After a week of spotty inaccuracy versus the Lions in the Cowboys’ wildcard match-up, Tony Romo and the Cowboys traveled to Lambeau Field to play the Packers in this divisional match-up. Tony Romo looked excellent all game completing the vast majority of his passes while looking poised in the pocket. A controversial play ended the season for Dallas, but Romo’s performance was not the reason why the team lost. In this breakdown, we will take a look at the scoring plays, the final three plays that ended the game, and how Tight End Witten was used extensively throughout the game to move the chains.

Stats

Romo – 15/19, 191 yards, 10.1 ypa, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 4 sacks for 21 yards

First let’s take a look at the touchdowns in Plays 8 and 10.

Play 8

Situation: 1st and 1 at GB 1

Description: Q1 – (1:09) T.Romo pass short right to T.Clutts for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN [C.Matthews].D.Bailey extra point is GOOD, Center-L.Ladouceur, Holder-C.Jones.



Offense Formation: I-formation Jumbo

Offensive Grouping: 23

Defense Formation: Cover 3

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

Cowboys line up in a 3-TE set on 1st down so the Packers’ defense sells out on the run stop. Garrett’s play-action on first down completely fools the defense, so it allows FB44 Clutts and actually TE82 Witten to be completely open on their routes. After TE82 Witten and TE89 Escobar on the right side of the line start their route multiple defenders crash through that hole. RB29 Murray’s cut block is what stops LB52 Matthews from sacking Romo immediately.

Romo takes the snap and instantly finds Clutts wide open in the right flat for the easy score. Good play-call on first down that is extremely difficult to stop. Due to the strength of the Cowboys offensive line, the Packers defensive coordinator had to choose either a run stop on first or pass stop. Can’t fault him for choosing run stop in this situation.

Play 10

Situation: 2nd and 7 at GB 38

Description: Q2 – (8:29) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to T.Williams for 38 yards, TOUCHDOWN. D.Bailey extra point is GOOD, Center-L.Ladouceur, Holder-C.Jones. PENALTY on GB-D.House, Defensive Offside, 5 yards, enforced between downs.



Offense Formation: Shotgun Trips Right Far

Offensive Grouping: 11

Defense Formation: Cover 1, Man-to-man coverage across, ILB blitz

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

Romo needs 7 yards to keep the drive going on second down. TE82 Witten and WR88 Bryant are both running shallow crosses to setup a rub combination against the Packers’ secondary in man coverage, while WR83 Williams runs a hitch route to the first down marker against off-man coverage. Romo takes the snap and instantly finds Williams for the quick throw. Great throw with anticipation. The ball hits Williams as soon as he turns at the top of his stem, so he can start making a move down the field. Williams fakes outside and then explodes inside to get around the Packers’ secondary members.

http://i.imgur.com/uB3Eo0F.jpg

FS21 Clinton-Dix should have taken a more conservative path towards the ball-carrier seeing as CB38 Williams was already taking the outside path. This is what frees Williams for the score: Great throw with poor defensive angling.

Play 18

Situation: 1st and 10 at DAL 20

Description: Q3 – (7:46) T.Romo pass deep middle to D.Bryant to DAL 40 for 20 yards (S.Shields, H.Clinton-Dix).



Here is another play where Romo throws a very accurate ball with great anticipation on WR88 Bryant’s in-route. Look at Romo’s footwork in the pocket. He fully steps into his pass throwing between the LT77 Smith and LG65 Leary.

Let’s skip ahead to the final three passing plays of the day.

Play 25

Situation: 2nd and 8 at GB 38

Description: Q4 – (6:26) (Shotgun) T.Romo sacked at GB 41 for -3 yards (sack split by M.Neal and D.Jones).



Offense Formation: Empty-Set Shotgun Trips Left

Offensive Grouping: 01

Defense Formation: Cover 2, man-to-man coverage across the field

http://i.imgur.com/Py0R1gp.png

Romo starts left and looks at the route combination of Witten, Williams and Beasley. Romo concludes that none of them are open and he feels pressure so he scrambles outside the pocket to the right. Romo looks downfield for Witten, but Romo is being chased relentessly by the Packers’ defenders. Romo attempts to cut back to avoid the first defender, but gets taken down from behind for a three yard loss.

http://i.imgur.com/wqV494w.png

This sack could have been avoided if Romo just got rid of the ball while he was scrambling outside. At a certain point, you need to just throw it away and live to fight another down. Sure it’s only three yards, but this winds another 40 seconds off the clock that could be useful later in the game. In my opinion, Romo should have just thrown it out of bounds just to avoid the sack.

One thing to note also is that the linebacker that played inside leverage on Witten forcing him towards Beasley actually is the reason why this play is disrupted since all the players were bunched together on the left side of the field.

Play 26

Situation: 3rd and 11 at GB 41

Description: Q4 – (5:34) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to C.Beasley to GB 32 for 9 yards (B.Jones).



Offense Formation: Shotgun Trips Left Far

Offensive Grouping: 11

Defense Formation: Cover 3, 4 LB zones

http://i.imgur.com/qnwb6Vk.png

Romo takes the snap and instantly looks for Witten running a seam route. The linebackers are playing four zones across at the first down marker to prevent any big plays on 3rd and long, so Witten’s seam route is covered. Beasley is left wide open on his spot route underneath, so Romo finds him for a quick 8 yard gain.

http://i.imgur.com/WrCensB.png

At 3rd and 11 with 5:34 left to play this is a good decision to check the ball down. The Cowboys are in 4th down territory at the 41 yard line, so the goal of their offense should be to make it more manageable as opposed to forcing a throw downfield that could have ended the game.

Play 27

Situation: 4th and 2 at GB 32

Description: Q4 – (4:42) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass deep left to D.Bryant to GB 1 for 31 yards (S.Shields). Green Bay challenged the pass completion ruling, and the play was REVERSED. (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete deep left to D.Bryant (S.Shields). Yard marker changed due to change of passession.



Play 27 is the “catch, not catch” play. The Cowboys are in empty-set shotgun trips right. WR88 Bryant is on the left outside running a fade route against bump-and-run coverage which is exactly the look the Cowboys were hoping for on this play-call.

Outside of Bryant, the Packers key in on TE82 Witten double-covering him on the on the shallow cross. If Romo started right, he might have been able to find Beasley on the slant route, but the throw to Bryant was determined pre-snap.

Romo takes the snap and instantly throws it up for Bryant on the jump ball. CB37 Shield has to turn to locate the ball in the air so he can’t make a play on it. Bryant snags it out of the air, but can’t “possess” it to the ground turning the ball over on downs. Just an unfortunate result on a great play.

Outside of these plays, the player that deserves a lot of credit is TE82 Witten. In 19 attempts, Witten was targeted 7 times and consistently helped moved the chains all game. Let’s take a look at some of his catches in Plays 13, 14, 15, and 20:

Play 13 – Witten runs an in-route sitting between the two underneath linebacker zones and the free safety. Romo does a great job of navigating the pocket to find his throwing lane for him.

Play 14 – Witten runs a hitch route from the left slot and is able to use his body to shield the defender out of the path of the ball. Romo gets hit almost instantly after he releases the ball to his steady tight end.

Play 15 – Witten runs a shallow across and gets instant separation on LB58 Barrington. This play’s spot ended up being challenged due to the generous field position by the referee and was consequently moved back 2 yards.

Play 20 – Witten runs a spot route between zones for a quick first read pass by Romo. Witten does a great job of escaping the tackle of LB53 Perry to progress down the field for a first down.

As you can see Witten was a major part of the Cowboys’ gameplan versus the Packers’ and only until late in the game did the Packers key in on him to try to stop him from doing damage. Overall, Romo’s performance was very underrated. He consistently threw excellent balls with anticipation to his receivers and looked good in the pocket. Romo does have a problem taking too many sacks and trying too hard to make a play. Otherwise, his performance was excellent and his accuracy was pinpoint as compared to the previous week versus the Lions.