OXNARD, Calif. – Quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson sees the same Tony Romo on short and intermediate passes.
It's only when Romo has to chuck it deep that Wilson sees some inconsistencies.
"He's been OK," Wilson said. "I think the deeper the ball goes down the field, it's a little bit more inconsistent, the nine routes. He's thrown all the intermediate, the fours and the seven routes and the deep outs, it's been fine. It's just the nine route, the deep post. Those things have been a little inconsistent, and I think that's all due to his back."
Wilson doesn't believe Romo has any arm issues despite the time off.
But it's the back that everyone will be focused on. Romo's been given a handful of practices off throughout camp to give him rest, including Tuesday's. When Romo's been on the field, he's looked crisp for the most part on a lot of his throws.
Other times, such as the deep ball he threw to Terrance Williams during the Blue-White Scrimmage, the passes can flutter. Wilson attributed that specific pass to Romo having to move from a spot and not getting his feet set, but Wilson also admits there are times on the deep ball Romo hasn't let loose as he's seen him do in the past.
"I think he's being a little tentative with it," Wilson said. "He'll get four days off now, because he won't do much today, we travel, play the game, they're off on Friday."
Wilson hopes with those four days off, Romo will look more like himself at Saturday's practice. Despite some inconsistencies on the deep ball, Wilson isn't worried that Romo will have trouble going downfield when the games start to matter. [embedded_ad]
In addition, Wilson pointed out that the go route doesn't get thrown a ton. Particularly with Dez Bryant in the offense, more of the throws are back shoulder fades.
"He can get the ball down the field," Wilson said. "That's not an issue, and I think as camp goes on he'll just get nothing but stronger and more confident in his throws."
With Romo likely out for Thursday's game, quarterback Brandon Weeden will work with the starters. Wilson said the Cowboys have historically had a more experienced backup quarterback, but he believes Weeden has a lot of talent and possesses a lot of tools that can be developed, along with some starts of his own.
He's also not looking for the backup quarterback to try to do too much Thursday.
"We'd just like to run the offense efficiently," Wilson said. "He doesn't have to make big plays, just get them in and out of the huddle, try to eliminate turnovers, penalties, any of the negative, and hopefully he's a veteran and can take command of the offense and take us down and score."
