Thursday, June 12, 2008

DMN Blog: Tony Romo by the numbers

by Albert Breer

In today's paper, Todd Archer has a look at Tony Romo finding ways to improve after posting the greatest statistical season a Cowboy quarterback has ever had.

And I think most people would agree that Romo was better in 2007 than '06 ... But was he really??? I thought it'd be interesting to take a look.

Romo's completion percentage and yards-per-attempt average both dropped in 2007. Also, Romo averaged 278.8 yards in his 10 starts in 2006, and 263.2 yards in his 16 starts in 2007 (Although it's 275 if you eliminate the season-finale mail-in in D.C.) TD-INT ratio is the one area where he did improve -- going from having a 1.46 (19-13) ratio in 2006 to 1.89 in 2007 (36-19).

On the flip side, Romo was more consistent in 2007, at least until December. He posted seven 300-yard games in '07 to just three the year prior. In both seasons, there was boom-or-bust potential: He had seven games with a 60-plus completion rate in 10 starts in 2006, and two where he completed less than half his passes; And he had 12 games of 60 percent passing in 2007, and three of sub-50 percent passing.

Conclusions? Well, this guy's a real good quarterback, and has been for more than a year-and-a-half. And as is the case with the entire team, he needs play better down the stretch and into the playoffs.