Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo usually gets most of the blame for the team’s lack of success thrown his way. And as the face of the franchise, this is to be expected.
Unlike other quarterbacks, Romo doesn’t get the praise he deserves when the team wins. Interestingly enough, the Cowboys 26-10 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 2 featured a lot less of Romo and more of running back DeMarco Murray.
Romo completed 19-of-29 passes for 176 yards with a touchdown and zero interceptions in the win. Meanwhile, a combination of three running backs tallied 43 attempts on the ground. The recipe for success was right there, as Dallas dominated the time of possession battle, holding on to the ball for over 41 minutes.
Since Romo took over as the Cowboys starting quarterback in 2006, the team is 23-6 in games that Romo attempts less than 30 passes. This doesn’t include two outings in which he had to leave early due to injury.
On the other hand, Dallas boasts a 53-50 record when he attempts 30-plus passes.
Needless to say, owner Jerry Jones had absolutely no issues with Romo attempting just 29 passes in the Cowboys first win of the season last week against Tennessee (via DallasNews.com).
I’m probably the one that’s standing right behind Tony and saying, ‘Yes, we like seeing that,’” Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. “When you can have that balance, and that’s a word that’s overused, balance, and the other day we had more of a lean toward the run, and we’ll take it.
That offensive line played lights out for us. But when you can have more of a balance, which means that you’re not sitting there with a high ratio of passes by Romo, then I think we’re seeing you have a better chance for your defense to be more effective, play less plays, better field position.
It’s not a surprise that Dallas has more success when there is balance on the offensive side of the ball. After all, the lack of balance was one of the major criticisms directed at head coach Jason Garrett and Co. last season. They threw the ball a whopping 64 percent of the team in 2013. For comparison’s sake, the team has run the same amount of passing plays as rushing plays through two games this year.
As I suggested above, this isn’t to indicate that Romo is nothing more than a game manager. Instead, its goes to show us how balance can lead to success on the offensive side of the ball.
With DeMarco Murray fully healthy and averaging 5.6 yards per attempt this season, there is no reason to believe that Dallas is going to revert back to a pass-happy offensive attack. And if history tells us anything, it will be much more successful as a team because of it.
Photo: Huffington Post