I wrote about this after the Carolina game, and I think it's worth revisiting every once in a while throughout the season. As we all know, one of Tony Romo's goals in the off-season was to work on protecting the ball better. On Sunday, he had his third no-turnover game of the season. Last year, he had only one of those (in the 13 games he played).

When Romo's been bad this year, it's been real bad - 4 turnovers against the Giants and 2 in Denver. In the four wins, he's been very good.

The most encouraging thing that emerged from Sunday's win against Atlanta is that Romo played like the 2007 Romo, minus the turnovers. He just looked more confident and comfortable in the pocket; you could see it on TV. On the flip side, the Denver game stands out to me as one in which Romo was trying hard not to make a mistake.

For reference, here's a quote from Romo after the Carolina game. When he refers to "6 games" in the first line, he's including the three pre-season games he played in.

"You know if you think about it, i feel pretty strongly -- in 6 games, that's four no-turnover games, and I think that's hard to do at this position, but that's something that excites me when I think about. It's there, and it's very possible to do it, you just have to always have that thought process in your brain, the ball is important. It really matters a lot. And that's part of the thing and as you grow and get older you gain an understanding. Sometimes you have to go through the growing pains to get there. There are plenty of quarterbacks I've talked to have told me the same thing. But you have to work at it - you really do, and I think that's been our goal and it's exciting to see improvement as a player."

And now, through six regular season games, Romo has been turnover-free for three of them. If you just compare his season statistics from last year to this year, it may not look like Romo is protecting the ball a whole lot better. But he is, and that's real good news for the Cowboys.

1 Comments

terry clemmons said:

tony romo i believe is a good quarterback when he is in the pocket but he is very good when he scrambles out of pocket garrett needs to have more plays with him out of pocket he can also run if they let him

October 28, 2009 10:33 PM

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