Tony Romo’s 400 yards not enough
The Dallas Cowboys lost with 27 against the Tennessee Titan’s 34 points on Saturday night. The Cowboys, 1 – 3, are off to their worst start in almost a decade. It was particularly disappointing for them to lose a game with quarterback Tony Romo throwing
over 400 yards and scoring three touchdowns. The Titans were nowhere near that on Saturday but in the end prevailed.
The fact that worked against the Cowboys was that quarterback Romo was sacked six times and intercepted three times, often at very crucial junctures in the game. The defence producing turnovers of course did hurt but the penalties from the Cowboys, 12 in
total, also took their toll on the Cowboys and in the end, turned out to cost them the game.
After the Titan’s first touchdown in the first drive of the first quarter, Cowboys quarterback Romo answered by getting sacked for 7 yards on a third down and ended the drive in a punt. The next time the Cowboys were on the offensive, Romo got sacked once
again on the 28 yard line. The quarterback couldn’t make up his mind in time. He tried to pass the ball but gave up the idea in the middle of the throw and decided to run on the 3rd and 8th. Unfortunately for him, the Titans’ defence
was breaking through Dallas’ offensive lines and had cut off Romo’s path, sacking him for 6 yard. The Cowboys were still able to score a field goal on the drive thanks to a 51 yard field goal kick by Buehler.
The very next time the Cowboys were on the offensive with Romo leading the charge, the first play was another 5 yards sack for the Titans. Titan’s Babin closed in on Romo from the right and was just able to trip Romo before he made a run for it. Romo picked
himself up and drove to the Titans’ 34 yard line but was sacked again for 9 yards. Three Titans were on to Romo before he could make his move while the offensive line just looked at each other wondering who made which mistake.
Two penalties later, Romo was sacked again for two yards. The Titans were pushing through the offensive line time and time again and Romo just couldn’t react quickly enough. Even though the sacks kept coming, Romo was still able to complete passes in between.
Before the second quarter ended, Romo scored his first touchdown in a drive that included two 8 yard passes, a 17 yard pass and a 27 yard pass into the red zone before the 6 yard touchdown pass. Romo was sacked in that drive too but play was reversed by the
replay assistant.
Romo didn’t rake in over 400 yards by just getting sacked and intercepted. He made some spectacular plays in the game and the most noteworthy amongst them would have to be Romo’s 69 yard touchdown pass in the first drive of the third quarter. Romo passed
at Austin who leapt between two Titans to catch the ball. Both were unable to regain their footing and tumbled, leaving the path open for Austin to run straight down for a touchdown.
The era of the sacks was over and now the interceptions began for Romo. In the third quarter, Romo tried to throw the ball to Bennett but had to throw higher to clear Titan’s linemen. Bennett couldn’t catch the ball and Griffin took hold of it instead. Although
he ran with the ball to the 15 yard line, the play was ruled a touchback.
Into the fourth quarter Romo gave away the ball in possibly the most damaging play for the Cowboys but Romo can’t be blamed for this interception. Romo threw the ball at Bennett who was open but Alterraun Verner dived in front of him out of nowhere. Verner
ran with the ball and was barely stopped on the 1 yard line. The Titans scored the touchdown in the next play.
Dallas and Tennessee were both on 27 in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Tony Romo’s 3rd touchdown of the game had equalized the game but then a penalty on Dallas helped the Titans to a lead. Dallas was given an unsportsmanlike conduct
penalty for excessive celebration after that penalty. The penalty pushed the kickoff back by 15 yards to the Dallas 15 yard line. Buehler kicked the ball 69 yards which was returned by Marc Mariani for 73 yards. Dallas helped them a bit more with a 15 yards
facemask penalty to take the Titans to the 5 yard line after the kickoff. The Titans scored the touchdown and took a 7 points lead with 3 minutes remaining.
There was still time for three more drives, none of which ended in scores. In the last minute when Dallas had possession in their last chance to equalize the score, the drive began and ended with an interception. Dallas lost 27 against 34 though they could
have very well won the game.
Romo’s 406 yards were undone by 6 sacks and 3 interceptions. Still it’s not every day a quarterback can pass 400 yards.
Tags: