DENVER -- So much about Tony Romo's rise to NFL stardom has seemed mythical -- the small college background, his undrafted status, his ascension to starter under Bill Parcells' direction, his Pro Bowl selections in 2006-'07, the celebrity girlfriends and lifestyle.Now Romo's work performance as the Dallas Cowboys quarterback is increasingly under scrutiny, as is team owner Jerry Jones' decision to give his famous starter a six-year, $67.5 million contract extension midway through the '07 season. Sunday's sloppiness in a 17-10 loss in Denver to the 4-0 Broncos only gives the Romo skeptics more fodder.
Fact is, Romo and the Cowboys were beaten at a difficult road venue, Invesco Field, by a fired-up opponent brimming with momentum and confidence.
"They are No. 1 for a reason," Romo said of his encounter with the NFL's top-ranked defense, which limited him to 255 passing yards, sacked him five times, forced two costly turnovers and stopped him two times from tossing a game-tying touchdown pass in the waning seconds from the Denver 2-yard line.
Is Romo slipping, or are the Cowboys (2-2) facing tougher opponents since a Week 1
victory over a winless Tampa Bay team?In that 34-21 win over the Buccaneers, Romo passed for 353 yards and three touchdowns, posting a 140.6 passer rating. Since then, he's still efficient, completing 57.7 percent of his passes for 437 yards in losses to the Giants and Broncos and a win over the struggling Panthers.
But ball protection has become a problem: Romo has only one touchdown, three interceptions and a lost fumble in his last three games.
The Broncos' resurgent defense saw tendencies on film that they carried into Sunday's contest.
"Our game plan was to press the pocket and keep him in the pocket," said safety Reynaldo Hill, who had one of the five sacks on a backside blitz, a play that forced the lost fumble and led to a Denver touchdown on the next play. "You see, a lot of his good plays are outside of the pocket. We just did a good job of containing him and keeping him in there. We figured if we did that and played solid coverage, eventually the rush would get there."
That's exactly what happened.
"I was getting ready to pull the trigger," Romo said. "If I hadn't been throwing it, I don't think we'd have fumbled, but I was getting ready at that exact moment. I didn't know (Hill) was there."
Blindside pressure caused Romo to throw hurriedly and many drives ended with the Cowboys' air attack being smothered by Denver on obvious passing downs. The sacks also took their toll physically.
"It's tough when you're not executing up to (your) standards," Romo said. "We got into too many 3rd-and-long situations, and you've got to protect the ball in those situations. Make sure you can try to get (first downs) but just be careful with the throws."
"I think we always can do things better and differently. I think we can always improve. I think they obviously did well -- give them credit. They have good players, a good scheme and they did a good job."
Now America's Team is under fire for blowing fourth-quarter leads twice in three games, and the focus of criticism as always, is the starting quarterback. It's Week 5 and suddenly, the Cowboys trail the Giants in the NFC East by two games.
Coach Wade Phillips, facing the heat even more than Romo, knows the Cowboys can't afford to let the once-dependable passing game get away from them in the second quarter of the season.
"The problem is we weren't connecting on the shorter (passes)," Phillips said of Sunday's performance. "I think that's what hurt us because you can't open up the bigger ones if you don't complete the shorter passes. The eight to 12-yard passes, we didn't seem able to get those open, or connect on those well enough."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
10-05-2009 @ 3:17PM
dannyleemyers said...
Hey Mark Schlereth, how do you like the Broncos 'garbage front seven' now?
Jamie Dukes, how is your remark about 'trading Cutler is the stupidest thing this coach could o' looking with Kyle Orton a top 10 QB?
And John Clayton, you of the 'Broncos will be lucky to win 3 games' remark, how do we look now?
Learn pro football before you insert your LARGE foot into your mouth.
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10-05-2009 @ 4:49PM
djdand92 said...
honestly I was saying all that stuff too, and I'm sure you had the same sentiments about it. What fan could have thought trading Cutler would have made their team better, admit it you were pissed off.
10-05-2009 @ 5:22PM
Welcome Ransapp said...
you know who really push my buttons dannyleemyers?
that Idiot Jamie "My chronium is as big as the universe" Dukes. I remember him bashing McD all through the summer. He basically suggested that the Pat Bowlen and McD didnt know what they were doing. Whenever I heard him talk on TV, it just infuriated me. I wonder what he is saying now.
Freaking @$$hole.
10-05-2009 @ 3:24PM
You Big Dick said...
Danny,
The game was given to you by a hapless Cowboy squad. Just say, "Thank you," and shut up.
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10-05-2009 @ 4:10PM
grdnman said...
Jerry Jones has a lot of money, but he doesn't have a good team, a good coach, a good quarterback or any class!!!
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10-06-2009 @ 10:22PM
deitrade said...
Jones has money, he has a good team. But, I have to agree, he may not have 2 good head coaches ( Phillips and Garrett). LET ROMO be ROMO! Stop trying to make him into a pocket passer and let him sling the ball as he scrambles around. For all you Romo bashers, I borrowed these stats to post.
Tony Romo's career numbers:
TD-INT 81-46
Passing yards 10,562
QB Rating 94.7
Peyton Mannings:
TD-INT 342-168
Passing yards 46,964
QB Rating 95.2
Brett Favre's:
TD-INT 472-311
Yards 65,964
QB Rating 85.7
Eli (that other manning):
TD–INT 100-74
Passing yards 14,623
QB Rating 77.6
Jon Kitna's:
TD-INT 152-151
Passing yards 27,293
QB Rating 76.6
10-05-2009 @ 4:36PM
igglesfan said...
"So much about Tony Romo's rise to NFL stardom has seemed mythical..." Hmmm, who created that myth?! The media and the Cowboys. If you watch the games every week, Romo never wins the big games.
This latest game in Denver, did you see the reactions by Romo and Coach Phillips? Romo looked like he wet his pants or worse, and the coach had his hands on his head. Do these guys suggest confidence in coming back? Did anyone watching the game think that Romo was going to lead them down the field for the winning score? I didn't. Watch Peyton Manning on the sidelines when the Colts have been down. He looks at the replay and then steels himself as if to say "Okay they scored. Let's get the lead back." No sitting on the bench crying that his team is losing.
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10-06-2009 @ 6:09AM
deitrade said...
All you negative people mouth off as if you know football. It's only been 2 seasons since Romo led the Boys to a 13-3 season, only to have the Cinderella Gaints come along to upset them, the Packers and Patriots. Last season injuries took it's toll on several key players, including Romo to finish 9-7. THIS SEASON, some idiot is trying to make Romo a pocket passer like a Tom Brady. LET Tony be Tony, let him move around and for good sake get him some Wide Receivers who can seperate from defenders. I rather see Romo throw 2 interceptions because he is moving around trying to make plays than to stand in a pocket and get beat up!
10-05-2009 @ 4:55PM
gbrown63 said...
Well been a cowboy fan for 30 yrs now and dallas has alot of problems, owner,coaching,quarterback.J, Jones is worst owner a team could have money and ego thw only way cowboys were good in mid 90s was a good coaching staff, and playing from the heart football players.Now most the players are about money and fame. The coaching just jerry robots. Never see a cowboy team like the glory days till jones go's into an trtirement home. and the players relise the banners they see hanging in the staduim they were not on them teams. they end up 8-8 this year
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10-12-2009 @ 11:27PM
Tawanna said...
you are sooo on the money ive been a few since i was 5 years old.This not the cowboy team of old ,they suck. Romo is over hyped. He is not a staubach or aikman, hell he aint even a danny white. so disappoint this year.
10-05-2009 @ 5:00PM
greg said...
Let me get this straight, the Cowboys have a really stupid self-involved owner, a lousy head coach and offensive coordinator, an underachieving overpaid QB, an average at best offensive line, a group of WRs and RBs with no speed, and a defense about as talented as the Detroit Lions. Much like Al Davis of the Raiders, as long as Dallas has to endure Jerry Jones, they only be very very average.
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10-05-2009 @ 5:02PM
BigAZ Steele said...
When are we going to admit that cutting T.O. was the worse thing to do? We have no offensive weapons that scare opponents into double coverage, and Roy is not the answer, he would have been a very good second receiver to T.O It time for Jerry, Jason, and Tony to step up and admit it
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10-06-2009 @ 1:19AM
player1906 said...
BigAz,
You nailed it on the head. Jerry made a big mistake replacing T.O. with Roy Williams. There is no way in hell Roy was worth the $40 million they paid him. Now I gave Tony heat in the past for being a choke artist, but I truly believe the issue this season is the sorry play of the receivers not getting open or drawing the double coverage that T.O. did.
If your going to get rid of T.O. why not replace him with a younger, faster receiver??? They were on the market, but Jerry moved to quickly.
Now it's going to make for a long season and Tony will be blamed, when the defenses have realized press Witten and crowd the box for the run because Roy, Clayton, & Austin aren't a threat.
10-05-2009 @ 5:13PM
Welcome Master said...
How bout dem Cowboys! HeHe! Giants Rule!
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10-05-2009 @ 5:13PM
Joseph Tenorio said...
I think that if tony romo keeps the playing the way he does and if he chokes up during the last part of the season, he needs to be traded to another team. The cowboys can't continue to have this type of playing behavior year after year.
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10-05-2009 @ 5:17PM
abigoboy said...
The Cowboys will never attain their former glory until Jerry Jones stops trying to micro-manage the team. He needs to hire another Jimmy Johnsonlike coach, get out of the way, and let him coach. Jones may be a great businessman but he sucks as an owner because his ego will not let him understand that his Super Bowl teams were great because of Johnson, not him.
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10-05-2009 @ 7:32PM
cjohn2112 said...
actually, those teams were great because of the man who built them...the late, great, tex schramm
he drafted the core of those teams, however johnson did a nice job filling in any missing pieces.schramms 1 weakness was his loyalty to tom landry....but how can you fire a legend like tom who stayed around til the game simply passed him by?
10-06-2009 @ 3:15PM
cgoodwin75156 said...
RIGHT ON!!! COULDNT AGREE MORE JONES SUCKS BIG TIME//ALMOST AS BAD AS AL DAVIS
10-05-2009 @ 5:17PM
jeromedueser said...
i still think j. jones needs to get on homos ass about when he comes off the field sits his ass on the bench and puts his cap on backwards. maybe he needs to put his helmet on backwards while he is playing that way he would have an excuse for screwing up all the time
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10-05-2009 @ 7:17PM
dk4xploracity said...
Hey BigAZ Steele...I disagree...The problem was when Jerry Jones essentially chose TO over Bill Parcells...Then Parcells left. Wade Phillips is 12-12 as a coach over the past two years(Part with TO and part without). Look around the league at the QB / coach combinations...Tough coaches with good quarterbacks....Not "nice guy" coaches like Phillips and Norv Turner with Romo and Rivers respectively. The problem with the Cowgirls is their owner thinks he is also a coach....But I love it! :) Interesting how you do not hear about Jason Garrett being a "rising star" anymore! :) A wide receiver(TO) does not determine the fate of an NFL team...It is the ownership and coaching.
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