Dak gets another Top 5 ranking

[MountaineerCowboy]

you are entitled to your opinion, and that wasn't one of Dak's best performances. he did play injured, but no excuse.

yes, QBs carry the brunt of wins/losses simply because they are highest paid on a team usually.

with that said, in all the hoopla around Dak, all other areas that were abysmal in that game are being ignored......

the Defense played pretty bad....gave up 430 yards. wentz went 31/40, about 78% completion rate....that's not good. in fact down right awful..
Zeke was able to only rush for 47 yards averaging 3.6 yards. that's the highest paid RB in the league.....and as a team we rushed for 54...that's abysmal.
cooper disappeared in a big game, yet again...only had 24 yards on 4 catches...that's on 12 targets.....that's abysmal ....
special teams once again was bad...we averaged 20 yards on two returns, they averaged 28....that gives them great field position to start
they punted the ball just 4 times all game...on 12 possession and they got in field goal range 3 times, missing 2.... that shows how bad the defense played.
they held the ball for 36 minutes, mostly because they rushed effectively (30 rushes) and 78% completion rate on 40 passes.....that's down right awful
in a 10-6 contest. offense puts a drive together, gets down to philly 26 and Pollard fumbles.....you just can't fumble in a critical, close game like this...

all the dak detractors want to point to second philly game in 2019 and build an entire case of his career around it, yet these little facts are lost in the debate. so tell me how that was good defensive play...but most point to season averages. yet focus on single game in 2019 to assess how Dak did in 2019 and blame the loss on him. so looking at defensive performance in that single game, tells me the defense sucked. sucked royally

and to top it off, the play calling and coaching in this game, once again atrocious ....the way Moore/Garrett managed that game was confusing.

so although everyone points to season this, season that, blah blah, 2019 Philly game, Dak played bad blah blah....no one wants to look at the rest of the team's performance......including coaching....why? because it defeats their argument.

and as I said, that wasn't one of Dak's best games.....

You know that's not the only game I point to, maybe others do, but there are multiple games from that season that I put on Dak because of his poor play.

Holding a team to 17 points is good defensive play in my book. It's not the defenses fault that the offense could not put any meaningful drives together. The Eagles putting together long drives, not scoring points, but putting together long, time consuming drives helped their defense tremendously against us.

Everything plays a factor, but I chose to put the brunt on our QB because he completed around 50% of his passes for 0 TDs. That's not gonna get it done when you're fighting for a playoff spot. You don't have to put it on Dak, and that's okay. but I look at his numbers in that game and see that if he just played slightly above average we win.

 

[Whirlwin]

Riddle me this. The Vikings and Cowboys pretty much match up evenly, for the most part.

If the Cowboys played the Vikings 17 times this year, what would their records be? 9-8 or 10-7? Flip a coin as to who would have more wins.

Dak may be better than Cousins right now. Cousins may be better than Dak right now. Not a lot of separation between the two. Just a matter of who shows up that day and makes plays, splash plays, plays on third down, plays in the red zone.

What the hell are you even talking about. And then someone give you a like. This site has gone berserk. You can say that about every single player in every single spot in the entire world. Makes absolutely no sense this argument

 

[TwoCentPlain]

What the hell are you even talking about. And then someone give you a like. This site has gone berserk. You can say that about every single player in every single spot in the entire world. Makes absolutely no sense this argument

Don’t be the jealous type with likes.

Can’t answer the simple hypothetical question. I know exactly why. And you do too. No one wants to be checkmated.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

You know that's not the only game I point to, maybe others do, but there are multiple games from that season that I put on Dak because of his poor play.

Holding a team to 17 points is good defensive play in my book. It's not the defenses fault that the offense could not put any meaningful drives together. The Eagles putting together long drives, not scoring points, but putting together long, time consuming drives helped their defense tremendously against us.

Everything plays a factor, but I chose to put the brunt on our QB because he completed around 50% of his passes for 0 TDs. That's not gonna get it done when you're fighting for a playoff spot. You don't have to put it on Dak, and that's okay. but I look at his numbers in that game and see that if he just played slightly above average we win.

actually the eagles missed two field goals, within easy reach....that's not good defensive play. and allowing the other team 430 yards is not good. allowing them to control the clock for 36 minutes due to almost 80% completion rate and 120 yards rushing is not good. they rushed 30 times, meaning they intended on controlling the clock and keeping dallas on the sideline, and they succeeded. .... sometime in games like this the defense needs to come through....there will be times the offense won't be able to score as much. so defense needs to step up...in this game neither offense or defense stepped up. I am not excusing the bad offensive output, but I am not willing to give a pass to defense neither. both are equally responsible in this loss. also, I place a lot of blame on Pollard. deep inside the opponents territory. in scoring position. nice long drive. close game. critical game. he fumbled....you just can't do that....same as NO game. 12-10. zeke fumbled. witten fumbled. that's inexcusable. protect the ball. and we now know zeke has fumbling issues as he tends to cough it up way too many times for being the highest paid RB in the league. my expectations are that he has zero fumbles since he is the highest paid RB.

also, I found it funny you tend to round up where it fits your argument to make it look better. round down when it fits your argument. the actual completion percentage was 57%, so I could say he completed around 60% of his passes, not great, but not too bad... but to each his own spin...right?

btw, did you notice we only rushed the ball 16 times.... that's idiotic. that's on the coaches play calling. you have a QB that didn't practice all week. has an injured shoulder, yet you choose to pass 44 times and run 16 and not control the clock... of the first 13 plays. we ran 3 times. passed 10...why? first half we ran the ball 5 times....that's the bad game management I was referring to. stupidity of coaches. but yeeeahhh, its bad game by Dak, that cost us....lets not forget as a coach, play caller you have to put your team in a position to succeed. rushing 5 times, passing 24 times is not getting the job done.

 

[AKATheRake]

Russell Wilson isn't listed. That tells me everything.

 

[CowboyRoy]

What do you mean by "that kind of offense"? Dak plays his best when he is playing behind Zeke. That's when the team is at it's best overall also.

The Bills leading rusher had 680 yards.
Dak has never went to the playoffs without Zeke rushing for at least 1,400 yards.
That's literally DOUBLE the amount that Allen had to work with last year.

Dak can't run like Allen.
Allen already has more career rushing yards and rushing TDs then Dak in 2 less years.
Dak def. won't be running like Allen now that he has been injured.

So, I'm not sure what makes you think inserting Dak into that Bills offense would somehow make them just as good. The Bills have Diggs, Allen, and Beasley. That's basically it.

Dak has plenty of weapons to work with on his own offense. A lot more then Allen has on the Bills, that's for sure.

So, please, elaborate on just how Dak would somehow make it to the conference championship on THAT kind of offense when that is not the kind of offense that Dak thrives on.

I meant best kind of DEFENSE. You would have to be a little dense not to pick up on what I meant.

As far as Zeke, you are living in the past. Sure, any QB would play better behind the best running game in the NFL, but those days are over.

DAK and the passing game are at their most potent in a spread formation. The strength of this offense is now Dak and the passing game. Dak has definitely come of age and is no longer a rookie leaning on Zeke and the run game. And clearly Zeke is not longer 2016 Zeke. What we have found out is that it was more the line than Zeke.

And yah, Allen runs better. No doubt about it.

 

[CowboyRoy]

i think we have the offensive firepower so Dak is gonna be without excuses, it’s the defense that has killed us but been strong for Buffalo. Based on the latest body of work I’d have to go with Allen but we don’t know how Dak would’ve played a full season out. Hopefully we will see this year with all cylinders firing

Would be nice to see what that offense can do with Dak in his prime with both a great line AND great passing weapons.

 

[Ranched]

 

[plasticman]

The Cowboys had the #1 offense in yardage in 2019.

Through the first five games of the 2020 season, the Cowboy offense was ranked #1 in yardage. Then what happened?

Keep in mind the Cowboys lost their starting center to retirement, a starting tackle to a season ending injury before the season began, the other tackle after 2 games, the primary backup tackle was hurt, they lost their starting TE in the first game.....somehow the offense was still rolling up to the fifth game.

Now give Dak the O-line back with a young center with a years experience. Give him back his starting TE and add in the backup that caught the 3rd most passes for a TE last season. Give him an invigorated Zeke with a chip on his shoulders. Give him the most exciting WR corps in the league.

Give him a complete training camp, give him a HC with a year experience with the team and give him a defense with the potential to create turnovers resulting in a short field.

Top 5? We may be lowballing his potential this season.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

I meant best kind of DEFENSE. You would have to be a little dense not to pick up on what I meant.

As far as Zeke, you are living in the past. Sure, any QB would play better behind the best running game in the NFL, but those days are over.

DAK and the passing game are at their most potent in a spread formation. The strength of this offense is now Dak and the passing game. Dak has definitely come of age and is no longer a rookie leaning on Zeke and the run game. And clearly Zeke is not longer 2016 Zeke. What we have found out is that it was more the line than Zeke.

And yah, Allen runs better. No doubt about it.

Your exact quote was "I have no doubt that if you give Dak THAT kind of offense he will be in conference championships as well."

But yeah, I'm dense for not being able to read your mind, restructure your sentence, and take out offense and insert defense in it's place.

The fact that you call someone "dense" because you didn't say something the way you meant it and expect them to somehow fix your mistake their selves in their mind really speaks volumes.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

actually the eagles missed two field goals, within easy reach....that's not good defensive play. and allowing the other team 430 yards is not good. allowing them to control the clock for 36 minutes due to almost 80% completion rate and 120 yards rushing is not good. they rushed 30 times, meaning they intended on controlling the clock and keeping dallas on the sideline, and they succeeded. .... sometime in games like this the defense needs to come through....there will be times the offense won't be able to score as much. so defense needs to step up...in this game neither offense or defense stepped up. I am not excusing the bad offensive output, but I am not willing to give a pass to defense neither. both are equally responsible in this loss. also, I place a lot of blame on Pollard. deep inside the opponents territory. in scoring position. nice long drive. close game. critical game. he fumbled....you just can't do that....same as NO game. 12-10. zeke fumbled. witten fumbled. that's inexcusable. protect the ball. and we now know zeke has fumbling issues as he tends to cough it up way too many times for being the highest paid RB in the league. my expectations are that he has zero fumbles since he is the highest paid RB.

also, I found it funny you tend to round up where it fits your argument to make it look better. round down when it fits your argument. the actual completion percentage was 57%, so I could say he completed around 60% of his passes, not great, but not too bad... but to each his own spin...right?

btw, did you notice we only rushed the ball 16 times.... that's idiotic. that's on the coaches play calling. you have a QB that didn't practice all week. has an injured shoulder, yet you choose to pass 44 times and run 16 and not control the clock... of the first 13 plays. we ran 3 times. passed 10...why? first half we ran the ball 5 times....that's the bad game management I was referring to. stupidity of coaches. but yeeeahhh, its bad game by Dak, that cost us....lets not forget as a coach, play caller you have to put your team in a position to succeed. rushing 5 times, passing 24 times is not getting the job done.

16 times is idiotic. I agree.

Because you know when you're placing all the trust on Dak winning with his arm, injury excuses or perfectly healthy, it has proven to be a losing formula for us.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

Top 5? We may be lowballing his potential this season.

Of course we have to keep in mind the Cowboys don't stand alone in the league. Sure Dallas could put up great numbers, but that doesn't mean other teams can't also.
I'm not concerned with where the Cowboys offense ranks, that's nice to ooh and ah over, but I'm more concerned with winning games, and that depends as much on defense as offense.

Checking with The Football Database, I see the Bills defense was ranked 26th in the league in 2017, and 2nd the following year.

So it's not unheard of for a defense to make huge jumps in one year. Not saying I expect Dallas' defense to make that kind of a jump, just that getting to a level that will be good enough to not waste the offense is certainly possible. We have limited time to avail ourselves of T. Smith, Cooper, Gallup, et al, the defense needs to step up as soon as possible....

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

16 times is idiotic. I agree.

Because you know when you're placing all the trust on Dak winning with his arm, injury excuses or perfectly healthy, it has proven to be a losing formula for us.

that's almost a true statement for any QB, there are very few that can just go without a running game and have success. although I disagree, we have won games on Dak's arm. so that's a false generalization. I know you tend to round your assumptions...I am used to that by now

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

that's almost a true statement for any QB, there are very few that can just go without a running game and have success. although I disagree, we have won games on Dak's arm. so that's a false generalization. I know you tend to round your assumptions...I am used to that by now

You're right.

We have won games on Daks arm, but those are few and far between. We have the most success when Dak is not the focal point of the offense.

He's not a Josh Allen type. He's not at that level. Josh Allen made a deep playoff run while the Bills leading rusher had 600 yards for the season. Dak has never even made the playoffs without a RB that had at least 1,4034 yards for the season. Facts.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

we now know zeke has fumbling issues as he tends to cough it up way too many times for being the highest paid RB in the league. my expectations are that he has zero fumbles since he is the highest paid RB.

First of all how much he gets paid has nothing to do with how he holds the ball, etc. Mahomes is the highest paid quarterback so he's supposed to not throw an interception? He can only play as well as he can. You're saying if he got paid half what he does he can fumble a lot, and that's okay, because he's not getting paid that much. Fumbles are bad, whatever a back gets paid. He's paid to run the ball, not make sure he never fumbles. ANY back will fumble if the defense makes a concerted effort to make him do so.

And I don't agree he has fumbling "issues", in 2019 he had a grand total of 3 fumbles, less than 8 other running backs. That year Chris Carson had 7, and haven't heard he has "fumbling issues". In 2017 Zeke had 1 fumble in 10 games, which in a full season would equate to about 2. Hardly makes him a "fumbler".

He has some off years with fumbles, no doubt, but he's also had years where it wasn't a problem. I'd be willing to bet he will have only 3 or 4 this year, if that many.

Now if he has 6 or so this year, that means he's got to work on ball security, but since he's had years where he fumbled too much and years where he hasn't, can't say he has "issues", that would mean he fumbles a lot every year, and he doesn't...

 

[MaineBoy]

okay, this has gone too far, I don’t want you to jeopardize your personal privacy so I’m advising that you don’t post pictures of yourself again....

 

[Rockport]

okay, this has gone too far, I don’t want you to jeopardize your personal privacy so I’m advising that you don’t post pictures of yourself again....

Wow, you thought of that all by yourself?

 

[TwoCentPlain]

actually the eagles missed two field goals, within easy reach....that's not good defensive play. and allowing the other team 430 yards is not good. allowing them to control the clock for 36 minutes due to almost 80% completion rate and 120 yards rushing is not good. they rushed 30 times, meaning they intended on controlling the clock and keeping dallas on the sideline, and they succeeded. .... sometime in games like this the defense needs to come through....there will be times the offense won't be able to score as much. so defense needs to step up...in this game neither offense or defense stepped up. I am not excusing the bad offensive output, but I am not willing to give a pass to defense neither. both are equally responsible in this loss. also, I place a lot of blame on Pollard. deep inside the opponents territory. in scoring position. nice long drive. close game. critical game. he fumbled....you just can't do that....same as NO game. 12-10. zeke fumbled. witten fumbled. that's inexcusable. protect the ball. and we now know zeke has fumbling issues as he tends to cough it up way too many times for being the highest paid RB in the league. my expectations are that he has zero fumbles since he is the highest paid RB.

also, I found it funny you tend to round up where it fits your argument to make it look better. round down when it fits your argument. the actual completion percentage was 57%, so I could say he completed around 60% of his passes, not great, but not too bad... but to each his own spin...right?

btw, did you notice we only rushed the ball 16 times.... that's idiotic. that's on the coaches play calling. you have a QB that didn't practice all week. has an injured shoulder, yet you choose to pass 44 times and run 16 and not control the clock... of the first 13 plays. we ran 3 times. passed 10...why? first half we ran the ball 5 times....that's the bad game management I was referring to. stupidity of coaches. but yeeeahhh, its bad game by Dak, that cost us....lets not forget as a coach, play caller you have to put your team in a position to succeed. rushing 5 times, passing 24 times is not getting the job done.

Who is responsible for audibles? That would be the QB. Why blame the coaches if the QB is audibling out of runs? Or audibling to a run. The audible is on Dak. He is the one who reads the defense and adjusts for each play.

Or did Garrett not allow him to audible? If they wouldn’t allow Dak to audible, what does that say about Dak?

Either way, you can’t absolve Dak from the plays actually ran.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

First of all how much he gets paid has nothing to do with how he holds the ball, etc. Mahomes is the highest paid quarterback so he's supposed to not throw an interception? He can only play as well as he can. You're saying if he got paid half what he does he can fumble a lot, and that's okay, because he's not getting paid that much. Fumbles are bad, whatever a back gets paid. He's paid to run the ball, not make sure he never fumbles. ANY back will fumble if the defense makes a concerted effort to make him do so.

And I don't agree he has fumbling "issues", in 2019 he had a grand total of 3 fumbles, less than 8 other running backs. That year Chris Carson had 7, and haven't heard he has "fumbling issues". In 2017 Zeke had 1 fumble in 10 games, which in a full season would equate to about 2. Hardly makes him a "fumbler".

He has some off years with fumbles, no doubt, but he's also had years where it wasn't a problem. I'd be willing to bet he will have only 3 or 4 this year, if that many.

Now if he has 6 or so this year, that means he's got to work on ball security, but since he's had years where he fumbled too much and years where he hasn't, can't say he has "issues", that would mean he fumbles a lot every year, and he doesn't...

well, I just used the same logic that some of the other posters here have said and insisted on and used in the past. MoutaineerCowboy has mentioned many many times that his expectations are superbowls and MVPs for 2nd highest paid player in the league. so I set my expectations for the HIGHEST paid player in his position in the league...... I expect him to be top 5 in MVP, be at lowest 2nd leading rusher. and not fumble on critical points of the game (i.e. Atlanta, NO games come to mind).

what I am reading is you are making excuses for Zeke and as you said he has had fumbling issues and disappears in critical games (i.e. disappeared in Philly 2019 game averaging 3.6 YPC). I don't care about these other RBs. I care about Zeke and being highest paid RB in the league.

so why does one standard get applied to one player/position but not the other....seems like double standard, perhaps you all need to get together and come up with some sort of standards we should measure these players, because compiling all you all's standards is created a pin hole sized target trying to hit it with a dart!!!

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Who is responsible for audibles? That would be the QB. Why blame the coaches if the QB is audibling out of runs? Or audibling to a run. The audible is on Dak. He is the one who reads the defense and adjusts for each play.

Or did Garrett not allow him to audible? If they wouldn’t allow Dak to audible, what does that say about Dak?

Either way, you can’t absolve Dak from the plays actually ran.

so he audibled out of all the plays and garrett kept sending in running plays he audibled out of....what a great coach, where he can't even control his players and his locker room....

this was the poorest excuse I have read...well maybe not the poorest, but darn close to one of the worst....

you are trying to spin oh so hard...so spin me why the defense gave up 430 yards that game? and allowed fragile wentz complete 80% of his passes. oh, I guess because Dak audibled.