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Football 301 – Week 7 – ATL – Targets/Sacks

Another week, and another chance for us to see where Tony Romo wants to go with the football. Also, who do we blame for the sacks? Let’s examine closely:

Target Distribution:

Targets – Week 7 vs. Atlanta

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OK, Roy Williams fans will want to just skip over all of this data. When your QB is in the zone, and doesn’t miss on hardly any passes all day long, you don’t want to cash in on just 1 of 5 targets that come your way. Romo was perfect to everyone except 3 guys. Austin was 6 of 8 for 171. Witten was 5 of 7 for 53. And then Roy was just 1 for 5? Oh dear. This is not getting better, is it?

Season Target Distribution To Date:

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Here, as we look at the season stats, Austin’s emergence looks even more scary. The WR corps have all had between 30 and 35 balls thrown at them, and Austin has caught more, done more per catch, and more overall than any of the others. Can he make a run at a 1,000 yard season? It would seem that he can. What a find. Meanwhile, 40% for Roy after 30 targets is bad. The league leaders routinely catch over 50%, and 60% is not that uncommon.

40%? Put it this way. 100 receivers in the NFL this year have 28 or more targets. 3 have fewer than the 12 catches that Roy has. Michael Clayton, TB (11 for 36, 31%), Chansi Stuckey, NYJ/Cle (11 for 32, 34%) and Chris Chambers, SD (8 for 30, 26%). And there is your entire list.

Some of the best? Hines Ward, Pit (42 for 55, 73%), Wes Welker, NE (46 for 62, 74%), and Steve Smith, Car (45 for 64, 70%).

3rd Down Target Distribution:

3RD Down Targets – Week 7 – Atlanta

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Good News or Bad News? The Good news is that Romo and the Cowboys were very solid on 3rd down passing. We demonstrated last week that this is a season long negative, so to go 6-8 on 3rd down for 5 First Down conversions is very solid. Bad News? When you go 6-8, you would wish that the other 2 were not the only 2 times you pass it to your #1 WR. Roy Williams, 0-2. There is no way to sugar coat his performance this season.

3rd Down Targets – Season Totals

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One of these days, I will get tired of telling everyone how money Jason Witten is. That day has not arrived yet. He is 8 for 8 on 3rd Downs, which makes you wonder what Romo was thinking the other 45 times he threw it elsewhere.

SACKS

Atlanta got to Tony Romo for 2 sacks, although his escape-ability reached legendary status right before halftime as he figured out how to get out of that amazing mess when pretty much all 4 Falcons’ pass rushers beat their man. To see Romo surrounded by ATL rushers followed by the TD was the thing that will be talked about for years if this season has a happy ending.

The 2 sacks were both caused by the Falcons dialing up a blitz at just the right time.

In the 3rd Quarter, they sent 7 when the Cowboys had just 6 blocking on a 3rd down. This left Leonard Davis and Tashard Choice with choices to make. Davis picked up a guy who Gurode already had, and Choice opted for the edge linebacker (54 Nicholas) over the blitzer through the “B” gap (28 DeCoud). Blitzing defenders are ALWAYS to be picked up from the inside-out and therefore Choice needed to go for 28 over 54, and leave Nicholas for Romo. The play was doomed to fail the second everyone realized that the Falcons sent more than the Cowboys left in, but Choice did not make the right choice. And, Romo, as Troy said, has to get the ball out of there.

Next, in the 4th Quarter, Nicholas blew up Deon Anderson in a 1-on-1 situation. It also looks like Davis is beat on the play, but he did not directly give up the sack. This was a rare man-up loss for Anderson on a drill we see 1,000 times at training camp where LBs and RBs do battle on the practice field to simulate this situation.

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