NFL Week 5 Dallas Cowboys Roundup
Oct 09 '07
The Bottom Line dallas cowboys stuff
Okay, so my favorite team since I was a little kid was and is the Dallas Cowboys. They won a really ugly game last night in Buffalo, with Tony Romo throwing 5 picks and losing a fumble for the hell of it. Yet, during the post game interviews, he was joking around. When Suzy Kolber asked him how he felt about throwing 4 INTs in the first half, he said with a smirk, "Really? It was 4? I thought it was 7..." He took all the blame for keeping the game close and gave credit to everyone else.
Tony Romo is resilient. In the worst game of his pro career, he was still 3/3 in two-minute drills, getting his team in field goal range or better each time. At the end of the first half, he quickly got the team in field goal range. Near the end of the game, he led the team on an 85 yard touchdown drive. And after the onside kick, he appears to complete a 20-something yard pass to TO to get them in field goal range. It was overturned. At this point, something's got to give, right? Nope, he completes a short dink to Marion "The Barbarian" Barber, who goes out of bounds, and then completes an out pass to Patrick "Hands" Crayton, and gets them in range for a 53 yard field goal.
What makes this more amazing is that he was terrible the entire game. He threw right into the hands of a leaping Buffalo DE, stared down Jason Witten way too much, and missed passes high and low. He's one of the slowest-starting QB's I've ever seen. But after the two-minute drill, he's a totally different monster. Make fun of him all you want for the botched snap in Seattle, but even there he drove down the team down into field goal range in the last two minutes. And he had been playing terrible all day. I don't have the exact stats on me, but I believe Romo is something like 14/15 on two-minute drills. He's failed to get the team in field goal range once in 16 or so games.
Romo also was by far the best QB on third downs last year and so far this year. Check footballoutsiders.com. And he was also the best QB by far on intermediate passes last year, according to KC Joyner's metrics. He also had the more yards per pass attempt than any other QB last year, which means that he wasn't just dinking and dunking to get a high completion percentage.
If Wade Philips finds some way to hypnotize Romo to get him to play every series like it's in the final 2 minutes of a half, watch out. Until then, he's going to get off to slow starts. I say the team makes up for it by trying to establish the run at the beginning of each half, and telling Romo to look for more checkdowns at first. Once he starts getting into a groove, then the team should start taking shots downfield.
Romo is clearly the man in Dallas, and possibly the most elusive QB in the league. He doesn't have the legs of a Young or Vick, but he has the quick release, and the instincts and wiggle to avoid sacks. Sure, he probably can't play as good as he did the first four games for the rest of the season. But it's only his second year playing, and was on pace for possibly the greatest statistical year for a QB ever. No one keeps up those kind of numbers. Dallas fans should look as the win with pride, that their team never stopped believing in their quarterback who had a terrible day, and that the QB in question had the moxie to perform when it counted the most.
Fantasy Random Tips
You might want to lay off Steve Smith as long as David Carr is playing, but their #3 QB Matt Moore might get a chance. Moore looked good in the preseason playing for Dallas and Carolina snatched him up right away as soon as the Cowboys released him, hoping to get him on the practice squad. Better yet, Moore might be so green that he might listen to Smith, who is undoubtebly telling him to get him the d-mn ball. But yeah, Delhomme's decision to have season-ending surgery definitely hurts Smith's value.
Patrick Crayton is for real. He probably has the best hands on the team, and will get the ball more and more as teams focus to shut down TO. After his Buffalo performance, TE Jason Witten will probably get his share of attention as well, which means that more balls will go Crayton's way. Crayton isn't particularly big or fast, but he's not slow either, and Romo trusts him. Who knows how big of a role he'll have if Terry Glenn comes back though. Crayton is normally the #3 receiver and as prolific this defense is, I don't think there's enough catches to go around if it comes to that. Glenn's coming off a serious injury though and while his surgery went well, there's no guarantee the aging speedster will be 100%.
Dallas D might reach waivers this week because they play the Pats next week. Jump on them. The D has been playing better every week, and in Buffalo, the defense only gave up 3 points and had two takeaways. Wade Philips' aggressive 3-4 is resulting in more sacks, more blitzes, and more interceptions. CB Terence Newman appears to be healthy, and CB Henry might be back in a few weeks. Once both corners are healthy, expect more sacks, because this will enable the team to play tighter coverage. Dallas has been getting great pressure on QB's so far this season, but teams have been countering with short passes, 3 step drops, and high school like playcalling (like the kid leash Trent Edwards was on last night). The secondary has been giving receivers a cushion because they have been depleted with injury. Once fully healthy, that cushion will be gone. They might give up the occasional big play, but they will also get more sacks and picks.
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