Cowboyny
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There were times where Columbo's man-power scheme was getting Zeke some push and openings for him to get thru,
but we flat just did not see that extra gear to pull away like we experienced from him as a rookie in 2016.
His first 2 years we saw Zeke take quick screens out of the backfield and take it to the house for long distance TDs ala Steelers/Niners
Why doesn't he no longer have that ability any more ?
Without an off season program, no time for trainers and coaches to evaluate and re-condition him up close, i'm concerned
that we still will not see the 2016-2017 Zeke.
And until i see differently from an insider source or zeke himself, i'll continue to elebrerate that the Garrett regime re-conditioned
and bulked up Zeke for more excessive touches and more of a grinder role.
i've heard several that tend to think it was his holdout Cabu cruise that caused him the loss of his breakaway ability but that
element was already missing in 2018,.. with only one carry over 40 yards (per Seattle reg season game?)
-I agree with you that Garrett and the prior staff had him bulk up more to be able to become more of a work horse grinder type of back. Zeke usually starts off slow every season as the team limits his touches in the pre-season. Clearly the loss of camp last year affected his conditioning and took him longer to get in shape.
-It is clearly evident that Zeke hasn't been as explosive as he was as a rookie. He is just 24 years old, the question is, if he transforms his body to become more leaner, can that explosion return? The other thing we have to factor in was if he was playing hurt. We have seen players who miss camp suffer from soft tissue injuries, could that be the case here? It's possible. I do believe his explosion can return, but it's probably unlikely to happen this season due to missing the entire off-season.
-With the return of the zbs and the new offensive scheme it's more about quick hitting then it's about power. It's up to this new staff to decide what weight, what conditional program is best for Zeke to be able to play to up to his strengths.