Zeke Advanced Efficiency Stats

[MyFairLady]

We use to argue if Zeke was the best running back in the nfl, now it’s wether he is good or not.

This.

 

[Sydla]

Nothing about this team says anything positive. Why would you expect zeke to be having a career year? If dak has a career year this year and we were 4-12 would you give him 40 mill? And say he is the reason why we win? If so. Then you are promoting the very thing you are arguing against. Believe it or not sometimes players make more money for things other then their play on the field. Sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn’t. So would I say at this point in time zeke isn’t giving us our money’s worth, yes. But would I say he isn’t worth the money. No.

It's not that simple. The big problem we had this year, especially early, was the defense was historically terrible. Dak was playing pretty well but the team was giving up well over 30 points a game. Not sure how I could hold that against Dak (and FWIW, I am not one of these fans that claims you have to sign Dak long term). But unlike Dak, before he got hurt, Elliott was not playing well. That's just a fact.

His signing was a mistake.

 

[Sydla]

I get it you undervalue the RB position. But zeke is a good player that has chance to be great. You pay for talent sometimes and potential. Zeke has both.

Zeke is a good TB who is not an elite TB and likely never will be at this point in his career. He lacks the explosiveness and game changing abilities that guys like Kamara and McCaffery and some others possess.

The blueprint is there in this league - you don't pay for TBs. We thought we were smarter than most everyone else despite seeing what the Rams and Cardinals went through with Gurley and Johnson. We had the benefit of seeing what happened with those teams and their contracts to TBs. And what did we do? What Jerry always does...............

I bet Elliott is gone at the first chance we can cut him without taking a huge cap hit - 2022.

 

[mardwin]

I don't remember the last time Zeke had a run of 20+ yards. He can get you 3-4 yards with consistency but he is no longer a homerun threat. A poor decision by management to commit so many financial resources to a RB. I always wondered how a team with so many deficiencies as the Cowboys would invest a top 5 pick on a RB and then doubles down by dumping a bunch of cash on an extension. This franchise is not bad by coincidence, is all systematic.

 

[Aviano90]

I don't remember the last time Zeke had a run of 20+ yards. He can get you 3-4 yards with consistency but he is no longer a homerun threat. A poor decision by management to commit so many financial resources to a RB. I always wondered how a team with so many deficiencies as the Cowboys would invest a top 5 pick on a RB and then doubles down by dumping a bunch of cash on an extension. This franchise is not bad by coincidence, is all systematic.

Probably don't remember it because he fumbled and turned the ball over the last time he did it.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

His signing was a mistake.

His contract was signed before the 2019 season. His 3 prior seasons he was the NFL rushing champ twice, 1,631 and 1,434 yards, 5.1 and 4.7 ypc, in his two full years. Extrapolating his other year over 16 games (remember he was suspended, nothing to do with ability on the field) he would have had 1,572 yards and 11 tds.

At the time of the contract, that was not a mistake, in the sense of it was an obvious no-no. (No 20-20 hindsight allowed). Did some say you shouldn't have done it at the time?
Sure, and if you were one of those I can see why you said that, and you may well be proven right, and kudos to you for saying it.

But it could have also worked out well, if a lot of different things had happened, like Romo not being hurt so much, e.g.

Maybe bad judgment on Jerry's part, but I wouldn't call in a mistake, based on evidence available at the time...

 

[Sydla]

His contract was signed before the 2019 season. His 3 prior seasons he was the NFL rushing champ twice, 1,631 and 1,434 yards, 5.1 and 4.7 ypc, in his two full years. Extrapolating his other year over 16 games (remember he was suspended, nothing to do with ability on the field) he would have had 1,572 yards and 11 tds.

At the time of the contract, that was not a mistake, in the sense of it was an obvious no-no. (No 20-20 hindsight allowed). Did some say you shouldn't have done it at the time?
Sure, and if you were one of those I can see why you said that, and you may well be proven right, and kudos to you for saying it.

But it could have also worked out well, if a lot of different things had happened, like Romo not being hurt so much, e.g.

Maybe bad judgment on Jerry's part, but I wouldn't call in a mistake, based on evidence available at the time...

Yeah it was a mistake because regardless of his stats, tying up resources like that in a position that often sees declining performance is a mistake. Whenyou make a decision about a player you have to not only look at what he had done but then project going forward. Projections for TBs are a tough thing. The Cowboys also had the benefit of seeing what had happened with Arizona and the Rams after signing their TBs to big extensions.

And let's note that Jerry and Stephen made the exact opposite call (and the correct call) in 2015 when they let Murray walk when he got overpaid by Philly. Murray was never really the same TB after the usage he had in Dallas. So they had ample evidence of the pitfalls of signing a TB long term to big money and they ignored it. Because at the end of the day, Jerry has always liked big, shiny, flashy toys and that's how he viewed Elliott.

 

[starfan1]

His contract was signed before the 2019 season. His 3 prior seasons he was the NFL rushing champ twice, 1,631 and 1,434 yards, 5.1 and 4.7 ypc, in his two full years. Extrapolating his other year over 16 games (remember he was suspended, nothing to do with ability on the field) he would have had 1,572 yards and 11 tds.

At the time of the contract, that was not a mistake, in the sense of it was an obvious no-no. (No 20-20 hindsight allowed). Did some say you shouldn't have done it at the time?
Sure, and if you were one of those I can see why you said that, and you may well be proven right, and kudos to you for saying it.

But it could have also worked out well, if a lot of different things had happened, like Romo not being hurt so much, e.g.

Maybe bad judgment on Jerry's part, but I wouldn't call in a mistake, based on evidence available at the time...

out of curiosity how many other organizations do you see using a top 5 pick on a RB? The jags, The Giants and the Cowboys. Sometimes you are what you are and being associated with the likes of those 2 organizations dont make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Good organizations dont invest like that Now I get that it was suppose to be Murrays replacement and Romo was suppose to be the QB but there were so many other ways they could have went but hey Im just a monday morning QB

Then you compound the mistake by extending him a year early

 

[blumayne38]

It's not that simple. The big problem we had this year, especially early, was the defense was historically terrible. Dak was playing pretty well but the team was giving up well over 30 points a game. Not sure how I could hold that against Dak (and FWIW, I am not one of these fans that claims you have to sign Dak long term). But unlike Dak, before he got hurt, Elliott was not playing well. That's just a fact.

His signing was a mistake.

That’s just a knee jerk reaction to one bad season. All around. IMO.

 

[blumayne38]

His contract was signed before the 2019 season. His 3 prior seasons he was the NFL rushing champ twice, 1,631 and 1,434 yards, 5.1 and 4.7 ypc, in his two full years. Extrapolating his other year over 16 games (remember he was suspended, nothing to do with ability on the field) he would have had 1,572 yards and 11 tds.

At the time of the contract, that was not a mistake, in the sense of it was an obvious no-no. (No 20-20 hindsight allowed). Did some say you shouldn't have done it at the time?
Sure, and if you were one of those I can see why you said that, and you may well be proven right, and kudos to you for saying it.

But it could have also worked out well, if a lot of different things had happened, like Romo not being hurt so much, e.g.

Maybe bad judgment on Jerry's part, but I wouldn't call in a mistake, based on evidence available at the time...

This.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

out of curiosity how many other organizations do you see using a top 5 pick on a RB?

Other teams may have taken a RB at 5 or earlier if they'd had the pick, for instance Rams took Gurley 10th, likely would have taken him at 5 if they'd picked that early.

So you're saying that the Cowboys should always play "follow the leader" in regards to running backs? Other good teams don't do that, so therefore the Cowboys will automatically have success doing the same?

Let's see what happens with the Giants and the Jags in the next few years before we just dump all over taking a running back in the top-5. I do think the league is trending back to more of an emphasis on the running game, in which case a Zeke will be a very good asset, but we'll see...

 

[starfan1]

Other teams may have taken a RB at 5 or earlier if they'd had the pick, for instance Rams took Gurley 10th, likely would have taken him at 5 if they'd picked that early.

So you're saying that the Cowboys should always play "follow the leader" in regards to running backs? Other good teams don't do that, so therefore the Cowboys will automatically have success doing the same?

Let's see what happens with the Giants and the Jags in the next few years before we just dump all over taking a running back in the top-5. I do think the league is trending back to more of an emphasis on the running game, in which case a Zeke will be a very good asset, but we'll see...

Not when the strength of your team is the OLine and you already have solid proof that an also ran in McFadden rushes for a grand and if im not mistaken he didnt even play a full slate and that was on the heels of Demarco Murray leading the league.

and that don't even address that you had so many other needs but i get that there are many that thought it was a great pick. Running back was a need i just don't think that soon was wise they break down to fast. I don't think the cowboys did their homework but Ill admit I'm not much for Zeke and haven't been from day one. so to say that except on Sundays I don't root for him he is far from my favorite cowboy is understatement and if he left tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear.

agree to disagree?

 

[LACowboysFan1]

agree to disagree?

Certainly, I don't expect everybody to agree with me. And I'm not always right. But neither am I always wrong...

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

His contract was signed before the 2019 season. His 3 prior seasons he was the NFL rushing champ twice, 1,631 and 1,434 yards, 5.1 and 4.7 ypc, in his two full years. Extrapolating his other year over 16 games (remember he was suspended, nothing to do with ability on the field) he would have had 1,572 yards and 11 tds.

At the time of the contract, that was not a mistake, in the sense of it was an obvious no-no. (No 20-20 hindsight allowed). Did some say you shouldn't have done it at the time?
Sure, and if you were one of those I can see why you said that, and you may well be proven right, and kudos to you for saying it.

But it could have also worked out well, if a lot of different things had happened, like Romo not being hurt so much, e.g.

Maybe bad judgment on Jerry's part, but I wouldn't call in a mistake, based on evidence available at the time...

This is a good realistic post. People said his draft was a huge mistake. Then he went out and became rushing champ. Who knows what could have happened with a vet at QB instead of a rookie.

Only a few of those people admitted it wasn't that bad and I give HUGE credit to Starfan1. He was honest and sincere about it...then.

Now...after a huge contract...those same people are gloating, not understanding, in their penchant for gloats...how CLOSE it could have gone differently...from things beyond Zeke's control.

I get some didn't like the contract, I know I didn't (I wanted him signed but not for that and at the proper time)...and some can seem to FAIRLY dress down zeke. It's the personal assaults and blame game I don't get on with.

 

[khiladi]

So i wan't to make sure i understand what you're saying.....they were deliberatly pumping up the tagged QB stats while supressing the already paid a but load to RB's numbers.....say that in the mirror and see if you believe you......I mean most of us thought it was because the line was trash and the D was trash and the O kept turning the ball over so we had to pass to get back in the game....yup now that i read it out loud your thinking is much more reasonable.....

It's called hyperbole, which anybody with an ounce of common sense, who doesn't like to play grammar cop, because they get triggered when people don't like their boy as starting QB and actually deal with the substance of the argument understand. Linehan actually ran the ball and we actually won a play-off, but then he turned into the scape-goat and we had boy-wonder, whose only real difference was he decided to throw a lot more on first down, shotgun, with Zeke in the backfield, running play action. And all this led to was PAPR TIGER STATS. Teams started picking up on the trend and the power house that is Dak could only put u half his TDs against the garbage Commanders and Giants, with a far superior roster.

That's even Dak was making excuses why the offense struggling and he blamed everybody but himself, Zeke and Witten for not practicing hard.

Yippee!

 

[aria]

I brought this up in another thread..

Zeke has had a lot of off the field issues to deal with.

The dog attack and flash online attacks of him over it..

the dinner parties at Dak's house where too many attended..

the contracting of the virus..

the loss of his OL and his QB..

They are still discovering side effects people have had who got sick from covid.

Depression..lung scaring..reduced energy levels..chest pains..

every day another story appears.

I think people need to wake up and stop worrying about their own shallow reasons for complaining..

and be more logical and wait for more information.

Too much snap judgement makes you look irresponsible.

Hello?

You left out

-pulling a womans top up in public while being investigated for domestic violence.

-publicly throwing his college coach under the bus after a loss

-his daddy had to move closer to him in college to babysit him

-assaulting a DJ after being suspended for domestic violence

-trying to attack another DJ in Vegas

-bullying a security guard half his size

-admitting to being drunk and high during quarantine. Ever think that may have something to with his “side effects”?

-demanding respect

-holding the team hostage by sitting out with 2 years left on his contract until he was paid as the highest RB ever

-making his fans buy his merchandise for a signature after agreeing to sign things for free and after they paid extra money specifically for his signature.


*it’s truly amazing how many excuses a few of you keep making for that chump

 

[bandfan]

The reason teams don't stack the box against the Cowboys is because this patchwork Oline doesn't have the ability to force them too. Don't understand why anytime a player gets paid he becomes an instant pariah on this board. On this board if a player doesn't beg to continue to play on the rookie scale for their 2nd contract then they are just selfish little kids...

 

[aria]

I don't know if the line was making Zeke look better than he was so much as it was allowing him to showcase his greatness. No back shines without blocking.. that's simply a universal truth. Pollard looks good in spurts.. but there is nary a mention of all the times he has been tackled for a loss. According to pro-football-reference Pollard has broken one tackle on a run all year.. in 47 carries.. ONE.. So his break rate is 1/47. Meanwhile Zeke has broken 11. or 1/13.6 Now there are a number of ways to interpret that. Obviously Zeke is more powerful and should be able to break more tackles.. and since when he's in the game the entire defense is aware of him he's going to have to. Pollard gets to the second level quicker because he is classic wild stallion young runner. The problem is that typically when there is no hole he's done because he doesn't really break tackles. I can't find the numbers but I would wager Pollard has as many or more TFLs than Zeke on a third as many carries. Zeke is almost 4 times as likely to break a tackle than Pollard. Pollard's quickness may allow him to evade more tackles though.. But on about the 15th carry or so there is a precipitous drop in that quickness .. and over the course of a season it might disappear altogether. Then you have a back without burst who is 25 pounds lighter than Zeke. Then we find out what other tools he has in his bag. If it helps the team win to play Pollard more then play him more. But he's going to have to get better at blitz pickup and NOT being stopped behind the line of scrimmage in order for that to happen.

Huh, then how did Barkley break so many records his rookie year behind the 29th ranked run blocking O line? The crap you spew is literally laughable. I don’t even know if you’re serious most of the time.

 

[khiladi]

I expect him to be a $90 million difference maker. Because we didn’t pay him to be good only under optimum circumstances. Pretty simple

You mean actually feed him the ball is 'optimum circumstances'. We paid him 90 million to be the center of the offense, not to use as a decoy to pad Dak's stats. It's not his fault Boy Wonder uses him exclusively as a decoy, particularly on first down or Dak doesn't know how to select run on RPOs.

 

[khiladi]

Anybody that continues to prop up Barkley, with all his negative yardage runs that even goes back to his college days knows nothing about running backs. Blaming the OL is extremely comical when it's been his trait ever since then. And before he got injured this year, with Garrett in charge, he was averaging like a 1 YPC whopping average and the Giants had the absolute worst rushing attack in the league and it's still up there.