Cutler, Romo both have success creating plays outside the pocket

The last time the Bears faced the Cowboys, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo provided a textbook example of what makes him so effective.

Despite being pressured by the Bears throughout the day and sacked three times, Romo deftly eluded the pass rush on several occasions, buying additional time for his receivers to get open.

The result: 329 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, a 100.8 passer rating and a 34-10 Cowboys victory.

That was in 2007, but Romo's playing the same game.

"Their biggest weapon is Romo," said Bears linebacker Lance Briggs, who was credited with 16 tackles in last week's season-opening win over Detroit.

"Romo does a great job of creating more time, escaping the pocket, getting away from would-be tacklers and getting the ball out to his weapons. That's why he's so dangerous.

"When you look at the tape, we had a lot of opportunities to get him down. Just looking over that first half, there might have been 4 or 5 missed sacks.

"You add those into our defensive effort, it's a different game. We put ourselves in better field position and maybe we give the offense better field position."

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler also has shown the ability to make things happen with his feet, especially in situations that look certain to deteriorate into negative plays.

Last week he scrambled four times for 23 yards and sidestepped the rush on other occasions until he found an open receiver.

Planned rollouts by Cutler have been incorporated into the offense to move the pocket. They will be used more frequently to negate strong pass rushes, like what Dallas employs.

"It just depends what the ends are doing," Cutler said. "If they're getting upfield or if they're crashing down. A lot of that is going to play into if we can move the pocket or not.

"(Offensive coordinator) Mike (Martz) is definitely going to change the drop point for those defensive ends. We want them moving around a little bit so they're not always crashing down at 8-10 yards.

"We want to keep them guessing."

Cutler has the ability to throw on the move and to create extra time for his receivers.

"It's good to get out of the pocket," Cutler said. "We do well when we get outside. It's going to be a part of the package every week."

Eluding the rush always has been one of Romo's best qualities, and it's a key reason why he has never had an overall passer rating lower than 91.4 in any of his four seasons as a starter.

Cutler's highest single-season passer rating is 88.5.

Romo and Cutler became starters in the same season (2006), but they took different paths to the job.

Cutler took over in the 12th game of his rookie year after being chosen 11th overall in that year's draft.

Romo, undrafted out of Eastern Illinois, served a three-year apprenticeship in Dallas and didn't throw a single pass in that time.

Since then Romo has started 56 games, Cutler 54. Cutler's record as a starter is 25-29, and he never has enjoyed a winning season in the NFL. Romo is 38-18 and has never experienced a losing season.

Coach Lovie Smith believes the Bears can put a dent in Romo's record because of a defense built on speed that should be able to get after a mobile quarterback.

"We're set up for quarterbacks like that," Smith said. "We have a lot of athletic ability on our defensive line. We don't have a lot of big slugs on our defense.

"But it will be important for our guys to stay in their lanes because he's not really a quarterback who's looking to scramble to run. He's looking to scramble to make plays, giving their offense a little bit more time to complete passes.

"The last time we played them he was able to do that well. We weren't able to get him down, and he moved around quite a bit."

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