This morning Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis talked to the media about how he reacted when he heard the reports that Tony Romo will miss this Sunday’s game against the Eagles.
“It really wasn’t Earth-shattering,” said Davis. “Most of the time when injuries happen early in the week, [the reaction is] not that drastic because there is still a possibility he’s playing. Now, do we say, ‘OK, let’s take maybe a longer look at Kyle Orton? Absolutely. That’s probably the biggest shift, we may have to play a different guy, but we’re going to prepare for their offense and all their weapons. He’s one man of 11 out there — he’s the main guy, but he’s also a guy we’ll prepare equally for.”
Davis says there won’t be a big difference in the way the Dallas Cowboys offense is run regardless of whether Tony Romo or Kyle Orton is starting this weekend. Davis said the only major difference in the two quarterbacks is Romo’s ability to extend a play. Orton is going to run the offense in much the same way, but he doesn’t have the scrambling ability that Romo has.
“I know Kyle Orton is a highly efficient quarterback”, Davis said. “He started 70 games in the NFL. He has a great presence and sees the field well. He’s always distributed the ball equally to the open guys. I think some guys have favorites, some don’t. Kyle Orton is a great system quarterback in that he understands the coverage and what position in the routes, and he does a great job of getting the ball out of his hands and accurately throwing to the open guy. So we’ve got a great challenge no matter who the quarterback is. But Kyle Orton can start for a lot of teams in the NFL.”
I don’t think Orton has the ability to get the ball downfield as much as Romo, which will allow the Eagles to crowd the line of scrimmage and contain the Cowboys running game, which I think is going to be a bigger part of the Dallas attack, if Romo is indeed sidelined.
I asked Davis about the Eagles being ready for the Cowboys changing the emphasis of their offense by taking the ball out of the hands of Orton and giving it to running back DeMarco Murray with their season on the line.
“They might”, Davis said. “I believe they were going to do that. We were anticipating them to do that anyway. But they might do more. Only they can answer that question. We’ve got to prepare equally for the run game and the pass game. Each game takes on its own life. The score takes ‑‑ as the game goes on, we’re constantly moving in and out of run defenses, pass defenses, so that is something we constantly do. Whether they gave him the ball more or not, we’ll be prepared to it.”
Davis stressed something in the interview that I said in an article earlier today. The key to the success of the Eagles defense isn’t which Cowboys quarterback will play on Sunday night. What is much more important is the attitude of the Eagles players, their attention to detail and how much they focus on doing their jobs
