DMN: Blog: The balance between gunslinger and bus driver
Tony Romo grew up as a fan of John Elway and Brett Favre, the two best gunslingers of that QB generation. He's seen as the Cowboys' first franchise QB since Troy Aikman, maybe the best bus driver in the history of the game.
Romo's trying to find the right balance between the two styles. He has a strong arm, but not the rifle Elway and Favre had in their prime that let them get away with so many risks. The Cowboys have a solid running game, but it's not like the Emmitt and the Bulldozers Bunch that allowed Aikman to focus on managing the game instead of making plays.
Bill Parcells, who introduced us to the term bus driver in regards to QBs, tried to beat the "impulse plays" out of Romo. After a storybook start, Romo struggled with turnovers as the Cowboys went kaput down the stretch. Several of those can be attributed to Romo trying to make a play when the X's and O's didn't go as planned.
"You don’t want to take that away, because that’s part of what makes him who he is," tight end Jason Witten said. "But there comes a time – the Detroit game last year pops out – that he tried to make things happen so much that he got himself in trouble."
That probably had a lot to do with Romo playing so conservatively in the playoff loss the next week. The Seahawks secondary was so depleted that they pulled Pete Hunter out of a Dallas loan office to play nickel back, but the Cowboys didn't attack.
Point the finger at the coach if you want, but Marshall Faulk made some interesting points during the NFL Network's replay of the game. He broke down two plays where Romo had a receiver open downfield but threw a short, safe pass. Same thing happened with Anthony Fasano open in the end zone on third down in the preseason opener.
You can't judge Romo's tendencies too much in the preseason. He's getting a feel for Jason Garrett's passing scheme, and the blood isn't pumping like it does during the regular season. There's no urgency in a meaningless game, and he might not want to show much big-play stuff.
I haven't had a chance to discuss this issue with Romo, but Witten and T.O. certainly aren't worried about him turning into a close-to-the-vest kind of QB. They're confident he'll take calculated risks.
"I think he’s got a great understanding now of when to pull the trigger," Witten said, "instead of acting on impulse."
Posted by Tim MacMahon at 6:41 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (0)
Romo's trying to find the right balance between the two styles. He has a strong arm, but not the rifle Elway and Favre had in their prime that let them get away with so many risks. The Cowboys have a solid running game, but it's not like the Emmitt and the Bulldozers Bunch that allowed Aikman to focus on managing the game instead of making plays.
Bill Parcells, who introduced us to the term bus driver in regards to QBs, tried to beat the "impulse plays" out of Romo. After a storybook start, Romo struggled with turnovers as the Cowboys went kaput down the stretch. Several of those can be attributed to Romo trying to make a play when the X's and O's didn't go as planned.
"You don’t want to take that away, because that’s part of what makes him who he is," tight end Jason Witten said. "But there comes a time – the Detroit game last year pops out – that he tried to make things happen so much that he got himself in trouble."
That probably had a lot to do with Romo playing so conservatively in the playoff loss the next week. The Seahawks secondary was so depleted that they pulled Pete Hunter out of a Dallas loan office to play nickel back, but the Cowboys didn't attack.
Point the finger at the coach if you want, but Marshall Faulk made some interesting points during the NFL Network's replay of the game. He broke down two plays where Romo had a receiver open downfield but threw a short, safe pass. Same thing happened with Anthony Fasano open in the end zone on third down in the preseason opener.
You can't judge Romo's tendencies too much in the preseason. He's getting a feel for Jason Garrett's passing scheme, and the blood isn't pumping like it does during the regular season. There's no urgency in a meaningless game, and he might not want to show much big-play stuff.
I haven't had a chance to discuss this issue with Romo, but Witten and T.O. certainly aren't worried about him turning into a close-to-the-vest kind of QB. They're confident he'll take calculated risks.
"I think he’s got a great understanding now of when to pull the trigger," Witten said, "instead of acting on impulse."
Posted by Tim MacMahon at 6:41 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (0)
posted by The Gryphon at 10:32 AM
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