Tony Romo and the Cowboys entered the playoffs after winning the NFC East for the first time since 2009. Romo’s performance in December and the playoffs has been heavily scrutinized, so I wanted to see how well Romo performed in this wildcard matchup against the Detroit Lions. Statistically, Romo performed well, but this is misleading. He missed a lot of easy throws and opportunities, but ultimately was successful due to his offensive line stopping the Lions pass rush when it counted and Williams run after the catch for a long touchdown.

Stats

Romo – 19/31, 293 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 Fumble, 6 sacks for 51 yards

Romo’s stats were very misleading in this game. He completed 61% of his passes, but he was surprisingly inaccurate throwing off of his backfoot multiple times. These can be seen in plays 2, 5, 6, 12, 18, 23, and 37.

Play 2

Situation: 3rd and 7 at DAL 23

Description: Q1 – (13:40) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short right to C.Beasley. Pass incomplete in the flat.



Beasley runs a zig route from the right slot, but Romo throws it high and outside of him. Romo does a good job of stepping into his throw, but he just pushes it too far from his intended target.

Play 5

Situation: 2nd and 7 at DAL 40

Description: Q1 – (9:36) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete deep middle to T.Williams (D.Slay) [E.Ansah]. Pass incomplete on a “post” pattern at the Detroit 18.



WR83 Williams runs a deep post route from the right outside against CB23 Slay in off-man coverage. Romo goes through his reads (1. Beasley, 2. Witten) and throws the ball deep down the middle of the field to Williams. Slay makes a great play jumping over Williams to breakup the pass.

Romo does a great job of progressing through his reads and giving Williams a chance at the ball, but he needs to throw this ball more in front of Williams so he can hit him in stride. An ideal placement of this ball would have been further up the field, maybe another 5 yards, or halfway between the left hash and the yard markers for Williams to run to it. Give credit to Slay though for the pass breakup.

Play 6

Situation: 3rd and 7 at DAL 40

Description: Q1 – (9:28) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short middle to C.Beasley [E.Ansah]. Pass incomplete on a “slant” pattern; Quin closest defender.



Romo from shotgun takes the snap and immediately looks left. His intended target on this play is WR11 Beasley the entire play due to Beasley’s defender blitzing. This play was extremely similar to Play 25 versus the Colts in Week 16.

Beasley runs the correct route this time (slant) and Romo fires it to him feeling the pressure coming from the defensive line. Romo steps into his throw, but he throws it low and behind Beasley. Romo gets hit immediately after releasing the ball.

Really this is a great headsup play by Romo to take advantage of the blitzing cornerback leaving Beasley open. It just needs to be completed next time.

Play 12

Situation: 3rd and 19 at DAL 38

Description: Q2 – (14:12) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete deep middle to T.Williams. Pass incomplete on a “crossing route at the Detroit 45.



WR83 Williams runs a deep crossing route over the middle of the field. Romo from shotgun takes the snap and goes through his reads quickly. He throws it deep down the middle of the field intended for Williams but the ball doesn’t reach his intended target.

Watch the endzone view and specifically watch Romo’s feet as he is throwing the ball. He barely steps into his throw and his weight is on his backfoot. This is why the throw is low and short of Williams.

Play 18

Situation: 2nd and 2 at DAL 34

Description: Q2 – (2:00) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short left to C.Beasley.



Romo from shotgun has WR11 Beasley running an out route from the left slot against off-man coverage. Beasley runs a good route, but Romo leaves it short again.

Again, watch Romo’s feet. He throws off of his backfoot, not stepping into the throw, therefore leaving it short of the intended target.

Play 23

Situation: 2nd and 10 at 50

Description: Q3 – (6:04) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short left to C.Beasley. Pass incomplete on a ‘corner route: Seisay closest defender.



Another out-route to Beasley from the left slot. This time Beasley initiates contact with his defender down the field. I’m not sure why Beasley does this. It’s not a play-action fake or anything like that. This could have been easily called offensive pass interference to gain separation using the shove, but the ball is short and inside of Beasley.

Play 37

Situation: 2nd and 7 at DET 13

Description: Q4 – (3:43) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short right to G.Escobar. Pass incomplete on a “slant” pattern.



Escobar from the middle of the trips right runs a slant route over the middle of the field. He gains separation on the quick cut on his defender, but Romo throws the ball inaccurately behind and low.

Outside of these inaccurate throws, Romo did a good job making plays when the Cowboys needed them in order to beat the Lions like in Plays 20 and 40. These are the two touchdowns to Williams.

Play 20

Situation: 3rd and 12 at DAL 24

Description: Q2 – (1:50) Terrance Williams 76 Yd pass from Tony Romo (Dan Bailey Kick)



Offensive Formation: Shotgun Trips Left Far

Offensive Grouping: 11

Defensive Formation: Cover 2, Man coverage underneath, Off-man coverage on outside WRs

http://i.imgur.com/wcztU6a.jpg

Romo takes the snap and instantly finds his first read TE82 Witten on the seam route. This is the first read, because Romo guessed that the the Lions were in Cover 2 with two underneath linebacker zones. This would have given Romo a free shot to Witten if the linebacker was in front of Witten.

The linebacker was actually covering Witten in man-to-man coverage, so Romo moved on to his next read WR83 Williams. Good.

http://i.imgur.com/U3ifo2e.jpg

Romo sees Williams breaking inside on his deep crossing route and passes it to the middle of the field. Williams gets separation at the top of his route and catches the ball with ease while the cornerback in off-man coverage makes a diving grab at him.

http://i.imgur.com/jsGp85s.jpg

Williams uses his speed and vision to take the ball to the house, while Witten sets up a nice block on SS32 Ihedigbo to free him from being tackled.

http://i.imgur.com/6osWG4y.jpg

This was Romo’s best play of the day from a pure mechanical and fundamental aspect. He reads the coverage, progresses through his reads and delivers and accurate pass to Williams.

Play 40

Situation: 3rd and 8 at DET 8

Description: Q4 – (2:39) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to T.Williams for 8 yards, TOUCHDOWN [E.Ansah]. Pass was caught middle back of the end zone. D.Bailey extra point is GOOD, Center-L.Ladouceur, Holder-C.Jones.



Offensive Formation: Shotgun Trips Right Far

Offensive Grouping: 11

Defensive Formation: Cover 2, Four underneath zones, Man coverage on TE and RB

http://i.imgur.com/wEsbVmS.jpg

This is a designed pick play to Williams on the right side. Beasley’s quick-out route is supposed to interfere with William’s man in coverage. This play only works with the Lions are in man coverage. Preferably on the line of scrimmage. Instead the Lions are in zone coverage ready for any pick plays. Good defensive call, so the pick play doesn’t work.

http://i.imgur.com/q2xydc0.jpg

Romo progresses to his next target WR88 Bryant running an in-route to the back of the endzone. He is bracketed by two defenders in zone coverage.

http://i.imgur.com/tHCs0qU.jpg

At this point, the defensive line HAS to get penetration and take down Romo, but it does an excellent job stopping all defensive lineman in their tracks. Nobody gets any penetration so Romo has all day to throw the ball.

http://i.imgur.com/Le75YrZ.jpg

Romo eventually finds Williams in the back of the endzone who comes back across the field to help out his quarterback for the touchdown. Great job by the Cowboys’ offensive line here. This play would not have happened without their perfect blocking.

Play 8 is the last play I’m going to show, which is the sack-fumble by LB52 Tapp.

Watch RT78 Parnell specifically. He literally just stands there… This is why he is not a starter in the NFL. Romo does a good job of avoiding the free rusher from the left edge, but this sack is 100% the fault of Parnell.

Overall, Romo completed the important passes to lead his team to victory, but you can’t help notice just how inaccurate he was. He looked rattled against the Lions defensive line not stepping into his throws and generally being inaccurate. Hopefully he will be able to clean his up for next week’s divisional game versus the Packers.