Without Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys Are The New York Jets
Though you wouldn’t guess it from their No. 3 playoff seed, no NFL team won more games in 2014 than the Dallas Cowboys. Their success is attributable to a physical offensive formula that dominates the line of scrimmage and affords opportunities for the skill position playmakers to go do their thing.
To illustrate, the combination of a big, talented offensive line and a team concept committed to the run afforded running back DeMarco Murray the opportunity to become an All Pro, and it looks like he’ll take advantage of it. Murray played all 16 games this year, led the league in rushing by about 500 yards, scored 13 touchdowns, and racked up more than 2,200 all-purpose yards.
Murray’s spectacular year and his importance to the offense have led many to suggest that quarterback Tony Romo isn’t even the MVP on his own team, much less for the whole league. What those folks fail to acknowledge is none of Murray’s numbers translate into wins without Romo making plays from the pocket.
The New York Jets won four games this year. They ran the ball with the same frequency and the same success as the Cowboys. The numbers are strikingly similar:
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The Jets show the same “commitment” to the run as the Cowboys, and they run it just as effectively. On top of that, the Jets are ranked sixth in the league in total defense and the Cowboys rank 19th. Winning in the NFL isn’t as simple as running the football and playing good defense – if it was, the Jets would have 12 wins like the Cowboys.
Without an effective passing game to convert on third down, extend drives, and score in the red zone, the Cowboys are the Jets.
Running the football aggressively and successfully opens up opportunities in the passing game. It can force the defense to bring a safety down inside the box, creating favorable one-on-one match ups outside. It can suck linebackers up on play action, leaving open space in the middle of the field for slants and seam routes. To win, a team needs a quarterback to take advantage of those opportunities. Without that quarterback, you’re the Jets.
Everyone remembers the embarrassing 28-17 loss at home to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9. Romo watched from the sidelines after fracturing his spine the game before. Murray ran 19 times for 79 yards – 4.2 per carry – into the stoutest run defense in the league. He ran it pretty well, so why didn’t he run more?
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Murray didn’t run more because backup quarterback Brandon Weeden completed just 54 percent of his passes and the offense was an anemic 3-for-11 on third down conversions. Without a competent quarterback, the Cowboys’ high-powered ground game was running into unfavorable run looks – Arizona stacked eight, nine, even 10 men in the box. Without a competent quarterback, the offense couldn’t stay on the field, and the run game alone wasn’t enough to win.
Romo is clearly the team MVP. What makes him the league MVP is he is so much more than competent. He leads the league in passer rating and Total QBR. He’s fourth in the league with 34 touchdowns, and fourth among qualified passers with just nine interceptions. He leads an offense that is second in the league in both third down conversion percentage and red zone touchdown percentage.
Romo has also led four game-winning drives this year – second best in the league behind Matthew Stafford (5) and more than Tom Brady (2) and Aaron Rodgers (1) combined.
This is a team game. No football player performs in a vacuum. No football player’s stats are all his own. Every MVP candidate benefits from his teammates doing their jobs. Looking at the rushing numbers for the Jets, it’s clear the most important job on the field is the quarterback position, and Romo played it better than anyone in 2014.