin. We showed an average 3.6 "adjusted games lost" vs 8.2 for Houston in 2nd place. No other team was under 10. So we are way out in front.

They noted there is an element of luck, but said over 5 years this should even out. They attributed to this strong performance to Joe Juraszek and how he works on "functional fitness" using trampolines, exercise balls etc and not just old fashioned lifting and sprints – as well as to the medical staff.

They also noted that when we did get injuries, they tended to not keep our players out for long - again attributed to JJ. They did say more teams in the league are now following these approaches.

Of course no sooner do they print that analysis and we get hit with:

Kosier, RW1, Anderson, Watkins, Spencer, Austin, Hurd, Scandrick, Newman, McBriar, Felix, Romo,....

What really bothers me though is the number of re-injuries:

Kosier – returns and re-injured

RW1 – returns and re-breaks the hard

Newman – plays when clearly injured and has to have surgery

Hurd – returns and re-injured and out for season

Watkins – been in and out

Scandrick – been in and out

Austin – been in and out

Witten – gets cleared to rejoin the game and turns out he has a fractured rib! Lucky he had the good sense to stay out.

And to top it all, Felix gets hurt while re-habbing an unrelated injury!

What the heck is happening? Is this Karma catching up with us big time? I know Juraszek is still around. Any insiders know if anything significant has changed with his training approach or the team’s medical staff?

Henson Cut - Did Tex make it over?

BoyfromOz — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:02:36 -0000

Henson Cut - Did Tex make it over?

Drew Henson just got cut by the Lions. Now there's something you wouldn't want on your resume.

Did Tex make it over from BSR? Here's your chance - see if you can persuade Jerry to pick him up....