The Zeke Conundrum

[DuncanIso]

When Dallas comes out and tries to pound the ball with Zeke they are predictable, lumbering, and NOT dangerous. THIS was a big reason we started out slowly in certain games because it was ineffective.

Zeke experiment has largely failed and is actually no longer needed as its clear the strength of this offense is the passing game. Zeke actually holds the offense back.

2 rushing titles

1 all pro

3 pro bowls

56 TDS

8341 yds

"Holding back the offense."

aka #ZekeHate

 

[blueblood70]

2 rushing titles

1 all pro

3 pro bowls

56 TDS

8341 yds

"Holding back the offense."

aka #ZekeHate

 

[noshame]

I forget how young Zeke is.

Of he shows looking like 2016 he should be good

Of course then one has to ask where the hell is that Zeke been the last 3 years

 

[fivetwos]

2 rushing titles

1 all pro

3 pro bowls

56 TDS

8341 yds

"Holding back the offense."

aka #ZekeHate

Shows how good he can be when he feels like playing....or isn't getting himself suspended or showing up not in shape.

Those distractions didn't at all help 17 or 19....two teams that narrowly missed.

You forgot his small fumbling problem as well.

The guy has never put his team first. Not once.

But hey....why include all those as factors?

 

[Sydla]

If we make "poor roster decisions" it is TOTALLY management. Does that give us free reign to beeech and moan at the PLAYER? Incessantly? Maybe... I guess...if you are a miserable person, trying to convince others to be as miserable as you. (not you you....just in general)

Zeke has been a good player that like the whole rest of our team....seems maligned or cursed even. WHO...have we had that pleases us...in performance and contract? Like nobody? Sooner or later? We fans are pathetic....and I don't necessarily blame us. It's a little bit like a couple that has sudden sex deprivation. We need SOME satisfaction to overlook the faults. Things CAN get wonky without that big bang.

Yeah, we can complain when our highly paid TB isn't performing. Elliott was not good last year. His fumbles potentially cost us a game or two.

At the end of the day, I have more of an issue with Jerry buckling and signing Zeke (but hey, let's remember that Zeke was going to hold out while still under contract and demanded to be paid as high as he is, so yeah, he bears blame for the contract as well). It was just a poor roster decision IMO. But Jerry can get too loyal with his guys, especially the flashy ones that he likes.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

I don’t have the time or energy today to waste on such a piece of human gar-bage but I want to let my bud @Cowboysheelsreds053 know that I’m aware of the thread and I may comment further if he’s lucky.

LLLOOOLLL, that is 56 not 53 but I just spit out my OJ. You beat me too it. LLLOOOLLL

 

[Sydla]

1 all pro
3 pro bowls

2 rushing titles

58 TDS

“Mistake”

aka as #ZekeHatred

Yeah, mistake.

In a league where the passing game has more of an effect on the outcomes of games than running and where teams are putting together competent running games with less resources spent on the position, yeah, paying a TB $90 million is a questionable decision. As I noted before, the Browns were a much better run team than us and did so with less cap space spent on all their TBs compared to what we used in cap space on Elliott.

Plus, Elliott isn't as explosive or a big play guy as he was a few years ago. One could argue there has been a regression in his play which, by the way, is one of the reasons why many say paying a TB a lot of money isn't wise given the wear and tear and fact they tend to fall off the cliff faster than any other position.

 

[DuncanIso]

2 rushing titles

1 all pro

3 pro bowls

56 TDS

8341 yds

"Holding back the offense."

aka #ZekeHate

Shows how good he can be when he feels like playing....or isn't getting himself suspended or showing up not in shape.

Those distractions didn't at all help 17 or 19....two teams that narrowly missed.

You forgot his small fumbling problem as well.

The guy has never put his team first. Not once.

But hey....why include all those as factors?

He has 1413 rushes, 241 catches

21 career fumbles.

thats 1,654 touches.

21 fumbles / 1,654 carries = 0.02 percent fumble rate.

didnt forget. Its just not a big problem for Zeke.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Yeah, we can complain when our highly paid TB isn't performing. Elliott was not good last year. His fumbles potentially cost us a game or two.

At the end of the day, I have more of an issue with Jerry buckling and signing Zeke (but hey, let's remember that Zeke was going to hold out while still under contract and demanded to be paid as high as he is, so yeah, he bears blame for the contract as well). It was just a poor roster decision IMO. But Jerry can get too loyal with his guys, especially the flashy ones that he likes.

Well...given the whole team pretty much sucked last year.....but zeke is the easy target.

Carry on.

 

[Sydla]

Jaylon is slowly creeping up on the worst contract list...5 year 63.5 million...

Smith's contract ain't great but doesn't sniff Elliott's.

 

[Jake]

Do we keep Zeke for next season ( not this coming season)? If not do we make a move on Sermon in round 2? Zeke makes a ton of money. Sermon is a cheaper version of Zeke imho. It is an interesting take I think. It bears thought...

Letting Zeke go before the 2022 season would result in a dead cap hit of over $23 million so I wouldn't get your hopes up. In 2023 it would only be $6 million so there's your out.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Zeke's got sloppy and lazy. The effort just isn't there, certainly not for $90M.

Cut him, eat the sunk costs, and pick up a street free agent power back to replace him. Maybe that would light a fire under Zeke's *** and he'd play hard for his new team, but you're never going to bring that effort level out of him here. Not with the contract security and owner-coddling that he has.

I think he should get one more year and perhaps....I know get how ridiculous THIS is...a healthy offense to play on. I know...the insanity of it.

Before you start in on me...I have indeed gone on record...that zeke had a disappointing year...especially the first part. But if I fired EVERYONE who got lazy, "digressed" or underperformed (regardless of price)...I wouldn't have much of a team left.

 

[Sydla]

Well...given the whole team pretty much sucked last year.....but zeke is the easy target.

Carry on.

Well for starters, all you pro-Zeke guys wanted him signed because you claimed he was one of our best players, the guy who carries our offense, blah, blah. That's why you were fine paying him the highest TB contract in history at that time.

So yeah, given he's one of our highest paid players, he's going to get more criticism than others. Same happened with Romo when we failed. People rip Jaylon Smith because he's highly paid. Lawrence gets criticism as well given how well he's paid. That's typically how it goes down and not just here in Dallas, but in every sports city.

But I have to laugh. We had to sign Elliott and it was OK paying him all that money because he was elite and a game changer............. but now, you guys don't want him criticized like team's better players get criticized when they don't perform well. Here's the reality. Elliott was paid to be one of our best players last year and he wasn't all that good. He was a problem last year on offense (not the sole problem, but definitely an issue).

 

[Sydla]

I think he should get one more year and perhaps....I know get how ridiculous THIS is...a healthy offense to play on. I know...the insanity of it.

Before you start in on me...I have indeed gone on record...that zeke had a disappointing year...especially the first part. But if I fired EVERYONE who got lazy, "digressed" or underperformed (regardless of price)...I wouldn't have much of a team left.

But here is the problem. You guys justified paying Elliott all that money because you claimed he was an elite TB, a game changer, the guy who made our engine run. But when he struggles, suddenly he's a guy that we can't blame because all these things around him didn't work? Well if everything around the TB needs to be good for him to be good, then how exactly is he this elite, game changing TB?

 

[DuncanIso]

But here is the problem. You guys justified paying Elliott all that money because you claimed he was an elite TB, a game changer, the guy who made our engine run. But when he struggles, suddenly he's a guy that we can't blame because all these things around him didn't work? Well if everything around the TB needs to be good for him to be good, then how exactly is he this elite, game changing TB?

Knight and Steele were the Tackles.

start there.

 

[blueblood70]

Well...given the whole team pretty much sucked last year.....but zeke is the easy target.

Carry on.

agree

they say wheres he been the last 3 years?!

i say where the team puts him, where the OC has him. Outside the fumbles, up to 2019 hes been zeke, not one player from the 2016 team is better then they were in 2016, most of the team, coaches, and the 13 wins are here anymore..we have not achieved that level since...

zeke in 2019 was good but it stared to appear how KM boy genius pictured for the transition to the Dak Show pass happy offense that slowly has lost TOP, had more penalty's, TOs, and the defense some how suffered as well..

this is what happens when you lose your identity and try and forces a new one.. Dak and Zeke/Pollard/Run game need to compliment each other..we were better team as run first , PA pass, and limit exposure on the defense type of offense..

2020 a mulligan for anyone and yes the fumbles are concern but odd they truly came in two games 4 of the 5 he lost..2 games it was bad B2B games but then he goes 4-5-6-7-8 straight games with NONE IE he goes 13 games with no fumbles that how a non hater sees the bright side not he fumbles in 3 , he didnt fumble in 13!!

i dont think hes fumbler he simply loses focus at times. I truly believe he presses when the teams doing poorly and tries to hard to get an extra yard etc I see this in sports like hitters slumping , golfer getting yips, and 3 point shooters cant find the rim in small streak of games.... Ive seen Dak lose as many fumbles and throw picks in few games and fans somehow excuse him for it and say well no ones perfect

zekes and easy target..

IMHO without the suspension he undeservingly got handed down on him to make point for the league, zeke would have had 3 straight rushing titles coming out of college right out of the gates..thats impressive

he snot an issue for this team..hes here the hate has to stop as 2020 will show not one big contract player did squat, thats what happens in total poopstorm of year full of record injuries' and new staff..

 

[Sydla]

Knight and Steele were the Tackles.

start there.

They stunk. When DiNucci played, he was as bad a QB as I can remember.

However we still, apparently, had our elite, game changing TB that we paid all this money to because we were told by you guys how awesome he was and how he deserved to be paid like that.

But now we are being told that hey, don't pick on Elliott, you can't blame him or expect him to play well when everything around him wasn't perfect.

You guys are making the argument for why it was a mistake to pay him. We tied up a chunk of cap space in a position where it often requires good play around him to be effective.

 

[blueblood70]

Knight and Steele were the Tackles.

start there.

yes at many points of the season it was

Nuc , Gilbert, or Dalton at qb, i start there, i no pass threat !

blocked up front by

Knight-Cwill-looney-McGovern -knight - there was 10 different OL variations adding in constant changes from Biadasz/looney Mcgovern, ervin and some names i cant remember over the season, umm in 16 games 10 offensive OL lineups, right zeke 12mil salary he should have still been successful no matter the situation..smh

and finish with playing from 3 scores down because of alot of factors but bad defense is one of them, not much chance to establish a run game at all..

blame zeke

 

[kskboys]

Yeah, mistake.

In a league where the passing game has more of an effect on the outcomes of games than running and where teams are putting together competent running games with less resources spent on the position, yeah, paying a TB $90 million is a questionable decision. As I noted before, the Browns were a much better run team than us and did so with less cap space spent on all their TBs compared to what we used in cap space on Elliott.

Plus, Elliott isn't as explosive or a big play guy as he was a few years ago. One could argue there has been a regression in his play which, by the way, is one of the reasons why many say paying a TB a lot of money isn't wise given the wear and tear and fact they tend to fall off the cliff faster than any other position.

Browns have stud Nick Chubb still on his rook contract. He's a high drafted stud. Then they got Hunt at a bargain due to his own stupidity in publicly kicking a woman.

These are two studs, Syd, not a good comparison.

 

[fivetwos]

Smith's contract ain't great but doesn't sniff Elliott's.

Structure wise, no.

Smiths money only needed to be guaranteed in March for the upcoming season.

Elliotts needed to be that way the previous March, for the season after the upcoming one, when the immediate season has already been guaranteed.

It's just under 4 for 60 fully guaranteed.

Compare that to what the GB RB got this year.