Some consider Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo to be the goat of last Sunday’s 51-48 loss to the Denver Broncos because of his interception with two minutes remaining.
While it certainly contributed to the Cowboys falling short, it didn’t have too much of a negative affect on the individual grade given to Romo by the folks at Pro Football Focus.
I guess a QB grades well when he throws for 506 yards and five touchdowns.
Romo received the website’s highest individual score for Week 5, which obviously includes Denver quarterback Peyton Manning.
Romo’s passing grade of 9.1 was actually the highest mark the website has given to a quarterback this season.
Since Dallas scored 48 points and surrendered 51, it should be no surprise that the majority of positive grades came on the offensive side of the ball.
The five highest-graded players vs. Denver were as follows: Romo 8.9, Dan Bailey 5.1, Jason Witten 3.0, Terrance Williams 2.9 and Tyron Smith 2.5. The highest-rated defender was Morris Claiborne at 2.4
The five lowest-graded players vs. Denver were Ernie Sims -4.5, Brandon Carr -3.0, Kyle Wilber -2.6, Orlando Scandrick -2.6 and Jason Hatcher -1.9. The lowest-graded offensive player was DeMarco Murray at -0.8.
Here are some of the other notable grades and stats I came across on PFF Tuesday night.
OFFENSE
When Tony Romo was blitzed on Sunday, he was 5-of-6 passing for 51 yards and two touchdowns.
On the year, Peyton Manning is the only quarterback with a higher grade than Romo.
Dez Bryant moved up the receiver rankings and currently sits at No. 10 overall. When the grade is broken down by just what Bryant has done as a pass-catcher, he jumps to No. 3 overall.
The quarterback rating of Romo when he throws to Bryant is 134.5. Only Denver’s Demaryius Thomas (141.3) provides a higher QB rating.vTerrance Williams has the highest blocking grade among Cowboys wide receivers and ranks 17th in that category among all NFL receivers.
Williams leads all receivers in the category “percentage caught.” The rookie receiver has caught 84.2 percent of the passes thrown in his direction. Miles Austin is sixth at 78.9 percent and Bryant is 40th at 64.4 percent.
Williams was the third-highest graded wide receiver in the NFL for Week 5, trailing only Chicago’s Alshon Jeffery and Jacksonville’s Cecil Shorts.
Jason Witten was the second-highest graded tight end in Week 5, trailing only Atlanta’s Tony Gonzalez.
DeMarco Murray continues to have the second-most yards after contact (230). Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson leads the NFL with 320.
Murray has no drops on 22 catchable passes thrown to him, which is second among running backs, trailing only New Orleans’ Darren Sproles.
Right tackle Doug Free remains the highest-graded offensive tackle in the league. Left tackle Tyron Smith is 20th.
Free is the league’s top pass-blocker and No. 6 rated run-blocker.
Travis Frederick ranks sixth among NFL centers.
All five starting offensive linemen received a positive grade for their play against the Broncos.
The Cowboys have the third-highest rated offense, trailing only Denver and San Diego.
DEFENSE
Dallas has the 20th rated defense and the 11th rated special teams unit.
DeMarcus Ware, who is graded as the fifth overall defensive end playing in a 4-3 scheme, is tied for fourth in the league in quarterback hurries with 17.
Sean Lee, who ranks 11th among inside linebackers, is fourth in Tackling Efficiency for players at his position, allowing a miss on every 28 attempts.
Brandon Carr and Orlando Scandrick have fallen out of the top 20 cornerback spots. Scandricks is currently ranked 57th and Carr is 58th. Claiborne, who was the fifth-highest graded cornerback for Week 5, has moved up to No. 95 overall.
Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota
