How is it that zeke lost his explosiveness

[blueblood70]

Man I honestly don't get why this is so hard for people. The Cowboys have yet to show they can win consistently using Zeke for 12-15 carries while splitting with Pollard or throwing it 50 times. On the other hand they HAVE shown that they can win consistently by riding Zeke 20 or more carries. People mistake wanting to give Zeke the ball more with some kind of love affair with Zeke when in reality it's a love affair with winning. We have been better when that dude was totin the rock more. When we show we are (consistently) better with someone else carrying the load I will advocate that person getting the ball more.. Pollard (occasionally) looks great in the change up role but if Zeke isn't in there pounding the defense between the tackles I don't believe a lot of that is possible. It's like when a relief pitcher comes in after a knuckleballer. Hitters tie themselves in knots swinging late on routine fastballs because they have been trying to time up a knuckleball for 6-7 innings. Pollard's quickness and explosion is Maybe I'm wrong but 2-3 nice games a year won't convince me. Zeke had the higher ypc in I believe 9 of the 15 games they played together last year. A fact that somehow gets swept under the rug by the people who appear to hate him. I will always maintain that at the end of season the change of pace back should ALWAYS have a higher ypc average than the starter.. One because he often gets carries against a tired defense when he is fresh and two because he is not the one the defense game plans to stop. A couple more games like this last one and that last part will change.. People will start devoting more than a few minutes a week prepping for Pollard.. If he continues to shine then we might have something.. but we obviously need to see more..

I will say this about the Sunday game.. It was different from Pollard's previous good games because he was consistent in getting positive yards. He didn't have a bunch of nothing runs augmented by one big one. This was better.. Maybe it's him getting better, maybe it was the way the Chargers played the run defense with that silly 3-3-5 alignment. Time will tell.

true and to add top that i saw two of pollards biggest plays came from he and zeke in the backfield and the defenders frist steps were toward zekes motions and it gave pollard an advantage...if fans cant see defenses still target zeke when hes out there and even as a blocker, decoy, or pass catcher the defense finds him first and hes still a weapon..like you said fans keep correlating his pay day to his decline and it was actually poor timing on Jerrys part to pay the man then allow KM to completely change the philosophy of the offense..like i stated earlier zeke at 4.4 YPC all dirty runs weakening the defense only needed 7 more carries to get 100 or more..yet when he comes up short fans say look pollard got 100 and zeke didn't..whatever clueless fans ES got the ball like henry no matter what 25+ was coming his way and even when his YPC averages were 4 he got his 100 and then broke soem open plays in the 4th..they gave Henry the ball all game 1st half hes was struggling last week was struggling they gave it to him 35times..do that with zeke but fans wont like low scoring ugly games and then when Dak has 200 yards and 1td they go back on the dak attack..fan base is fickle at best.

I doubt Pollard lined up in the backfield all game as the main man with say zeke out 3-4 weeks would as successful as him playing with zeke..If and win hes proves me wrong ill ADMIT IT.

I LIKE HAVEING A 1-2 PUNCH with different skill sets its why its working..THEY COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER YET FANS WANT TO MAKE IT ZEKE VS POLLARD

umm they are TEAMMates!!

they did this with Dalton vs Dak and it got stupid last season.. cant we appreciate all players wearing the star and when they do well compliment them without putting down another in the same breath???

 

[RonnieT24]

I don’t know how you came up with that. You know RBs have rookie contracts that last 4 years that they play under right?

Its not like I’m saying something controversial. A lot of teams do this with RBs.

There is no need to do it now. Getting rid of Zeke’s contract doesn’t help us in the near future anyways.

After next season they’ll have to make a decision.

Yeah 2022 is already guaranteed. People need to postpone their "cut Zeke" nonsense for at least another 18 months. Part of me wishes they would start Pollard 4-5 games in a row and we could find out once and for all if he's the guy. Right now he has more games below 4 ypc than above .. That aint gonna cut it as the starter. But as long as he's ballin like Sunday he needs to be in the game and gittin totes. At some point when defenses start paying more attention to him it's going to benefit the other guys on the offense.. Zeke included.,

 

[blueblood70]

Man I honestly don't get why this is so hard for people. The Cowboys have yet to show they can win consistently using Zeke for 12-15 carries while splitting with Pollard or throwing it 50 times. On the other hand they HAVE shown that they can win consistently by riding Zeke 20 or more carries. People mistake wanting to give Zeke the ball more with some kind of love affair with Zeke when in reality it's a love affair with winning. We have been better when that dude was totin the rock more. When we show we are (consistently) better with someone else carrying the load I will advocate that person getting the ball more.. Pollard (occasionally) looks great in the change up role but if Zeke isn't in there pounding the defense between the tackles I don't believe a lot of that is possible. It's like when a relief pitcher comes in after a knuckleballer. Hitters tie themselves in knots swinging late on routine fastballs because they have been trying to time up a knuckleball for 6-7 innings. Pollard's quickness and explosion is Maybe I'm wrong but 2-3 nice games a year won't convince me. Zeke had the higher ypc in I believe 9 of the 15 games they played together last year. A fact that somehow gets swept under the rug by the people who appear to hate him. I will always maintain that at the end of season the change of pace back should ALWAYS have a higher ypc average than the starter.. One because he often gets carries against a tired defense when he is fresh and two because he is not the one the defense game plans to stop. A couple more games like this last one and that last part will change.. People will start devoting more than a few minutes a week prepping for Pollard.. If he continues to shine then we might have something.. but we obviously need to see more..

I will say this about the Sunday game.. It was different from Pollard's previous good games because he was consistent in getting positive yards. He didn't have a bunch of nothing runs augmented by one big one. This was better.. Maybe it's him getting better, maybe it was the way the Chargers played the run defense with that silly 3-3-5 alignment. Time will tell.

yes time like lets reevaluate each season at the end not game to game judging players..its body of work not a games worth here and there and right now Zeke has had better career in HS, college, and pros then Pollard..hes earned soem respect not this nonsense..

 

[blueblood70]

Yeah 2022 is already guaranteed. People need to postpone their "cut Zeke" nonsense for at least another 18 months. Part of me wishes they would start Pollard 4-5 games in a row and we could find out once and for all if he's the guy. Right now he has more games below 4 ypc than above .. That aint gonna cut it as the starter. But as long as he's ballin like Sunday he needs to be in the game and gittin totes. At some point when defenses start paying more attention to him it's going to benefit the other guys on the offense.. Zeke included.,

 

[MyFairLady]

This isn't something that happened over night. It has been slow and steady. It has been obvious to anyone paying attention. His career YPC is a nice steady decline from amazing to pathetic. You could almost set your watch to it.

 

[RonnieT24]

This isn't something that happened over night. It has been slow and steady. It has been obvious to anyone paying attention. His career YPC is a nice steady decline from amazing to pathetic. You could almost set your watch to it.

Elliott's yards per carry by year..

2016 5.1
2017 4.1
2018 4.7
2019 4.5
2020 4.0

Your watch must be different from mine. Mine doesn't go backwards then back forward... While I don't think we're going to see 5.1 again I am confident that Zeke will finish this season above 4.0 which is where last year's clusterbleep of a season ended for him. Keep checking that watch of yours.

 

[AyeAtey]

I don't think he's lost his explosiveness. He just needs something or someone to light a fire under his ***.

Agreed here.

With Zeke, I think it's a mental thing also, on how he approaches and prepares for the game as a whole. He'll have his moments, the season has just begun.

 

[Starforever]

There is no need to do it now. Getting rid of Zeke’s contract doesn’t help us in the near future anyways.

After next season they’ll have to make a decision.

I don't think Zeke will be going anywhere.

 

[CATCH17]

I don't think Zeke will be going anywhere.

They let Demarco Murray go after a monster season. I could see Lawrence and Zeke getting the Murray and Ware treatment when it’s their time.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Elliott's yards per carry by year..

2016 5.1
2017 4.1
2018 4.7
2019 4.5
2020 4.0

Your watch must be different from mine. Mine doesn't go backwards then back forward... While I don't think we're going to see 5.1 again I am confident that Zeke will finish this season above 4.0 which is where last year's clusterbleep of a season ended for him. Keep checking that watch of yours.

Looool, how do you list the data which undermines your point and then claim it actually supports your point?

 

[RonnieT24]

They let Demarco Murray go after a monster season. I could see Lawrence and Zeke getting the Murray and Ware treatment when it’s their time.

Perhaps but not before they can manage the cap hit. I thought letting go of Ware and Murray were both mistakes. With Ware they should have made him a designated pass rusher and quit asking him to take on run blocks and with Murray they should have brought him and Dez into a room and told them both they had $25 million to split between them.. We will leave the room and let you two decide how to divvy it up. Call us when you have reached an agreement. Had we done so we could have used those next two first round picks on defense and probably won a championship by now.

 

[CATCH17]

Perhaps but not before they can manage the cap hit. I thought letting go of Ware and Murray were both mistakes. With Ware they should have made him a designated pass rusher and quit asking him to take on run blocks and with Murray they should have brought him and Dez into a room and told them both they had $25 million to split between them.. We will leave the room and let you two decide how to divvy it up. Call us when you have reached an agreement. Had we done so we could have used those next two first round picks on defense and probably won a championship by now.

I thought they made the right call on both and for aware I’m happy I got to watch that guy win a ring even if it wasn’t for my team.

 

[RonnieT24]

Looool, how do you list the data which undermines your point and then claim it actually supports your point?

You are apparently bad at math. Does CalPoly know this? 5.1 is more than 4.1 but 4.7 is more than 4.1.. which means the "steady decline" doctrine is patently false. It went down then back up.. and the following season at 4.5 could be considered pretty equivalent to the 4.7. If it goes up again this year which I believe it will the stupidity of this argument will be proven yet again..

 

[RonnieT24]

I thought they made the right call on both and for aware I’m happy I got to watch that guy win a ring even if it wasn’t for my team.

Oh make no mistake I was really happy to watch Ware get a ring.. I just thought the shift to 4-3 end forced him to absorb too much punishment. It could be argued that going with Randle over Murray is what got Romo jacked up.. twice.. If we keep Murray and stay dominant on the ground and maybe Romo doesn't get clobbered in Philly.. Then we could use the upcoming picks improving the defense for him. The fun part is that by 2016 maybe Murray is showing signs of breaking down and we take Henry in second round of that draft.. Or Kareem Hunt in the second round of the 2017 draft.. Butterfly effect to be sure..

 

[Sydla]

I'd rather be a "fanboi" of a player and team than some high and mighty fake bs fantasy accountant.

Fanboi isn't the insult you think it is.

No, we just understand how the NFL works better than some of you who just latch onto players without actually understanding the consequences of signing this guy or that guy and what it means for the overall team.

Its pretty simple. Taking the cap hits that we will have to take on Elliott is not a good thing for this franchise if he is just a good back, not an elite, dominant one. If you are taking on big cap hits for players, those players have to be game changing type players more often than not. You can't be paying a QB like Dak what we are paying him and then have him play like Ben DiNucci, for example. Or pay Cooper what we are paying him and have him play like Deonte Thompson.

 

[quickccc]

That's because he is.. Zeke is running more patiently now than early in his career. Every run doesn't need to be run at 100 mph. In fact many of them can't be. That was something he had to learn..

If Pollard was the full time starter he'd have to learn it too. If you just fly into the line at 100 mph it works great when the blocking is there right away but some plays the blocking takes longer to develop and the back needs to wait for it to happen. The tightrope is knowing when you need to wait and when there is only going to be a hole for a quarter of a second and you need to go right now.

If Zeke is to be criticized for anything it is that he does not seem to have gotten a good feel for that balance yet. Maybe some of it is all the shuffling up front and maybe some of it is the herky jerky nature of how he 's being used. He has never had to share carries to any large degree since he was a freshman in college. This is new to him.. and to Pollard it's not.. Hopefully

Zeke can adapt and still be productive because that is what's best for the team. Him getting 12 carries a game and NOT being productive serves no one.. except Zeke haters of course..

Yes every run is not 100 mph, but still we should be seeing the fastball splash play runner we drafted him very high overall in 2016.

- If a coach is instructing him to slow down and dance at the line, for the sake of
being "patient" then those coaches are forcing him to a lesser impact runner.

In the Cowboys Documentary “ Deep Blue War Stories” it speaks of Wil McClay explaining what they liked about Zeke that influenced to select him so high in 1st.

“ The way he bursts and accelerate into hole and gets to the second level and his natural power “ ……….. to some sense of saying.

- That burst and speed made Zeke special, ..it made Zeke feared among the NFL defenses.

- The importance of that speed element made it an offseason priority with Zeke
in the offseason conditioning to try to re-shape/reform his body to
make-return himself back into that 2016 version.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

No, we just understand how the NFL works better than some of you who just latch onto players without actually understanding the consequences of signing this guy or that guy and what it means for the overall team.

Its pretty simple. Taking the cap hits that we will have to take on Elliott is not a good thing for this franchise if he is just a good back, not an elite, dominant one. If you are taking on big cap hits for players, those players have to be game changing type players more often than not. You can't be paying a QB like Dak what we are paying him and then have him play like Ben DiNucci, for example. Or pay Cooper what we are paying him and have him play like Deonte Thompson.

What makes you think I don't understand it? I'd rather spend my time cheering them all on for winning success.

You care about money more...doesn't make you more in the know or better fan.


Fine ditch zeke and start Pollard. You'll see dak get hurt and find out how much you actually know about nfl football.

 

[quickccc]

They let Demarco Murray go after a monster season. I could see Lawrence and Zeke getting the Murray and Ware treatment when it’s their time.

They let Murray go because they envisioned him as a workhouse serviceable back, and not a franchise back .
Not one that demands re-signing him to huge big money contract.

They apparently learned their lessons off the Marion Barber one year wonder episodes.
(and MB3 did not even gain 1,000 yards that year)

Once Murray departed here, the teams he went to eventually got heir apparent cornerstone RBs and
placed Murray in the back seat before eventually cutting him altogether.

 

[Sydla]

What makes you think I don't understand it? I'd rather spend my time cheering them all on for winning success.

You care about money more...doesn't make you more in the know or better fan.


Fine ditch zeke and start Pollard. You'll see dak get hurt and find out how much you actually know about nfl football.

I care about having a better roster than what we have. And one reason we don't have a better roster is misplaced cap resources in players like Smith, Elliott, etc.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I care about having a better roster than what we have. And one reason we don't have a better roster is misplaced cap resources in players like Smith, Elliott, etc.

Okay....good luck!