Dallas Cowboys: What quarterback friendly should really mean

If the Dallas Cowboys spent years building a “Romo-friendly” team, why waste more years becoming a Dak Prescott friendly team?

The Dallas Cowboys used to use buzzwords like “Romo-Friendly” – for quarterback Tony Romo – to describe the direction of the franchise. Cowboy Nation understood what that meant and the front office invested heavily in building the best offensive line in football.

This was important because Romo was a passer. He was accurate in the pocket and even when he scrambled, he was looking to pass. The plan was to keep Romo upright and protected and we would score points and win games.

The front office then discovered that our offensive linemen were more than an impenetrable wall. This collection of first rounders was pretty good at making running lanes too. That offensive line combined with Romo’s arm helped running back DeMarco Murray lead the NFL with 1845 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. The increased protection allowed Romo to throw for 3705 yards with 34 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Romo’s favorite target was receiver Dez Bryant and he finished with 1,320 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. Bryant averaged 15.8 yards per catch and receiver Terrance Williams averaged 16.8 yards per catch. Williams also caught 8 touchdowns.

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The offensive line helped balance our offense and we ranked 5^th by scoring nearly 30 points per game. With a 1,000 yard rusher and receiver, our offense seemed impossible to stop! Unfortunately, our defense ranked 15^th that year and a controversial catch ended our playoff run.

When quarterback Dak Prescott was forced to start as a rookie, he was stepping into an ideal situation to be successful. He was surrounded by Pro-Bowl talent on the offensive line, wide receivers, tight end Jason Witten (the GOAT) and running back Ezekiel Elliott proved to be the real deal, becoming the NFL’s leading rusher.

With the benefit of a 4^th place schedule, we ranked 5^th by averaging 26 points per game but also ranked 5^th defensively. It was highest defensive ranking since 2009. This 5^th ranked defense failed to stop the Green Bay Packers from scoring 34 points in our first playoff game. We became the only number one seed in the last 5 years to not reach the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Cowboys offense ranked 14^th, averaging 22 points per game. It was also the first time in franchise history that they went three consecutive games without scoring more than 10 points. Head coach Jason Garrett‘s offense isn’t broken and I won’t jump on the – put Garrett on the hotseat – bandwagon just yet.

I have been wondering two things about the Cowboys coaching staff and front office. First, if we’ve built a team to be “Romo-friendly”, why not draft an accurate pocket passer with pocket presence and scrambling ability. Wouldn’t this save time instead of selecting Prescott and needing to remodel the team to make it “Dak-Friendly”. After all, Garrett said that “Prescott need to get better at really everything.”

Second, instead of constantly focusing on the offense. Has the front office figured out that the true meaning of “quarterback friendly” comes from having a great team on the defensive side? It’s worked for the last five Super Bowl champions*.

Year	Team	Def. Rank
2017	Philadelphia Eagles	4^th
2016	New England Patriots	1^st
2015	Denver Broncos	4^th
2014	New England Patriots	8^th
2013	Seattle Seahawks	1st

* – Of course I stopped at 5, because the 2012 Baltimore Ravens had the 12^th ranked defense – in case you wanted to check.

Next: Dallas Cowboys 2018 NFL Draft: 7-round mock 4.0

That’s why I’m happy that the Cowboys have signed defensive end Kony Ealy. It will be nice to see pressure coming from both sides of the defensive line when he’s paired with defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. Cowboy Nation should be excited because I haven’t expected this team to become “Sack City” since we picked up free agent defensive end Greg Hardy.

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