It's Still About Romo

I'm sticking to my guns.  I said before the season that the path of the Cowboys this year would be determined by the play of Tony Romo.  And I was right.

I just didn't expect him to play so well.

Dammit.

The good news for Eagles fans is that Romo isn't perfect.  He's not Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.*  You can beat Romo if you follow the IgglesBlog's Three-Step Process for Taking Down Tony:

1. Jump on him early.

As befits a guy who likes to party with a truly remarkable range of women from Carrie Underwood to Britney Spears, Romo is a bit of a slow starter on game day.+  Check out Romo's situational stats this year and last year.  His passer rating in first quarters this year is 44.8.  Last year it was 69.8.  It's the same thing with attempts.  In his first 10 attempts this year he's at 62.0, last year it was 70.8.  This is for a guy who overall in his career is at 95.3. 

It reminds me a little bit of what used to be the book on Greg Maddux.  If he was going to make a mistake, it was going to come early, so you better jump on him in the first inning.

It's also not surprising (since Tony is almost certainly a Cowboys fan) that Romo is also a major front-runner.  His passer rating when his team is ahead is a phenomenal 131.0.  He's only thrown one INT in that situation.  But when the Cowboys are behind, he's at 75.3 with six INTs.  The same thing held true last year when he was 121.1/86.5. 

And what's maybe even more remarkable about those numbers is how few chances he's actually had to throw with a lead.  He has only 38 pass attempts with a lead, 86 while tied and 115 from behind.  I think Brady averages 38 pass attempts with a 14+ point lead every week.

So here's a question for folks who can stand to watch the Cowboys when the Eagles aren't on.  Has Dallas really been playing from behind so much this season or does Romo just hand off to Barber repeatedly when they're ahead?   

In either case, the best way to deal with Romo is to rough him up early, get a lead and make him play from behind, when he's not nearly as good.  We need another fast start, Don.

2. Keep him in the pocket.

Romo has only been sacked 11 times all season.  That's one fewer than McNabb against the Giants if you're keeping score at home.  He's a jittery little fella.

The thing about Romo is that it's not the sacks that bother him.  His worst game this season -- the five INT debacle/miracle against Buffalo -- came in a game when he wasn't sacked a single time, despite having 50 pass attempts. 

The key to stopping Romo isn't sacking him, it's keeping him in the pocket.  It's kind of funny actually, that the Eagles would be best-served by playing the exact same kind of defense that teams used to use against McNabb.  Keep him in the pocket and make him beat you with his arm, rather than scrambling and doing it with his legs.^ 

I think Romo is actually most dangerous when he's sliding to his right from the pocket.  He's not a particularly tall guy, so when he gets out there he's got a great view of the field and seems to love throwing while moving that way.  He just locks on Witten and waits for that big body to get open.

Jevon Kearse has to make sure he's not just tearing all the way upfield, opening up that running lane.  If he does, someone else needs to fill.  This is a week for the mush rush. 

With Lito healthy and Terry Glenn injured, try containing and covering and see how that works.

3. Stop the run.

This one isn't exactly brain surgery.  If you want to stop the Cowboys, you have to keep Marion Barber from piling up six yard gains.  The aforementioned Buffalo game was the only time this year Barber was held to fewer than 5.1 yards a carry. 

Last year, the Eagles did a mediocre job against Julius Jones in the first game, allowing him to pick up 100 yards on 26 carries.  In the second game, the Eagles held the two-headed monster to 41 yards on 16 carries, forcing Romo to beat them.  He couldn't. 

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* This satisfies by bloggorial obligation to say something about the most important competition ever in the history of sports, art or warfare.

+ Yes, I know the Britney story is supposedly overblown.  So what?  Can you imagine what your parents would say if they found out you were no longer dating Carrie Underwood -- who probably called his parents "sir" and "ma'am" and wrote adorable thank you cards -- and instead were hanging with Britney Spears?  "Um, she didn't have the kids with her at the bar, did she son?"

^ Yeah, this didn't always work against McNabb either.

Comments

[Dan]

Romo likes to gash opponents. He wants to go deep. He's not like McNabb who can dink and dunk till the cows come home.

That's what happened in Buffalo. Buffalo was giving up short completions. But Romo didn't want to take what they were giving, so he tried to force it in there.

And that got him into trouble.

He has patience problems. He gets antsy, he wants those big plays badly.

Guys like Marino and Favre were like that. Especially Marino.

It indicates both confidence, extreme confidence in his own abilities, but also, it indicates a want of patience, a want of self-control.

Romo will make mistakes. That's him, that's simply part of his personality.

Cowboys' fans simply have to hope that on the aggregate, his mistakes pale in comparison to the big plays he completes.

Romo's a trip.

It's interesting watching him out there. Never quite know what's going to happen.