In my previous article we took a look at Tony Romo’s 38 Touchdowns during the 2014 season. In this article we will take a look at the opposite side, his nine interceptions during the regular and postseason starting with this first three interceptions versus the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1.
Stats
Regular Season - 304/435 (69.9%), 3,705 yards, 8.5 y/a, 34 TDs, 9 INTs
Postseason - 34/50 (68.0%), 484 yards, 9.7 y/a, 4 TDs, 0 INTs
Before we jump into the plays, let’s take a look at the intended targets of Romo’s nine interceptions during the 2014 season:
Receiver Breakdown
| Dez Bryant | 5 |
| Terrance Williams | 1 |
| Jason Witten | 1 |
| Joseph Randle | 1 |
| Devin Street | 1 |
Just like Bryant was the main target of Romo’s touchdowns, he was the main target on his interceptions as well, which makes sense as ProFootballFocus recorded Bryant having 135 targets. Here is a breakdown of his passes by quarter and down:
Quarter Breakdown
| 1st Quarter | 1 |
| 2nd Quarter | 4 |
| 3rd Quarter | 1 |
| 4th Quarter | 3 |
Down Breakdown
| 1st Down | 5 |
| 2nd Down | 2 |
| 3rd Down | 2 |
| 4th Down | 0 |
I’ll go over this further down in the breakdown, but the proportionally large 1st down interceptions are mainly due to Romo pushing the ball downfield on deep routes. While here is a breakdown of Romo’s interceptions by distance and location:
Distance Breakdown
| Fewer than 6 Yards | 2 |
| Between 6 and 15 yards | 2 |
| More than 15 yards | 5 |
Location Breakdown
| Deep Left | Deep Middle | Deep Right |
| 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Intermediate Left | Intermediate Middle | Intermediate Right |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Short Left | Short Middle | Short Right |
| 0 | 0 | 2 |
As you can see, the vast majority of the picks were on deep passes. Finally, here is a route breakdown on the interception:
Route Breakdown
| Vertical - Go | 2 |
| Post | 2 |
| Hitch/Comeback | 2 |
| Flat | 2 |
| Dig | 1 |
Let’s take a look at all nine of Romo’s interceptions throughout the season:
Play 1
Situation: 1st and 10 at DAL 32
Description: Q1 - (4:52) T.Romo pass deep right intended for D.Bryant INTERCEPTED by E.Reid at 50. E.Reid to DAL 2 for 48 yards (T.Frederick).
Opponent: 1. SF
Offensive Formation: Singleback Left
Offensive Personnel: 12
Defensive Formation: Cover 2
This is a two man concept very similar to Play 3 of Romo’s touchdowns. In this play, Romo fakes the handoff to RB24 Murray in the backfield drawing most of the linebackers inside to stop the potential run threat. Instead, FS35 Reid realizes it’s a trick and starts backpedaling to interfere with WR88 Bryant’s dig route across the field. Romo doesn’t see him drop into coverage and fires the ball right to him for the interception.
If you slow down the tape and watch Romo, he starts by watching WR83 Williams and then shifts to WR88 Bryant waiting for him to get open across the field not even seeing FS35 Reid drop into coverage. He just doesn’t see Reid adjust to the play and make an excellent read on the ball. Give credit to Reid for the pick and partial blame to Romo for the throw.
Play 2
Situation: 1st and 5 at SF 5
Description: Q2 - (13:10) T.Romo pass short right intended for J.Witten INTERCEPTED by P.Willis at SF -7. Touchback. SF’s Chris Culliver has a neck injury; return is questionable.
Opponent: 1. SF
Offensive Formation: Singleback Slot Left
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Goalline Two Zones with double coverage on Bryant on the outside
Romo takes the snap and fakes the handoff to RB24 Murray. This draws the linebackers to the line of scrimmage while WR17 Harris from the right outside runs a slant route to the middle of the endzone. CB20 Cox slips trying to cover him and Harris is actually open with a lob pass almost immediately after the play-action, but Romo decides not to throw the ball hesitating thinking that LB57 Wilhoite is too close to the path of the ball.
Next, Romo looks right to TE82 Witten releasing on a flat route to the outside, but he’s covered well by his man. LB59 Lynch beats Murray around the edge forcing Romo to scramble outside and right of the pocket. Witten attempts to cut back inside as Romo is moving right and Romo forces the ball on a lob pass to Witten. LB52 Willis reads Romo and makes a great play on the ball for the interception.
This interception is on Romo. First, he has to take the shot with WR17 Harris in the back of the endzone. If he places some touch on the ball behind the letters “B” and “W” of the “Cowboys” in the endzone this could have been a touchdown. Next as Romo is scrambling outside of the pocket he tries to force the pass with a weak lob pass to Witten. This ball should have just been thrown away after Romo escapes the pocket. It’s 1st and 5 and he just needs to live to fight another down.
Play 3
Situation: 1st and 10 at DAL 12
Description: Q2 - (3:50) T.Romo pass deep right intended for D.Bryant INTERCEPTED by P.Cox at SF 36. P.Cox to SF 36 for no gain (D.Bryant). Pass intercepted on a “flag” pattern.
Opponent: 1. SF
Offensive Formation: Singleback 3TE Left
Offensive Personnel: 13
Defensive Formation: Cover 3
This is another two man concept using play-action to fool the linebackers and drag them inside. Romo has WR88 Bryant on the outside running a deep post route while TE82 Witten runs a dig route over the middle. After the play-action to Murray, Romo attempts to look off the safety and then he forces the ball deep to Bryant.
This is a terrible decision by Romo and the interception is 100% on him. There are three defenders in the area. Witten should have been the target as Bryant is surrounded.
Play 4
Situation: 3rd and 8 at DAL 20
Description: Q2 - (6:13) T.Romo pass short right intended for D.Bryant INTERCEPTED by J.Jenkins at DAL 25. J.Jenkins for 25 yards, TOUCHDOWN. G.Zuerlein extra point is GOOD, Center-J.McQuaide, Holder-J.Hekker.
Opponent: 3. STL
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1
Romo has WR88 Bryant on the far right running a hitch route with CB21 Jenkins playing off-man coverage over him. After the snap, Romo watches Bryant during his route waiting for him to break and then throws the ball placing it in front of Bryant. Jenkins reads the pass, steps in front of Bryant, and takes the ball back for a pick 6.
This interception is mostly on Romo while Jenkins made a good read and play on the ball. First, Romo needs to release this ball 0.5 second quicker. He releases the ball while Bryant is breaking. Based on the velocity and distance of this pass this ball needs to be released earlier to give Bryant a better chance. Second, Romo needs to see that Jenkins is in off-man coverage which is a coverage that has the cornerback facing the quarterback. Hitch routes are better against pure man-to-man coverage as the hips of the cornerback would be already turned away from the play and would give the wide receiver the advantage. Third, Jenkins makes a good read on the play. If Bryant was actually running a stop-n-go Jenkins would have been burned completely on this play as he was already moving towards Bryant and would have been caught completely out of position. With WR11 Beasley in the slot cutting across the field on the slant/rub concept with Witten this ball should have gone to him. This would have been an instant first down and more.
