Bob Sturm Stats: Zeke vs. Pollard on First Down

[zerofill]

Bob Sturm, who writes for the Athletic and is an on-air personality for Dallas radio The Ticket posted this stat comparison Zeke vs. Pollard, KC game to present all on first down:.

The results are not surprising to me. Pollard's yards per rush are 5.38 vs Zeke's 2.69 among other stats.

Jerry needs to let big Mac play Pollard a lot more than Zeke. This gives us the best chance to win in the playoffs.

To be fair... I don't think Zeke can drive off the one leg well at all. I expect we will see something about surgery during the off season. Right now CBs can take him down easily.
He showed up in great shape this year. You see him limping all the time. So right now Pollard would be a better choice for most of the carries.

I don't really expect to see Pollard crushing things though as an every down back.

I think he will break down quickly in that role. But right now, Zeke is a gimp one-legged back I think.

 

[MyFairLady]

To be fair Zeke is fat and rich and doesn't really care anymore.

 

[Captain-Crash]

zeke's back is broken from carrying dak in the games and at Brokeback mountain.

 

[khiladi]

Here's the thing. When Elliott is in the game, defenses likely will tend to load up. One, Elliott is a between the tackle runner at this point. Two, he's not a big pass threat at this point. When Pollard is in the game, teams are more aware of the outside runs, screens, etc.

The issue facing the Cowboys right now is Elliott just isn't all that effective right now and Pollard isn't an every down type TB.

Doesn't Pollard just look like a better back, a more explosive back, and based on his long kickoff returns and his longer runs, the better back? I call this the eye test and Zeke finishes 2nd. Stats also back up Pollard being the more effective back.

Let's switch their roles and use a rested Zeke more and let Pollard take the most touches and see what happens. Zeke can still be effective but we have to play to his strengths. Using a rested Zeke in 4th quarter is the best of both worlds IMO.

I’m not disputing it. I just wanted to see the numbers to get a gage.

It’s hard for me to even argue Pollard is a change of pace back, because even when he gets hit, he’s moving forward. He’s pretty physical at the POC.

What I do know is that Zeke is the type of back that needs lots of carried to get going. He’s generally a physical runner that likes initiating contact. A lot of his benefit was in his ability to get 3 yards when you’d expect 1, just because of the way he constantly moves forward.

 

[khiladi]

Here's the thing. When Elliott is in the game, defenses likely will tend to load up. One, Elliott is a between the tackle runner at this point. Two, he's not a big pass threat at this point. When Pollard is in the game, teams are more aware of the outside runs, screens, etc.

The issue facing the Cowboys right now is Elliott just isn't all that effective right now and Pollard isn't an every down type TB.

Actually, the numbers don’t support it. They are basically facing the same amount of men in the box as an average as @CalPolyTechnique provided the data in this thread.

The most one can argue for the drop off to look justifiable is Zeke’s knee is bad right now.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Bob Sturm, who writes for the Athletic and is an on-air personality for Dallas radio The Ticket posted this stat comparison Zeke vs. Pollard, KC game to present all on first down:.

The results are not surprising to me. Pollard's yards per rush are 5.38 vs Zeke's 2.69 among other stats.

Jerry needs to let big Mac play Pollard a lot more than Zeke. This gives us the best chance to win in the playoffs.

This is old news at this point

 

[CowboyRoy]

Here's the thing. When Elliott is in the game, defenses likely will tend to load up. One, Elliott is a between the tackle runner at this point. Two, he's not a big pass threat at this point. When Pollard is in the game, teams are more aware of the outside runs, screens, etc.

The issue facing the Cowboys right now is Elliott just isn't all that effective right now and Pollard isn't an every down type TB.

They don’t load up buddy. That is a falacy

 

[CowboyRoy]

Doesn't Pollard just look like a better back, a more explosive back, and based on his long kickoff returns and his longer runs, the better back? I call this the eye test and Zeke finishes 2nd. Stats also back up Pollard being the more effective back.

Let's switch their roles and use a rested Zeke more and let Pollard take the most touches and see what happens. Zeke can still be effective but we have to play to his strengths. Using a rested Zeke in 4th quarter is the best of both worlds IMO.

It’s so blatantly obvious he is better. Been that way for 2 years. Don’t need stats at all.

 

[charron]

You say that, but Zeke is a star on this team, and Jerry cares a lot about things like that.

I don't care how much he says "He'd do anything to win". He's lying.

It's more of Jerry sees things in the wrong light, coaches too. They think they only pay good players and even if they aren't performing upto standards since they did it before they'll be able to do it again. It's a bad way to think about a players performance over time. They believe they doing the right thing to win, unfortunately that is this teams biggest detriment. Wasting what talent we have because they force the lesser player to play instead of the ones performing better.

Look at the denver game. The wr's did zero for 3 quarters but they finally throw the ball to that turner kid and he clearly made things happen scoring both td's. How would that game have changed had they given him a shot earlier? The last game they waited too long to use Wilson who was instantly productive and made it a close game. Too slow to realize the same guys running the same plays ain't working.

 

[Sydla]

They don’t load up buddy. That is a falacy

I guess I wasn't clear enough. And note, I am not defending Elliott at all.

I wasn't necessarily saying they play 8 in the box. But when Elliott is in the game, you can see defenses attack between the tackles. There's no threat of Elliott beating them outside. On a couple of his runs against the Cards, he got hit by the DEs on simply dives because they just crashed from the edge. Neither worried about containment. Because Elliott isn't quick enough to bounce something outside at this point with any consistency. It seems we've even stopped running sweeps/tosses to him as well.

I think Elliott's limits as a TB at this point hurt the defense.

 

[ArtClink]

It’s so blatantly obvious he is better. Been that way for 2 years. Don’t need stats at all.

Yeah it’s not even close now to compare the two.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

It's a question of what type of blocking we can expect in the years to come.

Pollard is quicker, so if the line is only going to open small holes that don't stay open long, Pollard will get you the more "bang for the buck". On the other hand, if the holes are bigger and longer lasting so that Zeke can get to the second level, his size and power will let him get farther, Pollard doesn't have the power to blast aside safeties and linebackers as much.

Ideally Moore should be able to design plays so that both can be effective, but not sure Moore is even going to be here, he might be Jacksonville bound...

 

[Clove]

I've been watching Zeke very carefully these last 11 or 12 games and these are my thoughts.

Father time is catching up with Zeke, he doesn't have the burst or the wiggle he once had. He does have straight line speed, but he's got to be in the open field to get going. He's not a good tackle-breaking back, but then again he's never been that guy like Emmitt was. However, he is good in short area bursts, he's a top-notch pass blocker, he's an average receiver out of the backfield, and his knack for getting short yardage 1st downs are still there.

So he has pros and cons. A RB can only take so many beatings before he loses something. This isn't me talking, look over all the RB in history that ever lived.

 

[StuckMojo]

I've been watching Zeke very carefully these last 11 or 12 games and these are my thoughts.

Father time is catching up with Zeke, he doesn't have the burst or the wiggle he once had. He does have straight line speed, but he's got to be in the open field to get going. He's not a good tackle-breaking back, but then again he's never been that guy like Emmitt was. However, he is good in short area bursts, he's a top-notch pass blocker, he's an average receiver out of the backfield, and his knack for getting short yardage 1st downs are still there.

So he has pros and cons. A RB can only take so many beatings before he loses something. This isn't me talking, look over all the RB in history that ever lived.

I remember early in the year he had some good jump cuts to avoid defenders in the backfield but now it’s easy to see he can’t cut with injured knee.

 

[Clove]

I remember early in the year he had some good jump cuts to avoid defenders in the backfield but now it’s easy to see he can’t cut with injured knee.

The hits over the years are taking a toll. But he's still an awesome second string RB, and the primary back when you're passing the ball a lot.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I guess I wasn't clear enough. And note, I am not defending Elliott at all.

I wasn't necessarily saying they play 8 in the box. But when Elliott is in the game, you can see defenses attack between the tackles. There's no threat of Elliott beating them outside. On a couple of his runs against the Cards, he got hit by the DEs on simply dives because they just crashed from the edge. Neither worried about containment. Because Elliott isn't quick enough to bounce something outside at this point with any consistency. It seems we've even stopped running sweeps/tosses to him as well.

I think Elliott's limits as a TB at this point hurt the defense.

EXACTLY!!

 

[CowboyRoy]

Yeah it’s not even close now to compare the two.

But its been like this for the last couple of years.

 

[fansince68]

Combo of Elliott being banged up, Elliott already in decline as a player, his lack of explosiveness and really his limitations as an in between the tackle runner at this point........... multiple times in recent games, you can just see DEs crashing down because there is little threat of Elliott going outside. Dallas doesn't even try to run him on sweeps and tosses like they used to.

Also with Pollard in the game, teams likely see him more as a pass threat so they can't just focus on the run.

At this point, it's pretty clear what a mistake it was to resign Elliott and frankly, his ineffectiveness is an issue over the last half of the season that has hurt the O.

Well said brotha, and I'm a huge Zeke fan

 

[CowboyRoy]

I’m not disputing it. I just wanted to see the numbers to get a gage.

It’s hard for me to even argue Pollard is a change of pace back, because even when he gets hit, he’s moving forward. He’s pretty physical at the POC.

What I do know is that Zeke is the type of back that needs lots of carried to get going. He’s generally a physical runner that likes initiating contact. A lot of his benefit was in his ability to get 3 yards when you’d expect 1, just because of the way he constantly moves forward.

Needs lots of carries to get going? I dont even understand what that is supposed to mean.

To me that means he needs tons of carries to affect the game because his ypc is low and he doesnt make big plays. No defense is getting worn down by Zeke and his 3 ypc running. We have to pass more, just to make up for his low yardage runs. Drives stall because he puts us in 3rd and long and 2nd and long often.

3 yards when you would expect 1? Its more like he gets 3 yards when he should be getting 8 or 20. Im fine with the 1 yard runs or the no gains. They happen to all backs. I want backs trying for the bigger plays if they are there. Its the big runs that really affect the game, not 5 3 yard runs. Nobody is cheating or sneaking up on a bunch of 3 yards runs. The defense is more than happy to watch those all game long. They arent getting worn down. Not in the least.

 

[ArtClink]

But its been like this for the last couple of years.

I know. Jerry starts his guys according to their salary not their production. IMO Steele should be our right tackle over Collins.