The drop off in QB play is tough to quantify when the rest of the team is falling apart around him, but Jon Kitna is doing about the job you would expect of a backup QB. On Sunday night, he seemed to have great success with Dez Bryant (again) and not much else at the WR position. In fact, both of his Interceptions were intended for Miles Austin, although Austin could hardly be faulted for either one (especially the Clay Matthews INT return for a TD).
Kitna was under extreme pressure and the Offensive Line continues to struggle. Here are the results of the final game of the Wade Phillips era:
Here are the numbers for Game 8:
Target Distribution: - Game 8 at Green Bay
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD/INT | QB Rating |
| Austin | 6 | 2 | 16 | 1/0/2 | 2.7 |
| Bryant | 10 | 9 | 86 | 3/1/0 | 135.8 |
| Witten | 4 | 3 | 44 | 2/0/0 | 110.4 |
| Williams | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Jones | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Barber | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 |
| Choice | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Bennett | 3 | 3 | 20 | 2/0/0 | 94.4 |
| Gronkowski | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 |
| Ogletree | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 |
| Hurd | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1/0/0 | 112.5 |
| Totals | 30 | 19 | 183 | 9/1/2 | 63.6 |
3rd Down results are mediocre, but even these numbers are difficult to understand given the time and score of the game when many of them occurred. They all count, but some obviously count more than others. Most of Sunday's offensive stats were essentially put up in garbage time.
3RD/4TH Down Targets - Week 8 at Green Bay
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD | QB Rating |
| Austin | 2 | 2 | 16 | 1/0/0 | 100 |
| Bryant | 2 | 2 | 15 | 1/1/0 | 137.5 |
| Jones | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 |
| Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Witten | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1/0/0 | 112.5 |
| Bennett | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 |
| Hurd | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 |
| Barber | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 |
| Totals | 6 | 5 | 42 | 3/1/0 | 135.4 |
And now, your season in a nutshell - I am tempted to separate Romo vs Kitna at some point this season, because the drop off between the 2 QBs for both Austin and Williams are quite noticeable. Interesting that Dez Bryant hasn't felt the effect of the change as he just keeps producing in that way he produces.
Target Distribution - Season To Date
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD/INT | QB Rating |
| Austin | 72 | 45 | 657 | 29/2/4 | 78.3 |
| Witten | 67 | 45 | 506 | 18/3/3 | 85.8 |
| Bryant | 54 | 38 | 434 | 17/4/0 | 118.9 |
| Williams | 41 | 23 | 341 | 11/5/3 | 92.6 |
| Jones | 27 | 24 | 158 | 5/0/1 | 75.6 |
| Barber | 10 | 7 | 28 | 0/0/0 | 72.9 |
| Choice | 9 | 7 | 32 | 2/0/0 | 81.4 |
| Bennett | 25 | 17 | 123 | 6/0/2 | 45.9 |
| Ogletree | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 39.5 |
| Hurd | 7 | 4 | 33 | 3/0/0 | 69.3 |
| Gronkowski | 4 | 2 | 9 | 0/0/0 | 56.2 |
| Totals | 325 | 217 | 2343 | 93/15/13 | 86.5 |
Jason Witten's numbers are starting to normalize overall, but the 3rd Down numbers are not recovering at all. It has been a year where teams are starting to defend him with Linebackers more (slowing a step?) and it seems like he now has to adjust routes accordingly. For the last several years he has been working against safeties more and more. I imagine the offensive scheme is understanding this concept. In November of 2009, the Packers put Charles Woodson on him. In November of 2010, it was much more Brandon Chillar, a LB. Obviously, different routes and concepts would be used in either situation.
3RD/4TH Down Targets - Season To Date
| Name | Targets | Catches | Yards | FD/TD/INT | QB Rating |
| Austin | 21 | 17 | 277 | 11/1/0 | 134.6 |
| Bryant | 20 | 15 | 197 | 8/3/0 | 145.2 |
| Williams | 9 | 5 | 83 | 4/1/0 | 123.8 |
| Witten | 18 | 8 | 108 | 4/0/3 | 24.5 |
| Bennett | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0/0/0 | 81.3 |
| Choice | 4 | 3 | 19 | 1/0/0 | 84.4 |
| Jones | 2 | 2 | 10 | 0/0/0 | 87.5 |
| Barber | 3 | 3 | 22 | 0/0/0 | 97.2 |
| Hurd | 3 | 2 | 19 | 2/0/0 | 84.0 |
| Totals | 80 | 55 | 696 | 29/5/3 | 100.8 |
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Bob Sturm is host of BaD Radio on The Ticket 1310 AM Mondays through Fridays at 12-3 p.m. He also hosts The Ticket's Cowboys pregame show. Follow Bob on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bobanddan Bob offers his exclusive analysis after games on SportsDayDFW.com
Read all of Bob's posts at this link:
http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/bob-sturm
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