Romo Friendly Offense: Week 9 vs Philadelphia

Another week, another win, and of course, it’s time for another breakdown of the Cowboys offensive effort. While the Cowboys came far from “lighting up” the Eagles, they continued their now four week trend of solid offensive effort. Over these past few weeks, it’s quite clear that the secret to offensive success is to rely heavily on Romo. If Romo can spread the ball around, not turn the ball over, and make plays, the Cowboys win.

Then there’s also that Miles Austin guy.

So what about this week? Did Romo continue to drive the offense against the Eagles or was there another reason for the Cowboys success?

Just How “Romo Friendly” Were We?

Romo finished the night 21/34, 307 yards, 1 TD, and his first INT in more than three games. Romo also scrambled three times unsuccessfully, ending the night with -3 yards to his name.

While watching the game, I thought Romo had a rather pedestrian performance, yet he still topped the 300 yard mark. There weren’t any huge pass connects as in previous weeks yet Romo continued to find the open receiver more often than not. The only real exception was failing to see a wide-open Jason Witten at the end of the first half; however, considering he was under pressure on that play, that isn’t too big of an error.

Perhaps most impressive was that Romo was able to put together such a great game despite being sacked four times. Usually making friends with the ground that often leads to sup-par performances for Romo (and really, just about any quarterback to be honest). Romo was able to overcome that pressure and still put together a winning effort against a very solid and aggressive defense.

Checking the Balance

The Cowboys ran a total of 61 plays, having 23 called for runs and 38 through the air, resulting in a 62.3% pass play-call rate. This is by far one of the highest leans on Romo we’ve had all season and definitely the highest thus far in a Cowboys win. There is no doubt about it now, Garrett clearly wants Romo throwing the ball as often as possible.

As far as targets go in this game, it seems Romo wanted to shut up the talking heads of the Dallas media in trying to claim there are severe issues with him and Roy Williams as he along with Jason Witten were Romo’s top targets with 8 targets each. Marion Barber, Miles Austin, and Patrick Crayton all followed behind the duo with 4 targets each. Kevin Ogletree and Martellus Bennett both had 2 targets each. Tashard Choice and Deon Anderson rounded out the night with a single target each.

If you are keeping track, that is nine different targets for Romo with seven of them registering at least one reception. Most impressive to me though is the fact Romo had five consistent targets.

Romo is sending a clear message to any defense that steps against him: he will go anywhere at anytime and he trusts that all of his receivers can make plays.

Examining the Red Zone

The Cowboys went 1/3 in the Red Zone and 1/2 in “Goal to Go” situations. Nothing too impressive in the least, but it was very interesting to see how the Cowboys scored their only Red Zone touchdown: via the Wildcat (or Razorback as Jerry has “officially” named it). The play wasn’t just a power run out of that formation, but the line was also unbalanced, and had a further wrinkle as a guard pulled on the play and went in the direction of the strong side of the unbalanced line.

Calling that a power run may not even do that justice — that is a lot of meat clearing that was clearing the way for Choice on that play. Color me impressed with that Garrett innovation.

The other two failed attempts though weren’t nearly as pretty. The Cowboys failed to finish their two minute drill with a TD at the end of the first half. While there was a questionable no call on a pass that went Roy Williams way, Romo didn’t help his cause by missing a wide open Jason Witten later on.

The final Red Zone try saw the wheels shot off by a false start penalty on second down. A 3rd and 5 pass later feel incomplete and stopped the drive cold in its tracks.

There really isn’t too much good or bad to take out of Sunday night’s Red Zone effort; however, I am feeling a lot better seeing Jason Garret trying to throw something like that Wildcat Power formation in the mix and I hope that isn’t the last time that we see it.

Rethinking the Wide Receiver Situation

Alternate section title: “Roy Williams might not be that bad after all.”

Williams finally had a game that made him look strikingly similar to a #1 WR. While Miles Austin may have gotten the TD glory on his only reception, Roy lead the offense in receiving with five receptions for 75 yards. So much for the supposed timing issues Romo and him were having in previous weeks. In his post game interview, Romo didn’t hesitate to give everyone a nice “I told you so” as he was not surprised that Roy finally clicked with him.

Is he going to start drawing more attention or making more big plays than Miles will? Probably not, but I am definitely content with the current condition of the receiving corps.

Look at it this way, unlike last year, in which T.O. was ensuring that everyone knew he needed the ball more, Roy took the road of knowing his chances would come and he needs to take better advantage of the ones he gets. This opens up the offense greatly and allows Romo to spread the ball around the field. And just when a defense starts thinking they need to give Roy more attention (or heck, even Ogletree who torched Philly on a simple bubble screen), there is Miles with a big TD.

I’ve felt this whole #1/#2 “mess” that the media has been preaching has been far overblown and I believe this game is proof of why. We don’t seem to pay much mind to the order of our three-headed running attack, why worry about our four/five-headed passing attack?

The Verdict

Once again, Tony Romo propelled the Cowboys to a huge victory. For the first time all season, I can honestly say that I am excited about the direction our offense is going. I’m not sure if light bulbs have been going off in everyone’s head or if Garrett has the magic touch again, but there is no doubt this offense is clicking and the entire league took notice Sunday night.

Coming into this season, I was wondering who would actually be able to step up and make plays for us. Ever since Miles Austin exploded in the Kansas City game, it seems that everything has been blown wide open. Now we are coming fairly close to asking defenses to pick their poison. You want to stuff the run, except Miles to run past you. Bring a safety to help miles, and Roy is going to find space. Drop both safeties back to help and Witten is going to find a seem or our rushing attack will make you pay.

Now I’m not saying we are on the elite offense level right now because that would be stretching it. However, there is no doubt in my mind opposing defensive coordinators are staying up just a little bit later at night trying to figure out a game plan to stop us.

Whatever it is we are doing, it is working. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — Keep It Simple, Stupid and keep on rolling with what has been working.

Tagged as: Dallas Cowboys, philadelphia eagles, romo friendly offense, tony romo