- Messages
- 2,329
- Reaction score
- 11
We hit another one of those games where there was absolutely too much pressure put on Romo. He is Superman for many moments during games and he survives so often with great success that the coaching staff forget the "survival" part of the play and just hunger for more of those opportunities for those successes. The fact is that Romo had too many moments in the Lions game that he was just trying to survive. It looked like 2012 all over again with little or no adjustment to the Lion defensive stops. Instead there was the Jason Garrett stink of "I don't care about 3rd down, if we execute the plays, we will just get the ball back and throw again". The stink was particular putrid and distinctive of old stale 2012 terrible coaching when an interception by Wilber could not yield anything close to the goal-line. It was as if Dallas had been transported back to bunches of yards and no scores (which by the way was part of the formula for Linehan's firing in Detroit).
During the three games after similar coaching lethargy on Thanksgiving, the routes were creative, the targets varied, and the ball was out of Romos hand fairly quickly bc the routes were designed to immediately get the receiver in a position for YAC or free to get first downs. Romo sitting back watching 5 covered WRs in limited red zone space run around until someone gets free is not a play. It is a forced error. It is a sack. It is a waste of a down. And it will be Romos demise.
Garrett played the Romo as Messiah gameplan for years that once Callahan showed a hint of contrast last year and Murrays success this year, I never thought we would see that again. But Linehan, if he was the one calling plays, fell right into the Jason laissez faire style of "let Romo succeed while running for his life" play calling.
Similar to what Dom Capers and Ray Lewis remarked after a Jason Garrrett OC game, at many pivotal points in the Lions game, Dallas just kept calling the same plays over and over expecting different results. Garrett and Linehan do not deserve the victory that Romo, Murray and Marinelli gave them.
