Last season, the Dallas Cowboys’ front office received lots of praise for putting together the most talented offensive line that paved the way for a top notch ground game. Gashing opponents on the ground and controlling the tempo helped quarterback Tony Romo become an ultimate executioner and make better decisions through his progressions. With areas of his game cleaned up, Romo had the best season of his career, with a passer rating of 113.2 (ranked 1st), completion percentage of 69.9 (ranked 1st), and his 5 game winning drives were tied with Detroit’s Matthew Stafford and Seattle’s Russell Wilson for most in the league. Poise is what primarily helped Romo get out of his sandlot habits in a run first offense, limiting him from playing out of structure. Having schoolyard skills at the quarterback position can always turn broken down plays into big gains – something Romo has done multiple times throughout his career, but the gun slinging/big play style has also hurt him from time to time when threading the needle.
In his first two starts before injuring his clavicle in Week 2 against the Eagles, Romo completed 54 of his 72 pass attempts – good enough for a completion percentage of 75. The backs (Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden …show more content…
When the defense played well or kept the game within reach, the offense didn’t deliver. When the offense got solid production from the ground game (Week 7, ran for 233 yards against the Giants), turnovers and bad special teams play was the deciphering factor in a loss. In six of the seven games without their signal caller, the Cowboys were in just about every game, but it was mainly the defense that couldn’t come up with stops late in the game in losses against the Saints in Week 4, and the last two games against the Eagles and Buccaneers – all heartbreaking