Another week has passed and has brought us yet another successful victory for the Cowboys. The ‘Boys completely dominated on the offensive side of the ball once again and Romo seemed to have his way with the Seahawks. Last week, I attributed similar success primarily to the great play of Romo. So was this yet another week when the “Romo Friendly” offense became the “Romo Driven” offense?

Just How Romo Friendly Where We?

Romo went 21/36 with 3 TD passes, 0 INTs and a single 10 yard scramble against the Seahawks. While he was not nearly as accurate as he was last week (in which only 8 passes fell incomplete), it is very hard to argue with the results. On top of that, this marks the third week in which Romo has not thrown an interception; in fact, his only turnovers in this three game span were two fumbles. One was on one of the oddest running plays ever in which an offensive lineman literally ran through Romo’s arms, and the other was this past week when Romo was sacked.

All in all, Romo is doing exactly what he should. He isn’t handing the ball to the other team with any kind of frequency and in the past three games he has been 62/109 (56.9% completion), 918 yards and 8 TDs — a very impressive showing to say the least.

Checking the Balance

The Cowboys ran 67 plays this week: 29 on the ground and 38 through the air (accounting for two sacks). As we did last week, we will take away one of the runs and add it to the passing column as Romo scrambled on a passing play. This means we have a grand total of 28 runs and 39 passes, meaning Garrett called 58.2% passing plays. So yes, once again, we had a very successful week going pass heavy.

Since we are halfway through the season, let’s take a look on the balance on the whole season just to see what we have here. The Cowboys have run 436 plays on offense and 193 of those plays have been on the ground (this would include scrambles), meaning 243 plays have been called passes (conservatively of course, I won’t add on scrambles for this comparison). That means Garrett has sent in a pass play 55.7% of the time this season. As another point of comparison, for the whole 2008 season, we called 57.7% pass plays.

There is no doubt at this point, the “balance” promised is still somewhat of a misnomer in my eyes. Garrett clearly wants Romo passing more often than he is handing the ball off. At this point we could say the running game is getting slightly more involved at this point than last season, but the difference negligible at best. As Chad Ochocinco loves to say “numbers don’t lie” and the numbers say we are a passing offense that runs to keep defenses honest. Of course, I will continue to monitor the play calling balance as we continue along the season though.

Now, for the next part of the balance, let’s take a look at the rather impressive job Romo did spreading the ball around the field, an effort that saw ten different receivers pull down a reception. Since this list is rather lengthy, I’m just going to flat out spit it out this week:

Miles Austin – 9
Roy Williams/Jason Witten – 8
Patrick Crayton – 5
Martellus Bennett – 3
Marion Barber/Felix Jones/Kevin Ogletree/Sam Hurd/John Phillips – 1

Once again Austin has stepped up as the top target for Romo, whom both seem to be getting in sync better week after week. Our next two biggest weapons in the receiving game were predictably the next favorite targets while Romo spread the ball all over the field to seven other receivers. Seriously, did you expect to see John Phillips in one of these breakdowns? Romo has been doing a superb job of forcing defenses to cover every option on the field. As he has proven these last few weeks, he is more than willing to go to whoever the open man may be.

So the Red Zone…

Folks, for the first time this season the Cowboys were (brace yourself for it) PERFECT in the Red Zone. The Cowboys were 3/3 in Red Zone trips and all of these trips included “Goal to Go” situations. That means in the last two weeks, the Cowboys are 4/4 when inside the opponent’s 10 yard line.

This is beyond a welcome change for the Cowboys offense.

The Cowboys first trip into the Red Zone saw a 2 yard Barber power run punch the ball into the endzone. The second came in the two minute drill and Romo found Roy Williams on a second and goal strike for a TD (and an impressive play to break the plane as well). The second trip saw the Cowboys actually attempt to run Barber into the end zone for a yard, but after he was hit for a 2 yard loss, Romo found Austin for a TD through the air.

Even looking back on all the plays inside the 20, the Cowboys still went to the pass more often than the ground. However, for once they did show that they were willing to pound the ball between the tackles on more traditional power running plays (read: not draws). This was a very welcome change and I do believe that this helped ensure Dallas had more Red Zone success.

Let Me Introduce You to Your New #1 Receiver

I’m ready to claim it now. Three weeks in a row Miles Austin has lead all Dallas receivers now for the third straight week. While 5 receptions for 61 yards and TD seems rather pedestrian at this point, there is no doubt Austin is now Romo’s go to guy.

I’ve been waiting for defenses to adapt and they have — and it didn’t matter. The Seahawks were forced to double cover Austin throughout the game and were even forced to interfere to stop bigger plays from breaking loose. It doesn’t matter where he may be listed on the depth chart to sooth Roy Williams ego — if he is on the field, Romo is going to try to throw his way.

T.O. may be wanting to compare himself to Roy and people may be wondering why he isn’t making more big plays. I ask T.O. and others, what does it matter? It is obvious that the new-found attention that Austin is getting led to more space and a TD reception for Roy. Maybe we paid to high a cost for him (thanks Jerry!), but I would say the emergence of Austin has more than made up for it. Hopefully this will continue to mean more open field for Roy and Witten throughout the rest of the season.

The Verdict

Folks, I am almost ready to completely throw away this whole “Romo Friendly” moniker that has been slapped on this offense. I have always put this in quotes for good reason. The moment this was presented to us, I didn’t quite buy it, especially when digging into the numbers. Garrett lives and dies by the pass and the offense often lives and dies on the performance of Tony Romo. How in the world was this season going to be any different?

The fact is, it hasn’t. When Romo struggles, the offense struggles. When Romo plays out of his mind, the Cowboys dominate.

While I am not advocating we pass as much as say the New England Patriots, there is no doubt Romo is our best weapon overall on offense. Our rushing attack shouldn’t be short sold as well, and if we didn’t have the attack of Barber/Jones/Choice to go along with Romo, he isn’t nearly as successful. It seems to be that this offense is indeed Romo Driven as I claimed last week; however, we have most definitely seen the pitfalls of Garrett shying away from the run far too often when Romo does struggle. And perhaps that’s when the “Romo Friendly” of the offense needs to kick in and our running backs try to carry the Cowboys out of a mess when needed.

The Cowboys face a huge test against a stout Philly defense next week. We will see if these last few weeks were a result of the Cowboys simply picking on lesser opponents or if we truly have put together an offensive attack that should be feared throughout the league.

Similar Posts:

• Romo Friendly Offense: Week 7 vs Atlanta
• Dissecting the “Romo Friendly” Offense: Week 1
• The Romo Friendly Offense: Week 5 at Kansas City
• The “Romo Friendly” Offense – Week 3 vs Carolina
• The “Romo Friendly” Offense – Week 4 vs Denver