Romo the Roach: Tony’s Extra-sensory Skills Could Decide the Steelers Game
December 2, 2008
Many insects have cerci, a pair of antenna-like appendages that extend from their lower bodies. Roaches use them as a second set of eyes; the cerci can detect minute changes in air currents, like those caused by human boots slamming towards them. The roach can gauge the direction of the gust and quickly dash in the opposite direction. It’s why they’re so hard to kill, even when one manages to sneak up behind them.
NFL defensive linemen probably feel that Tony Romo is part roach, with cerci extending from his shoulder blades. Though the Cowboys have had an injury-prone offensive line this year, that has broken down far more often than his lines from ‘06 and ‘07, Romo has only been bagged eight times in his nine starts. He has an uncanny ability to sense backslide pressure and slide away from it.
That extra-sensory skill could be the deciding factor in Sunday’s Cowboys-Steelers game. The teams boast the two best rushes in the game. Pittsburgh tops the sack charts with 42 while Dallas has 40. Both run base 3-4 schemes. Both have exceptional pass rushing outside linebackers. Both make extensive use of 2-4-5 “Chaos” packages, where two down linemen are backed by a quartet of linebackers to float up and down the line of scrimmage before setting their rush lames just before the snap.
In short, both teams look to put extreme pressure on the opposing QB. The main difference will be which team can protect their signal caller better. The numbers strongly suggest that team will be Dallas:
Sacks allowed
- PIttsburgh — 36, 3.0 per game;
- Dallas — 18, 1.5 per game;
Sacks taken by Starting QB:
- Ben Roethlisberger — 12 starts, 33 sacks, 2.75/game;
- Tony Romo — 9 starts, 8 sacks, 0.89/game;
Roethlisberger has been sacked three times as often as Romo this year. To give you some context, Brad Johnson was sacked 8 times in his three Cowboys starts, a 2.67/game rate. (Brooks Bollinger has the other two, from his Giants-game cameo.)
Brad Johnson was a slightly more slippery target than Ben Roethlisberger. Now, that’s a bit of a cheap shot: Roethisberger is a far more able QB, with an infinitely stronger arm than Johnson. But when it comes to mobility and elusiveness, they’re the same guy.
Nor can Roethlisberger claim to be a better football custodian than Romo. He has 15 total turnovers — 12 picks and 3 lost fumbles, a 1.25/game turnover rate. Romo has eight picks and four lost fumbles, for a 1.33/game rate. We Cowboys fans get on him for his bobbles, but he’s no worse than his rival this week.
All other rush conditions being about the same, Romo’s slippery-ness could buy him the time for those one or two game-changing, big plays. The Steelers rush is excellent, but they’re chasing a cockroach this weekend. The Cowboys blitzers are chasing Bernie Kosar’s son.
The Doctor Examines the Cowboys
December 2, 2008
In a new Tuesday segment my former Sports Doctors radio partner Dr. Luis Rios reviews the Cowboys injury list. This week he discusses the severity of Marion Barber’s toe injury, Demarcus Ware’s knee and the odds that we’ve seen the last of Tony Romo’s splint.
The Doctor Diagnoses Dallas, Dec. 2nd
DMN: Patrick Watkins to Injured Reserve
December 2, 2008
The Dallas Cowboys took another hit at the safety position today when Patrick Watkins was placed on injured reserve.
Safety Patrick Watkins has now down for the rest of the season with a neck stinger that’s bothered him off and on all season long. The roster move clears the way for Adam “Pacman” Jones to join the 53-man roster this Sunday against the Steelers.
While Watkins’ play hasn’t been the best this season, he provided much needed depth at safety and was a staple on special teams.
Cowboys @ Steelers: Renewing the rivalry
December 2, 2008
Break out the 8-track tapes and put on a pair of funky bell-bottoms. It’s the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers renewing old acquaintances and for some Cowboys fans, it ignites memories of that long ago era - the 1970’s. A certain segment of Cowboys fans (read: old) like me cut our football teeth in that decade of bad fashion. The NFL was the land of dynasties then and no two teams dominated the decade like the Cowboys and the Steelers. Seven times in the 70’s a Cowboys’ or Steelers’ team was playing in the Super Bowl. Two times the dynasties hooked up for a head-to-head competition. Tragically, for Dallas fans, those Super Bowls ended in failure and they also sent a young, emotional Cowboys fan crying to his room.
The 70’s Cowboys/Steelers Super Bowls were two of the best ever played from a purely football standpoint, but the end results were not the best for us. Jackie Smith lives on in our collective consciousness and Lynn Swann makes us want to barf. The Cowboys finally exacted some revenge in the 90’s when Neil O’Donnell made Larry Brown a rich-man and the world order was righted as the Cowboys finally topped the Steelers.
Even though this game is just a regular season matchup, albeit for high stakes for both teams, every time we play the Steelers I can’t help but go back to the rivalry of yore. There’s just something about the Cowboys and Steelers getting together that sounds like a good football game. Maybe I’m just caught up in nostalgia but I think some of you out there are feeling me.
Cowboys vs. Steelers, old-school, new-school; always in style.
For a great look at the Steelers, I highly recommend SB Nation’s blog, Behind the Steel Curtain. As always, when commenting on another team’s blog, try to stay classy. You know how we feel over here when the trolls start dogging our team. It ain’t pretty.
December has not been kind to the Cowboys.
The Return of the Pac. Will his returns be any better this time around?
-
"The Sports Doctors"
iTunes/
Winamp
Windows
Media
RealOne -
Cowboy Up
Dedicated to providing the best Cowboys analysis anywhere, our efforts are free of charge but not free of expense. Your kind donation today will keep our drive alive.
Thank you
Or mail payment to:
RV2 Enterprises
P.O. Box 150093
Austin TX 78715-0093
Advertisers
-
Fave it!
-
SiteMeter
Burst Media
