While DeMarco Murray sealed the win at Seattle with a great run, an incredible 3rd and 20 completion from Tony Romo to Terrance Williams allowed the game winning drive to continue. Romo showed great pocket awareness to escape pressure and the Cowboys Wide Receivers executed a “Scramble Drill” to set up the Romo-Williams connection. Below is the look pre-snap with the route combinations. There’s not many play calls for 3rd and 20, so Terrance Williams and Cole Beasley are running to the First Down marker and curling up, while Dez Bryant is trying to stretch the field vertically. DeMarco Murray and Jason Witten each “chip” a pass rusher to help the offensive line before getting into their routes. Take note of 3 key elements to this play: Wide Receiver Terrance Williams, Quarterback Tony Romo, and circled Seahawk defender Bruce Irvin:

Even with a chip from DeMarco Murray and Tryon Smith (one of the NFL’s best Tackles) in protection, Bruce Irvin is able to get a clean rush to the Quarterback for what appears to be an imminent sack. Here’s where Romo’s pocket presence and awareness come in; Romo feels the pressure without ever truly seeing it. Also, instead of running to the right where Irvin will undoubtedly chase down the much slower Tony Romo, Romo pivots of his left foot and spins back away from Irvin creating space. From there, he circles back and creates a throwing lane for himself. By this time, Terrance Williams is about to finish his Curl route, and Jason Witten is headed toward the sideline in his flat route:

Romo has evaded the sack and has created room for himself on the run; the Dallas Wide Receivers see this and begin their “Scramble Drill.” A Scramble Drill is the routes Wide Receivers go to when their Quarterback is on the move and out of the pocket. Every team has a different plan, but the Cowboys appear to execute a common version, where the Receiver closest to the QB breaks up the field, and the Receiver farthest breaks back or toward the sideline. Here, the Cowboys have spacing issues and actually almost run into each other. The Seattle defenders react to this and close on the ball:

The Seattle flat defender is only a split second late in realizing Terrance Williams has abandoned his Curl route for the scramble drill, and is still in excellent coverage despite being sucked in. Additionally, the Cornerback on the top of the screen also breaks on the Scramble Drill route. This gives Tony Romo a tiny window to complete a cross field throw on the run. See the play unfold below:

Romo makes a pinpoint accurate throw and Terrance Williams makes a highlight reel toe-tapping catch, but the most impressive part of the play may be Romo’s ability to avoid the sack with awareness and footwork to create a throwing lane:

Romo shows a Quarterback doesn’t necessarily have to be fast or incredibly mobile to avoid pressure and sacks; sometimes pocket awareness and footwork are far more important. As for the Scramble Drill, every team practices some version of it for the few passing plays in a game where its needed. Some teams practice it more than others; for example a team like the 49ers or the Steelers (Kaepernick & Roethlisberger) likely practices the scramble drill more than the Patriots or Broncos (Brady & Manning).