Tony Romo Needs To Man Up To Jason Garrett.

Nov 22, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Cole Beasley (11) avoids the tackle of Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall (23) during the game on Thanksgiving at Cowboys Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

By lining up in either one of these formations, the offense isn’t one dimensional. Why? Because the quarterback has a large variety of options. More importantly, he can either run it out of the shotgun or from under center. My advice would be to implement this kind of system with an offensive tackle as the blocking tight end. This formation doesn’t show if it’s run or pass. Opposing defenses always know when the Cowboys are going to run the ball on short yardage situations because Jason Garrett loads up with personnel at the line of scrimmage. In this scenario, the QB has the option to hand the ball off, or fake the handoff and throw to either one of the wide receivers . The best part is there are 24 different routes for the RB’s. DeMarco Murray has shown that he has good hands and can catch the ball out of the back field. My twist to this offense is to line up Cole Beasley in the backfield. This gives Tony a whole lot of options. Beasley, as a former quarterback, is really good at reading protections. With his speed and good hands, he becomes Romos’ Darren Sproles out of the backfield. Romo would also have the option to pitch the ball to him, and Beasley could occasionally throw the ball down the field like Drew Pearson did for Landry. I previously posted a video showing how well Beasley did as a running QB. He could be utilized in reverses as well. The options from these formations are endless, and the defense would have no clue which option Tony was going to use. This formation doesn’t show run or pass and there is always the quick release option to one of the RB’s. I included the Beasley video for those who didn’t see it in my previous article.

Below you can see some other formations that would give Tony a lot more options. Here, I would insert Beasley as the ‘Zebra’. The Cowboys need to start coming with some new looks because opposing DC’s have Garretts’ number.

As you can see, this formation can be very deceptive. In ‘Red Left Zebra Left’ the QB has the option to hand the ball off to the zebra with the FB leading the way to block, or he can fake it to the Zebra drop back and throw it to him on a slant or a crossing route. The Zebra can also go in to motion from that formation and line up in the slot. In ‘Bunch Right Tight’ the Dallas Cowboys would have TE Jason Witten, WR Cole Beasley and WR Dez Bryant all on the same side. X represents a 2nd TE. He appears to be in the game as a blocker. With the 3 wide on the right side the coverage shifts over there. This gives the QB several options. A. The FB can step up and take the man it appears the TE is blocking and he can run a quick slant. B. Romo can drop back and hand it to the FB on a delay. C. He can do a play action to the FB up the middle. D. The FB can be used as an extra blocker to pick up a blitzing defender while one of the 3 receivers gets open. E. The FB can run a route out of the backfield on the left side.

If there is one thing the Dallas Cowboys offense and Tony Romo need, it is lots of options, not the same vanilla offense where if Dez or Miles doesn’t get open deep it’s a dump off to Witten. If Dez and Beasley were to run a rub route on the right side, it would make it even more deceptive. Spreading out the defense like this also keeps the opposing DC from blitzing so much. I read somewhere that Tony Romo was studying Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. The main thing these QB’s have in common is getting rid of the ball quickly. The story was that Tony wanted to incorporate some of the stuff they do and it caused problems between him and Jason Garrett. If Garrett is too stubborn to want to change the system to better protect his QB and to start winning games, then the Dallas Cowboys need to hire a coach who is a little more intuitive to the needs of the offense. Tom Landry and Roger Staubach worked together as a team to scheme an offense that was geared to the strengths of the players. I will be doing future articles that focus on different offensive formations and blocking schemes that can help make up for the lack of strength on the offensive line.  All I can say to Tony Romo is:

“Man up and tell Jason Garrett what you, as well as the rest of us, see. Tell him that his 30 year old offense has been passed by, and it’s time for the change he has already admitted he wants no part of!”

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