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Cowboys DT Jason Hatcher blasts Tony Romo after practice audible leads to pick-six

Jason Hatcher vocally expressed his displeasure with Dallas's offense at a recent practice. (Sharon Ellman/AP) You may not know his name, but Dallas Cowboys
Doug Farrar|
Cowboys DT Jason Hatcher blasts Tony Romo after practice audible leads to pick-six
Cowboys DT Jason Hatcher blasts Tony Romo after practice audible leads to pick-six

Jason Hatcher vocally expressed his displeasure with Dallas's offense at a recent practice. (Sharon Ellman/AP)

You may not know his name, but Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Jason Hatcher is one of the NFL's most disruptive interior linemen. In 2012, as a 3-4 end in Rob Ryan's defense, he racked up four sacks, 11 quarterback hits, and 20.5 QB hurries. Pretty impressive for a guy bulling through the middle of the line. In 2013, through two games as a tackle in Monte Kiffin's 4-3 scheme, he already has two sacks and seven QB hurries.

Now he's disrupting his own quarterback -- and not just in practice drills. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Hatcher blasted Tony Romo in practice this week when Romo audibled away from a designed run play and threw a pass that led to a pick-six the other way. "Hatcher and others have been frustrated with Romo audibling away from runs," Rapoport wrote on Twitter.

The Cowboys have run the ball just 31 times to 92 passing attempts this season, and they face the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. The Rams tied with the Broncos for the NFL lead in sacks with 52 in 2012, they have six this season, and the Dallas offensive line doesn't protect the pass well. Romo has just one interception in 2013, but he ranks 21st in Football Outsiders' efficiency metrics among qualifying quarterbacks. Clearly, more is expected of the man who signed a six-year, $108-million contract extension in March.

Because of the inconsistencies in Dallas' offense and the variable quality of his pass protection, Romo has been playing through rib injuries since he was hurt in the season-opening win over the New York Giants. But as Hatcher said in a team meeting this week per Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPN Dallas, the Cowboys must be singularly committed to winning.

Hatcher spoke about overall team improvement and playing for more than a paycheck in an F-bomb-filled soliloquy, according to the report.Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett had different veterans talk to the team in the preseason, but Hatcher has taken it upon himself to take it to a different level. He's got the performance and stats to back it up, and we'll see what the effects are.

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Doug Farrar
DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009,  Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine.  He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.

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