Emmitt Smith knows a thing or two about good offensive lines.
After all, he became the NFL’s All-Time Leading Rusher behind one of the best units of all time. The current unit, at least in Smith’s estimation, is not so hot. And he believes Tony Romo is suffering as a result.
“It’s definitely one of the biggest weak links that we have because we cannot run the ball effectively and Tony Romo is dropping back and he can’t even get in his stance good enough and get comfortable to the point where he can throw the football,” Smith said, per the Dallas Morning News. “When you look at the other quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco, they get back and they have time to go through their progressions. They’re very comfortable in the pocket. I don’t think our guy is.
“Every time he drops back he has to run out to his left or run out to his right, or he’s got to shuffle around. He’s moving quite a bit. That has a psychological effect on a quarterback in some cases. You’ll never hear him admit it but as a former player I know it does.”
To Smith, there’s no comparing this edition of the offensive line to the offensive line he played behind--and which featured soon-to-be Hall of Famer and arguably the best lineman of all time, Larry Allen.
“For one, Troy (Aikman) never got hit that much,” he said. “Troy could drop back and throw the football. Troy had time to do that. Romo does not have the time to do that. My offensive line was awesome. They were great and I think we complimented each other quite nicely. You can’t compare this offensive line to my offensive line, that’s for sure. That’s why we got a Hall of Famer (Larry Allen) going in this year.”
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