I’m sure many Cowboys fans are asking what I have been ever since I saw the clock hit 0:00 Saturday night: “Where has THAT been all season?!”
This game was completely unlike any other we’ve seen all season. The Cowboys not only scored on their first drive for the first time this season, but also their second drive as well as their opening drive of the second half. Make no mistake about it, the offense put on one of their most dominate performances all season.
So what was different this time around and what has been missing the past couple of weeks? It’s time to break this offensive performance down and find out why.
December has become “Romo Friendly”?
Tony Romo had quite the performance Saturday night. He went 22/34 (64.7%) for 312 yards, 1 TD, 0 turnovers of any kind, and 4 rushes for 21 yards (one was a kneel to ice the game). This game was the seventh time that Romo went over the 300 pasing yard plateau and despite a couple more errant passes that should have been picks, he still remains INT free for the entire month of December. In fact, Romo has not turned the ball over in four consecutive games.
If that isn’t surprising enough for a QB that has a reputation of folding in December, check out this years monthly statistical breakdown:
September (3 games)
51/89 (57.3%), 735 yards, 4 TD, 3 INT, 85.2 QB rating
October (3 games)
66/105 (62.9%), 917 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT, 102.8 QB rating
November (5 games)
99/165 (60.0%), 1,281 yards, 8 TD, 3 INT, 93.0 QB rating
December (3 games)
82/119 (68.9%), 953 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT, 109.7 QB rating
That’s right, Tony Romo has completely inverted this season and become Mr. December statistically with a slow start in September. Romo only trails his November passing yardage by 328 yards and 2 TDs, and he has also played in two less games than that month.
As I’ve said, Romo has caught a few lucky breaks on passes that should’ve been picked off, but there is simply no doubt that Romo has not been the sole cause of the Cowboys’ recent ills.
Checking the Balance
It appears that Jason Garrett has either looked up the definition of “balanced play calling” or has put up his copy of Madden ’10. This time around the Cowboys ran 73 plays and 36 of those were rushing plays and 37 pass, giving us a shocking 50.6% pass for the game. If we wish to be completely optimistic and ignore the 3 sacks the Cowboys gave up, that leaves us with 36 runs and 34 passes for the game, allowing us to be be 51.4% rush on the day. On the flipside, if we were to look completely pessimistic at the situation, we can move the 3 of the Romo rushes into the passing category (as the other rush was a kneel), and we are left with 36 rushes and 40 passes — 54.7% pass on the day.
No matter how you twist the numbers, there is simply no doubt that Dallas had one of the most balanced attacks that we have seen all season long. This lead to 457 total yards on the day, with 145 of them being on the ground. Garrett also seemed to be quite satisfied with a 4.0 yards/carry average from his rushing game for once as well, which helped the Cowboys chew the clock and hold the ball for 36:26 — nearly 13 minutes more than the Saints had the ball (that’s nearly a whole quarter folks).
This game brought our play calling balance for December down to 59.2% pass for the month thus far. We are still slightly above the 57.1% pass mark of the remainder of the season; however, we are finally leveling off back into the realm of realistic (non-Madden style) play calling.
The offensive line had their worst performance of the month by giving up 3 sacks, bringing the month’s total to 6. We are now starting to creep closer to some of the numbers that raised red flags for me in previous Decembers; however, it doesn’t seem to be crippling Romo all too much.
As far as targeting receivers, Romo once again spread the ball around the field quite well; however, this time he definitely zeroed in on a couple of targets. Austin was by far Romo’s favorite target of the day, having 13 passes flung his way (of which he turned into an amazing 7 receptions for 139 yards and a TD). Witten followed behind with 8 targets from Romo. Then we have a step drop as Williams and Phillips each saw three passes come their way (quick note: Roy only caught one of those passes, Phillips caught all three). Ogletree and Felix Jones had two targets a piece and rounding out the day was Hurd, Barber, and Crayton who each saw a single pass come their way.
That’s a total of 9 receivers targeted and all 9 recorded at least one reception. You can’t really claimed Romo was too tunnel-visioned in this game, seeing as he clearly found quite a bit of success throwing to Austin all night long. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — Romo really didn’t have to look very hard to find the open targets in this game.
The Verdict
Clearly having much more offensive balance helped the Cowboys a lot in this game, but more telling is the fact that the Cowboys were flat out executing better as a whole and this was very prevalent in the red zone. While you may be wondering why I’m so excited about a 2/4 performance, that really isn’t the whole story. The Cowboys were 2/2 in “Goal to Goal” situations, and both of those TDs came on Barber finally looking like Barber as he pounded his way into the end zone. The two red zone “failures” came on an unfortunately facemask penalty by Flozell Adams and the Cowboys were bleeding the clock on their last red zone drive that resulted in a missed Folk FG. Taking away that last clock chewing drive, you are then left with a 2/3 day in the red zone.
Unlike previous weeks, when the Cowboys had the endzone dead in their sights, they got in. Add on to that, Garrett seemed to finally remember what a play action pass looked like and it resulted in a wide open Miles Austin scoring the games first TD.
A solid game by Romo, combined with balanced play calling that kept the Saints defense off balance all game long and superb execution in the red zone results in the game Cowboys fans have been looking for all season. When Roy Williams said that they just had to pack their bags and show up, he meant it. The ‘Boys meant business this game and played like it.
This game needs to be a offensive blueprint for the rest of the season. This was the game plan that took down an undefeated team and made them look flat out silly. If the Cowboys are hoping to end their late season and postseason woes, this performance needs to be repeated.
The cure for the December swoon has finally been found in New Orleans. Let’s see if the Cowboys will continue to take their medicine next week in our nation’s capital.
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