Romo being built one week at a time
By Tom Curran
NBCSports.comPosted: Nov.17, 2006, 2:14 pm EST
This Sunday, just in time for the holiday season, the good folks of Dallas take delivery of their "Tony Romo: Starting Quarterback."
Since taking over for the deposed Drew Bledsoe, Romo has, in three road games, liberated the Dallas Cowboys offense. It now goes forward most of the time. It doesn't short-circuit when you need it most. It's fun for the whole family -- even T.O, and he hates every quarterback!
But in his first Texas Stadium start, Romo needs to come as advertised because the 9-0 Indianapolis Colts are in Dallas this week. And Indy is playing with some backbone.
Circumstances are aligned for Romo to author a signature game in his early development. He enters the game with a 107.5 quarterback rating as a starter having thrown for 862 yards, five touchdowns and one interception in three games. He's quarterbacking opposite Peyton Manning, who's playing at the height of his powers. He's going against a permissive Indianapolis defense. And his team needs this game badly.
"This win would do us a lot of good," Cowboys coach Bill Parcells opined this week. "Confidence-wise particularly."
Indianapolis will score. Probably often. They will try to put the Cowboys in what Manning likes to call a "chase position." And that's when quarterbacking against the Colts defense gets dangerous as New England's Tom Brady was reminded two weeks ago when he threw four picks while trying to have his offense keep pace with Indy's.
Romo's gotten counsel on dealing with that dilemma.
"(Former Patriots and University of Colorado coach) Chuck Fairbanks called me up and told me, 'You have to not lose the game before you can win it,' " said Romo. "There will be plenty of times during the course of a game to say, 'It's go time. We need to score here. But there are some times when you try to squeeze (a pass in) and others you shouldn't. Part of being a quarterback is knowing when to and when not to (take risks)."
Romo, meanwhile, is the risk the Cowboys had to take. This team is not built to last. Their coach is old. Their owner is demanding. Their biggest offseason signing is cuckoo. Yet in the wide-open NFC of 2006, the chance at success was too real for Dallas to allow itself to die from self-inflicted quarterbacking wounds. And three of Dallas' four losses can be laid at the leaden feet of Bledsoe.
Enter Romo.
"He has given them a lot of energy," said Colts coach Tony Dungy. "That's probably the biggest thing. He's making plays in the passing game and plays outside of the offense (after plays break down). He's gotten the ball to all the playmakers in that offense and given them a shot of energy."
Against an admittedly bad Arizona Cardinals defense last week, Romo was 20 for 29 for 308 yards with a touchdown and no picks. But the Indy defense, especially without their brilliant safety Bob Sanders (questionable with a sore knee after missing last week's game), linebacker Gary Brackett (questionable) and defensive linemen Anthony McFarland and Montae Raegor (both questionable) is not a scary group either. They're allowing 374 yards per game on the road and 174 per game on the ground.
"They have an outstanding front-seven," said Romo. "It starts with (defensive end Dwight Freeney) then goes to (Robert Mathis) who is a game-wrecker. You have to do things to keep them off balance. I know going into this game I have to get the ball off quickly and minimize mistakes."
Romo has a swollen middle finger on his throwing hand and wide receiver Terry Glenn is probable with a quadriceps injury. Both will need to overcome those maladies because Indy's offense is averaging 29 points per game on the road. And that's come at the expense of four good defenses -- the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and New York Jets.
"They're not real fancy, they're not what's in vogue in terms of shifting and jumping up and with four shifts, 16 motions and then a handoff up the middle," said Parcells. "They spread you out, look at you and decide what they're going to do. They will do what they do and you have to decide where you're going with things and how you want to try to approach it."
We could spend time breaking down the corner/wide receiver matchups and pass rush possibilities for the Cowboys but the point by now is abundantly clear. The Colts are going to get theirs. It's vital that the opposing offense -- primarily the opposing quarterback -- take his too.
Mused Romo, "Should be a fun little game then, shouldn't it?"
If it comes as advertised, yes it should.
New attitude, same perfect results
Having seen the Colts in consecutive weeks against the Broncos and Patriots, it was easy to pick up a different vibe from them this season. There's an assuredness to them. Not cockiness or arrogance but a confidence that, even when things go wrong, they have the ability to make them right. And that wasn't always the case the past few years. I've watched Peyton Manning react when things go wrong like a guy who just realized he locked his keys in the car. Arms flailing, eyes rolling, his posture announcing, "NOW, what do I do."
It hasn't been there this year. Maybe it's borne of the repeated disappointments of past years. Realizing that the world keeps spinning even when things go badly.
And this 9-0 feels different from last year's pursuit of perfection for two reasons. One, as Manning said after beating the Patriots, it doesn't matter what happens in the regular season because the playoffs are what matters. And two, there is as much joy in the pursuit of improvement as there is in the securing of a win. Perfection is the goal -- and offensively, they are damn close to it - but not attaining it and still winning is cause for some satisfaction.
Asked this week about the differences between this year's 9-0 start and last year's 13-0 start, Manning said, "I haven't gotten into a comparative analysis. It's the same boring answer, but we've taken it one week at a time. We never take winning for granted but the idea is to win the game and try to improve at the same time."
Freeney getting the LT treatment
Bill Parcells has never coached against Dwight Freeney, but he has an explanation for why the Colts' brilliant defensive end has 1.5 sacks in nine games.
"They're sending the German army to block him," he said to the Cowboys media. Later, addressing the Colts media, Parcells said, "I had a guy like that and (opposing coaches) say, 'As much as we can help it, we are not going to let this player disrupt the game. I saw it done to (Lawrence) Taylor and teams would put two or three guys on him. That's what they're doing to this player. He does command a lot of attention and he's certainly earned my respect just looking at film of him."
Parcells also gave a candid appraisal of life with "The Player", Terrell Owens. Asked what it's been like, Parcells said, "Interesting."
Asked to elaborate, Parcells added, "I've been trying to do it as best I can. When organizationally we decide to bring a player in, my job is to try and make it work. I've tried to make it work. There have been a few little things that I would say would test that a little but overall I'm doing my best to try and make it work. It'd be easy to go ahead and have a big blowup confrontation like everyone thinks is coming or throw up my hands and say, 'I can't do it,' but I'm at a point in time in my career where I do things with the idea of trying to make it work. That's what I'm trying to do."
Not ready to Pack it in
Brett Favre talks like a player who's not planning on hanging them up quite yet.
"I have thought about (retiring after this season) a little bit, not a great deal," he said on a conference call while preparing for the Patriots at Lambeau this weekend. "It does help to deal with these young guys and seeing I think a bright future for a lot of guys. I think this team up to this point has already proven what we're capable of doing. Now 4-5 is a far-cry from where we were in the late '90s. It's exciting because there are some competitive guys in that room and the sky's the limit. So that does make it easier to think about coming back, the positives and things like that. But I haven't really thought much past that. I like (head coach) Mike (McCarthy) and his direction. I think he's already proven what he's capable of. But I really haven't put much thought into what's happening after tomorrow."
Scramble to the top
Twelve of the NFC's 16 teams still have a very realistic shot at the playoffs. Only one -- the Bears at 8-1 -- could be considered a lock.
Maybe that's because the conference is in a down year and there are so few teams that fit the conventional definition of "good" but the certainty is that the final seven weeks of the season are going to be dramatic.
Half of the NFC teams are either at 4-5 or 5-4. At this time last year, there were only five. Seven teams were more than two games over .500 at this point last year. Now there are four.
"Every year there's a different landscape," said Bears general manager Jerry Angelo. "Last year teams had real good record and you needed to be well over .500 to get in the playoffs. This year seems to be going the other way but I can't say it's a trend. I don't know what cyclical is. All I know is that every year you go into a season and nobody knows for sure. Doesn't matter if you're Pittsburgh or New England or Seattle, nobody knows for sure. You just can't consistently predict what will happen off of last year."
NBCSports.comPosted: Nov.17, 2006, 2:14 pm EST
This Sunday, just in time for the holiday season, the good folks of Dallas take delivery of their "Tony Romo: Starting Quarterback."
Since taking over for the deposed Drew Bledsoe, Romo has, in three road games, liberated the Dallas Cowboys offense. It now goes forward most of the time. It doesn't short-circuit when you need it most. It's fun for the whole family -- even T.O, and he hates every quarterback!
But in his first Texas Stadium start, Romo needs to come as advertised because the 9-0 Indianapolis Colts are in Dallas this week. And Indy is playing with some backbone.
Circumstances are aligned for Romo to author a signature game in his early development. He enters the game with a 107.5 quarterback rating as a starter having thrown for 862 yards, five touchdowns and one interception in three games. He's quarterbacking opposite Peyton Manning, who's playing at the height of his powers. He's going against a permissive Indianapolis defense. And his team needs this game badly.
"This win would do us a lot of good," Cowboys coach Bill Parcells opined this week. "Confidence-wise particularly."
Indianapolis will score. Probably often. They will try to put the Cowboys in what Manning likes to call a "chase position." And that's when quarterbacking against the Colts defense gets dangerous as New England's Tom Brady was reminded two weeks ago when he threw four picks while trying to have his offense keep pace with Indy's.
Romo's gotten counsel on dealing with that dilemma.
"(Former Patriots and University of Colorado coach) Chuck Fairbanks called me up and told me, 'You have to not lose the game before you can win it,' " said Romo. "There will be plenty of times during the course of a game to say, 'It's go time. We need to score here. But there are some times when you try to squeeze (a pass in) and others you shouldn't. Part of being a quarterback is knowing when to and when not to (take risks)."
Romo, meanwhile, is the risk the Cowboys had to take. This team is not built to last. Their coach is old. Their owner is demanding. Their biggest offseason signing is cuckoo. Yet in the wide-open NFC of 2006, the chance at success was too real for Dallas to allow itself to die from self-inflicted quarterbacking wounds. And three of Dallas' four losses can be laid at the leaden feet of Bledsoe.
Enter Romo.
"He has given them a lot of energy," said Colts coach Tony Dungy. "That's probably the biggest thing. He's making plays in the passing game and plays outside of the offense (after plays break down). He's gotten the ball to all the playmakers in that offense and given them a shot of energy."
Against an admittedly bad Arizona Cardinals defense last week, Romo was 20 for 29 for 308 yards with a touchdown and no picks. But the Indy defense, especially without their brilliant safety Bob Sanders (questionable with a sore knee after missing last week's game), linebacker Gary Brackett (questionable) and defensive linemen Anthony McFarland and Montae Raegor (both questionable) is not a scary group either. They're allowing 374 yards per game on the road and 174 per game on the ground.
"They have an outstanding front-seven," said Romo. "It starts with (defensive end Dwight Freeney) then goes to (Robert Mathis) who is a game-wrecker. You have to do things to keep them off balance. I know going into this game I have to get the ball off quickly and minimize mistakes."
Romo has a swollen middle finger on his throwing hand and wide receiver Terry Glenn is probable with a quadriceps injury. Both will need to overcome those maladies because Indy's offense is averaging 29 points per game on the road. And that's come at the expense of four good defenses -- the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and New York Jets.
"They're not real fancy, they're not what's in vogue in terms of shifting and jumping up and with four shifts, 16 motions and then a handoff up the middle," said Parcells. "They spread you out, look at you and decide what they're going to do. They will do what they do and you have to decide where you're going with things and how you want to try to approach it."
We could spend time breaking down the corner/wide receiver matchups and pass rush possibilities for the Cowboys but the point by now is abundantly clear. The Colts are going to get theirs. It's vital that the opposing offense -- primarily the opposing quarterback -- take his too.
Mused Romo, "Should be a fun little game then, shouldn't it?"
If it comes as advertised, yes it should.
New attitude, same perfect results
Having seen the Colts in consecutive weeks against the Broncos and Patriots, it was easy to pick up a different vibe from them this season. There's an assuredness to them. Not cockiness or arrogance but a confidence that, even when things go wrong, they have the ability to make them right. And that wasn't always the case the past few years. I've watched Peyton Manning react when things go wrong like a guy who just realized he locked his keys in the car. Arms flailing, eyes rolling, his posture announcing, "NOW, what do I do."
It hasn't been there this year. Maybe it's borne of the repeated disappointments of past years. Realizing that the world keeps spinning even when things go badly.
And this 9-0 feels different from last year's pursuit of perfection for two reasons. One, as Manning said after beating the Patriots, it doesn't matter what happens in the regular season because the playoffs are what matters. And two, there is as much joy in the pursuit of improvement as there is in the securing of a win. Perfection is the goal -- and offensively, they are damn close to it - but not attaining it and still winning is cause for some satisfaction.
Asked this week about the differences between this year's 9-0 start and last year's 13-0 start, Manning said, "I haven't gotten into a comparative analysis. It's the same boring answer, but we've taken it one week at a time. We never take winning for granted but the idea is to win the game and try to improve at the same time."
Freeney getting the LT treatment
Bill Parcells has never coached against Dwight Freeney, but he has an explanation for why the Colts' brilliant defensive end has 1.5 sacks in nine games.
"They're sending the German army to block him," he said to the Cowboys media. Later, addressing the Colts media, Parcells said, "I had a guy like that and (opposing coaches) say, 'As much as we can help it, we are not going to let this player disrupt the game. I saw it done to (Lawrence) Taylor and teams would put two or three guys on him. That's what they're doing to this player. He does command a lot of attention and he's certainly earned my respect just looking at film of him."
Parcells also gave a candid appraisal of life with "The Player", Terrell Owens. Asked what it's been like, Parcells said, "Interesting."
Asked to elaborate, Parcells added, "I've been trying to do it as best I can. When organizationally we decide to bring a player in, my job is to try and make it work. I've tried to make it work. There have been a few little things that I would say would test that a little but overall I'm doing my best to try and make it work. It'd be easy to go ahead and have a big blowup confrontation like everyone thinks is coming or throw up my hands and say, 'I can't do it,' but I'm at a point in time in my career where I do things with the idea of trying to make it work. That's what I'm trying to do."
Not ready to Pack it in
Brett Favre talks like a player who's not planning on hanging them up quite yet.
"I have thought about (retiring after this season) a little bit, not a great deal," he said on a conference call while preparing for the Patriots at Lambeau this weekend. "It does help to deal with these young guys and seeing I think a bright future for a lot of guys. I think this team up to this point has already proven what we're capable of doing. Now 4-5 is a far-cry from where we were in the late '90s. It's exciting because there are some competitive guys in that room and the sky's the limit. So that does make it easier to think about coming back, the positives and things like that. But I haven't really thought much past that. I like (head coach) Mike (McCarthy) and his direction. I think he's already proven what he's capable of. But I really haven't put much thought into what's happening after tomorrow."
Scramble to the top
Twelve of the NFC's 16 teams still have a very realistic shot at the playoffs. Only one -- the Bears at 8-1 -- could be considered a lock.
Maybe that's because the conference is in a down year and there are so few teams that fit the conventional definition of "good" but the certainty is that the final seven weeks of the season are going to be dramatic.
Half of the NFC teams are either at 4-5 or 5-4. At this time last year, there were only five. Seven teams were more than two games over .500 at this point last year. Now there are four.
"Every year there's a different landscape," said Bears general manager Jerry Angelo. "Last year teams had real good record and you needed to be well over .500 to get in the playoffs. This year seems to be going the other way but I can't say it's a trend. I don't know what cyclical is. All I know is that every year you go into a season and nobody knows for sure. Doesn't matter if you're Pittsburgh or New England or Seattle, nobody knows for sure. You just can't consistently predict what will happen off of last year."
posted by The Gryphon at 6:37 PM
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