Yikes!
I wish I could tell you what was going on with Tony Romo, it seems to me that somebody has handcuffed him with the idea that to be good in the NFL you have to be a pocket passer. I'm not sure if that someone was him or the coaches. The coaches say it isn't them.
Dallas Cowboys see Tony Romo as playmaker, not game manager
08:51 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 7, 2009
By DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News
dmoore@dallasnews.com
IRVING – The Cowboys don't want to change Tony Romo. They don't want to strip the quarterback of what makes him special.
They want to help him be more consistent so he can once again be mentioned among the NFL's elite quarterbacks.
Head coach Wade Phillips elaborated on his quarterback Wednesday afternoon once he finished his daily press conference. First of all, Phillips makes it clear the club has no interest in turning Romo from gunslinger into game manager.
"[Media] are making that change, or people are trying to say that," Phillips said. "We're just trying to make him be a good quarterback and do the things he has done in the past, and do it a little bit better. That's what we're trying to do with him.
"We're not trying to change him. We're protecting the ball in the pocket more. We're not trying to change the offense. We've just got to get it accomplished."
Phillips was asked if being too careful or cautious with the ball could hinder Romo's play-making ability.
"Sure it could," Phillips said. "But I don't think he's doing that.
"He's working through it and we're working through it. He's not playing terrible. We've just got to get him playing as one of the top guys in the league, which he is.
"We've just got to get him back there."
Phillips sees no difference in Romo's natural instincts or ability to make big plays. He doesn't want to tie his quarterback's hands on those plays. What Phillips did say was that Romo has, "got to be more consistent on the other stuff."
Have the two spoken since the Denver loss?
"He's going to do well because he works hard at what he does and is a talented guy who cares," Phillips said. "He'll do better and better."
He just doesn't seem very good to me in the pocket, apparently other people have noticed it too.
The most basic throw is suddenly beyond Romo’s range
By Randy Galloway
Ft. Worth Star Telegram
rgalloway@star-telegram.com
The big debate around here last week:
Let Romo be Romo, or not?
The big debate this week?
Should Romo even be starting?
I’m serious. And no, I’m not a Jon Kitna next-of-kin.
OK, a quarterback change won’t happen. Maybe it shouldn’t happen. But after what was observed Sunday in Denver, there’s something else that shouldn’t be happening, at least not to a QB who has reached the veteran level in the NFL, and done so with an immense amount of fanfare, overblown or not.
Actually, all previous concerns about Tony have quickly become yesterday’s cat box liner. Right here, right now, it’s not about letting the man go hully gully, and be allowed to Freebird his way through the weekly rigors of life in the NFL.
That thing Sunday came down to one very disturbing fact:
In crutch and clutch time, Tony failed repeatedly to deliver a basic throw to an open receiver.
So, as many have declared, the Cowboys’ wideouts are void of big-play potential. Really? But how do you know that?
If a receiver is running open in the middle of the field and the ball comes whistling in his direction, high, low, two feet inside, three feet outside — in other words, uncatchable — then where is the opportunity to make a big play?
The Sam Hurd grab late in the game, resulting in 53 yards, gave the Cowboys the opportunity to force an overtime that never came. It was, of course, fourth-down freelancing, draw-it-up-in-the-schoolyard-dirt, and a flashback to vintage Tony. We love him for that stuff.
But the Cowboys ended up end zone-less, and ended up losing, because, in the big picture, Romo repeatedly did not stand and deliver the most basic of strikes.
You could have flanked out Michael Irvin, Drew Pearson and Bullet Bob, all at once, on Sunday, and it wouldn’t have mattered. The quarterback couldn’t get them the ball.
This was a loss that created a mushroom cloud over the Cowboys, and, really, over the remainder of the season. Got to get to December before there can be December-collapse worries.
In the second-guess aftermath, many were harpooned.
Throwing to the seldom-seen Sam twice in the end zone, with Champ Bailey on him, was a focal point that indicted either Romo or Jason Garrett. I’m not sure which, but the best guess is Romo.
The Romo red-zone pick, by Bailey early in the third period, was a killer, and certainly there was a route mixup between Romo and Miles Austin. Why is that still happening?
The Romo blindside sack and lost fumble in the second quarter got Denver into a game that had been going very poorly for the Broncos.
Linebacker Anthony Spencer not bailing out Romo by somehow missing an interception to prevent that first touchdown is a mystery.
Lone Star Park is now owned by the injuns.
Lone Star goes to the Chickasaw Nation
Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Global Gaming Solutions emerged from today’s auction in New York as the buyer of Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie. The sale awaits approval of the Delaware bankruptcy court next week. John Elliott, the CEO of Global Gaming, said he believes and hopes that will largely be procedural.
Magna Entertainment, the parent company of Lone Star, filed for bankruptcy in March.
Last month, also as part of the bankruptcy, Global Gaming purchased Remington Park in Oklahoma City. Global Gaming is a wholly owned enterprise of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Global Gaming had made the initial “stalking horse,” or high, bid of $27 million for Lone Star. Penn National was also expected to enter into today’s bidding, but without elaboration Elliott said the $27 million bid was accepted.
“We look forward to having a great relationship with the horsemen,” Elliott said, “and with the city of Grand Prairie.”
The transfer of the Lone Star license, of course, requires approval of the Texas Racing Commission. And state law requires that a majority of the ownership be Texan.
“We have a plan to satisfy that (requirement), and we will satisfy it,” Elliott said. He in the past has indicated that Global Gaming would be eager to involve Texas horsemen.
Jay Leno's ratings are dropping just about every day, his ratings are about 25% lower than the shows NBC had in the same slot last year, most of those shows were cancelled mid-stream. The worse sign is that NBC affiliates are struggling with the 10 PM newscasts. NBC says they aren't worried yet.
Prime-time 'Jay Leno Show' numbers take precipitous slide
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Jay Leno, the former king of late night, is turning into the pauper of prime time.
Three weeks into NBC's addition of a weeknight Jay Leno Show, the comedian isn't leaving much of a mark. Since the TV season began Sept. 21, he has finished in last place every night, and Monday he claimed a lowest-yet 4.5 million viewers.
From the start NBC said it would be difficult for Leno to compete against first-run 10 p.m. ET/PT dramas, and it promised to judge the show on a year-round basis. Because Leno will air originals 46 weeks a year, the network hopes to improve its standings over time while benefiting from lower costs.
"The big test will be how he does when repeats begin, and if he sees a surge," says John Rash of ad firm Campbell Mithun. "If not, it's particularly troublesome."
Averaging 5.9 million viewers for the first two weeks of the TV season, Leno is down 25% from the dramas NBC aired in that hour last year, several of which were later canceled. Among adults ages 18 to 49, it's down 41%.
Ad buyers say they anticipated lower ratings for Leno and negotiated ad prices accordingly. But "more alarming than Leno's ratings is the result the show has had on the rest of the schedule," says analyst Sam Armando of major ad buyer Starcom Media.
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