Romo is the Key

Posted: October 27th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 24 Comments »

We beat Dallas on Christmas day in 2006.  Romo was awful.  QB rating of 45.5.

We beat Dallas late in 2007.  Romo was awful.  QB rating of 22.2.

We beat Dallas in the season finale in 2008.  Romo wasn’t good.  QB rating of 55.8.

We lost 3 games to Dallas in 2009.  His lowest rating was 88.7.

No Romo for us last year.

Jim Johnson did a variety of things to beat Romo.  Not all his ideas worked.  We got torched by Tony in early games in 2007 and 2008.  When the Dallas offense clicks, you’re in for a long day.

You must pressure Romo and hope the bad Tony shows up.

Blitzing is risky.  You can get to him, or get lit up.  You’re much better off if the DL can win the battle up front and get pressure by themselves.  Then mix in the blitz for effect.

Getting Trent Cole back this week is huge.  Let’s hope Juqua Parker and Darryl Tapp are closer to 100 percent as well.

Just as important with Romo is getting pressure up the middle.  Tony is excellent at escaping outside rushers and moving around in the pocket.  We really need Cullen Jenkins, Mike Patterson, and Derek Landri to get push from the inside.  Don’t give Tony anywhere to go.

We must keep the Cowboys run game under control, but Dallas is a passing team.  You’ll win or lose based on how well you do vs Romo.  He is the key.

24 Comments on “Romo is the Key”

  1. 1 Anonymous said at 6:28 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Tommy,

    This is why you may never make it as a national talking head. Too much common sense and not enough cliches. All I ever hear on ESPN is “you have to be able to run and stop the run to win the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.”

  2. 2 Anonymous said at 8:32 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    There are a lot of quarterbacks in the National Football League: Phil Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick… Look, there are a lot of quarterbacks, but TONY ROMO is pretty good. Back on The Blitz…

  3. 3 Anonymous said at 9:03 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Nice!

  4. 4 Anonymous said at 8:23 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    If our defense plays up to their potential, we should match up well against the ‘Boys. (Insert joke exclaiming the size of that if, maybe with an Andy Reid analogy, here.)

    Our line should be able to get pressure against their in-the-works OL, our LBs and safeties should be able to stay with Witten and Murray, and our corners should be able to cover Austin and Bryant.

    Yet I am worried.

    Our offense should be able to score on them. Ryan is a wildcard, and I am sure he has been planning ways to attack Vick, but our coach is pretty good too, especially coming off a bye.

    The night game, coming off a bye, against a team where motivation won’t be an issue, at home, in a game where losing is not an option should have me feeling more confident. Yet I just wrote a whole lot of should. I am finding it hard to believe anything about this team with any certainty. I guess the wild rides that get you to the destination make the best stories though, right?

  5. 5 Anonymous said at 8:46 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Dallas brings out some weird stuff in the Eagles.

    Back in 2007 we played SEA, then DAL. I asked a person around the team what the mood was prior to SEA. He said the team had a great week of practice and the vibe in the building really upbeat. We played okay, except for AJ throwing the ball to Lofa Tatupu too much.

    The next week I asked about the team and the chances to win. I was told things were down and “not a chance” to win. We then went out and upset Dallas.

    I never asked about the team and the locker room vibe again.

    Throw out the records and the rules when Dallas and Philly get together.

  6. 6 Brian Stetler said at 9:04 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Not to be a Negadelphian (even though that’s what I’m doing), but I think the only other time I’ve been less confident going into Dallas Week was the playoff game after the ’09 season, just after they’d shut us out a week before.

    This game just reminds me so much of a Monday Night game in 2005 and s Sunday Night Game in 2007, both against the Cowboys, where the Eagles were playing to save their season and couldn’t get it done.

    I had the pleasure of attending both. 2005 featured one of the worst INTs I’ve ever seen, where if McNabb did ANYTHING except throw a pick six, the Eagles had an excellent chance to hold on and win. The 2007 game is the only Eagles game I’ve ever left early. It was 35-10 at the end of the 3rd, and I live 3 hours away.

    None of that has any bearing on Sunday, of course, the situation just seems so similar.

  7. 7 Gary said at 9:45 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Was 2005 the game where we were up 13 in the 4th quarter, they scored a touchdown, and then McNabb threw the pick-6 to Roy Williams and got hurt trying to make the tackle, winning them the game?

  8. 8 Anonymous said at 9:57 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Yeah. Wasn’t sure about the lead, but it was something like that. We might have lost 21-20.

    People forget that McMahon threw a perfect pass to a WR that would have put us in FG range late to win, but the guy dropped the pass.

  9. 9 Brian Stetler said at 10:11 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Yeah, I think Dallas scored a late 4th-quarter TD to cut the Eagles’ lead to 20-14, and the Eagles had the opportunity to run the clock off. If they’d punted, or if even Donnie Mac had thrown a regular INT, they had a good chance to hang on for the win. Instead, pick 6 to Roy Williams, McNabb injured on the play, season over. Just a bad play call and worse execution in that situation.

    Reggie Brown dropped the pass that you referred to, and Akers predictably missed a 60-yarder in the closing seconds.

  10. 10 Steve H said at 12:21 AM on October 28th, 2011:

    Yeah, was a strait up drop too, hit him right in the hands. Guess that was a harbinger of things to come.

  11. 11 Anonymous said at 8:43 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    i cant imagine howie roseman being happy with the juan castillo thing. even joe banner. they like to crunch numbers, and there are no numbers about how offensive line coaches do as defensive coordinators with virtually no offseason..

  12. 12 Anonymous said at 10:54 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Howie and Joe signed off on the Castillo hire. If they hadn’t agreed to the move, there would have been a showdown between AR and them. Juan was able to really sell them.

    Do they regret the move? I would think they aren’t thrilled with it right now. We’ll see how things play out the next month or so.

  13. 13 Anonymous said at 2:59 AM on October 28th, 2011:

    they might have begrudgingly signed off. i cant imagine shrewed businessmen like roseman and banner would spend all that money on pro-bowl defensive players, only to hire a guy with zero experience in defensive coaching. the front office were trying to go all in this year, i cant imagine them being happy with the move. i thought at that moment that there had to be a power struggle going on..

  14. 14 Yuri said at 10:42 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    “Dallas is at its best when they can run the ball. ”
    http://igglesblitz.com/philadelphia-eagles-2/know-your-enemy-dallas/
    I am confused…

  15. 15 Anonymous said at 10:52 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    Dallas is at their best when they can run. That makes play-action passes really effective. It gets Jason Witten wide open. It means single coverage for Dez and Miles. Running the ball really opens up their passing attack. Romo is very good with his PA fakes. And they need the passing game to work so that they can hit you with the draw play, their best run. Very cyclical thing.

  16. 16 Steve H said at 1:19 AM on October 28th, 2011:

    This is something that always drove me nuts about Mcnabb, he never really sold his play action fakes at all. Its something that requires such minimal effort and yet he would always casually hold the ball out, no head fake, nothing. Other QB’s sell the fake so well it takes me a second on the TV feed to see if its a run or not. Romo is one of those QB’s that really sells the fake well.

  17. 17 Deshawn Bentley said at 11:13 PM on October 27th, 2011:

    So is Vick going to continue his quick 3 step drop and releasing the ball under 3 seconds in order to limit blitzes? Are we going to be pass happy or run happy or balanced?

  18. 18 Anonymous said at 4:54 PM on October 28th, 2011:

    I hope the game plan includes a lot of 3 step drops.

  19. 19 Anonymous said at 5:33 AM on October 28th, 2011:

    The odds migh favor the eagles: AR’s after bye week record to make it a perfect 13 (just in time for Halloween) and the small likelihood that they are going to lose their 5th (!) home game in a row dating back to last season. Yet I am still worried despite all my superstition..

  20. 20 Anonymous said at 12:38 PM on October 28th, 2011:

    Tommy: Off subject, but how far do you think Case Keenam QB out of Houston will fall? I think he would be a good project to draft for a 3rd string next year if we can get him at the right spot.

  21. 21 Mac said at 1:51 PM on October 28th, 2011:

    If Romo is the keymaster, then who is the gatekeeper?

  22. 22 Anonymous said at 3:20 PM on October 28th, 2011:

    sniffle…sniffle…

  23. 23 Anonymous said at 4:55 PM on October 28th, 2011:

    Is that the guy who threw a party and invited 32 friends, none of whom came?

  24. 24 Anonymous said at 5:29 PM on October 28th, 2011:

    Interesting piece by Ray Didinger suggesting we play man on their receivers. I’d love to see Nmandi on Dez, who scares the heck out of me. I’d be very surprised to see us have 3 guys play man though. Have we done that any time recently??

    http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/news/Under-Review-Birds-should-stifle-Cowboys?blockID=583210&feedID=692