CFZ How Zeke in a new role would help us WIN more

[RonnieT24]

You could say that about any RB. It doesnt need to be Zeke.

Are you aware that the Cowboys are 11-0 when Pollard gets 10 carries or more?

Zekes great rushing years coincide directly with our best Oline years. Its the Oline that has always been the key both for Zeke and Dak. As the line has faded, so has Zeke.

Are you aware that posting blatant lies does nothing to bolster your point..

In 2020 the Cowboys lost to Arizone 38-10 while Pollard was racking up 31 yards on 10 carries.
In 2021 the Cowboys lost to Las Vegas with Pollard lighting it up for 36 yards on 10 carries.

The fact of the matter is Pollard generally only gets 10 carries or more when he is a) lighting it up or b) the game is in hand and the Cowboys are resting Zeke.

Pollard also has 8 career games where he has averaged 3 ypc or less. That's 8 of his 46 games played. basically in 17.4% of his games he averages less than 3 ypc. On the other hand that guy you hate so much has had 14 career games of 3 ypc or less. Or 14 of 88 which works out to 15.9%. So for all his greatness Pollard is slightly more likely to be held to 3 ypc or less than Elliott is. Oh and before anybody chimes in with "well Pollard doesn't get the carries.." No he doesn't.. and if he is coming in and giving the same ypc as Elliott on top of not being as good of a blocker he's not going to. Sorry if that bothers people but that's the reality. When you're the backup you are not going to play more than the starter unless you come in and light it up. If both backs are getting < 4 ypc the one who can block is rightfully going to play more. In those games where Pollard has come in and tore it up I think he has gotten totes.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

WHY ZEKE HAS DECLINED:

• His body has endured a ton of touches since college

Emmitt in his first 6 years of pro ball and his college years he had 3,114 touches. Yet he was still productive.
Zeke is a bigger guy. Touches are part of the reason he's declined, but the main reason is poor line play...

 

[Bobhaze]

Emmitt in his first 6 years of pro ball and his college years he had 3,114 touches. Yet he was still productive.
Zeke is a bigger guy. Touches are part of the reason he's declined, but the main reason is poor line play...

Some players can handle a heavier load than others. Emmitt was unique. Same for Walter Payton. Plus those guys worked incredibly hard- extra hard to keep their bodies in top shape. Zeke isn’t lazy but he’s no where near the off season workout warrior that Sweetness was. Zeke is just not in as good shape as he could be.

 

[DanA]

Zeke's stats:

• Weeks 1-9 - 4.7 ypc, 7 TD's
• Weeks 10-17 - 3.6 ypc, 3 TD's

Those first 9 weeks (before the PCL) are worthy of a top five RB. The last 8 weeks, pass protection aside, are sub-par even for a backup. And it's particularly egregious to have Zeke remain the no.1 running back when Pollard is running at 5.8 ypc after Week 9 and 5.5 ypc for the season. IMO it should definitely be RBBC and we should not hesitate to bench Zeke if carrying injury.

But yes, he still has something to offer IMO.

 

[Pass2Run]

Zeke Elliott will never again be what he once was. Ever. BUT- he’s probably just got one more year here and accepting who Zeke is now and understanding how he could still help us WIN is a good step forward. So let’s look at why Zeke has declined and how he can still help us.

WHY ZEKE HAS DECLINED:

• His body has endured a ton of touches since college.
  • This goes all the way back to his days at Ohio state. He had 650 touches- rushing and receiving at OSU in 3 years.
  • In 6 seasons of NFL games, he has an additional 1938 total touches- that’s a whopping 2,588 which averages out to nearly 300 touches a year for 9 straight seasons.

That’s a tough load for anyone’s body. He’s no longer capable of 350 touch season that gives us what we need to win. We need to accept him having a lesser role.

HOW CAN ZEKE STILL BE USED TO HELP US WIN:

• Zeke has evolved from an explosive quick strike back to a slower, methodical power back. It makes zero sense for the Cowboys to pretend he is ever going to be what he was in 2016-19.
• Here’s how we can use him and help us win. Use Zeke as a power back and situational receiver who needs about 12-15 touches a game- MAX. Using Pollard MORE helps this team have more chances for a big play. Keeping Zeke at 20 touches a game reduces our big play chances.
• He needs to be in a RBBC. Using Zeke, Tony Pollard and perhaps another back is a great way to have a better situational running game. We just need him to be part of helping this team win.
• He would make an excellent goal line and short yardage runner. Maybe even a great close out runner in the role Marion Barber played about 15 years ago. But his load needs to be managed carefully. He doesn’t have a productive 20-25 carry game left in him IMO.

With all that’s been said above, I fully expect Zeke to be in his usual role because of Jerry. JJ always plays his players based 100% on how much he’s paying them as opposed to how much he helps the TEAM. Tony Pollard should be at least 12 touches a game himself.

Zeke Elliott can still help this team win. But he would give us a better chance by reducing his role.

Agree they need to split carries to about 50/50.. That way, teams have to gameplan for two RBs. That alone gives us an advantage. Because teams have to spend time preparing for two different players when they could be using their time another way.

Not only that, based on your points above, it just works out better for us.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

Some players can handle a heavier load than others. Emmitt was unique. Same for Walter Payton. Plus those guys worked incredibly hard- extra hard to keep their bodies in top shape. Zeke isn’t lazy but he’s no where near the off season workout warrior that Sweetness was. Zeke is just not in as good shape as he could be.

Agreed, just noting that just a lot of carries isn't automatically a reason for decline....

 

[atlantacowboy]

Yep. While we can put up some big offensive stats coming from behind it’s clearly not our best path to victory.

And probably why establishing our running game is our clearest path to victory. It helps mask our weaknesses on defense and helps our QB and offense to be more effective and efficient.

Agreed. We rarely ever establish the run. Some of that is on Zeke who just can't seem to break a tackle the past 2 years resulting in very few explosive plays from him. But, I remember drives where we would run it down inside the 20 and then call 3 passes in a row. Or, every first down is a 2 yard dive into the line resulting in second and long......... usually a passing down. Moore, like JG and Lineman, is pass happy. That's how OCs earn their reputation.

I think in todays NFL the run game is used to finish off games and kill the clock. Very few teams use it as the primary source of offense.......... Sf is the only good team I can think of that is not reliant on its QB for offense.

 

[G2]

Are you aware that posting blatant lies does nothing to bolster your point..

In 2020 the Cowboys lost to Arizone 38-10 while Pollard was racking up 31 yards on 10 carries.
In 2021 the Cowboys lost to Las Vegas with Pollard lighting it up for 36 yards on 10 carries.

The fact of the matter is Pollard generally only gets 10 carries or more when he is a) lighting it up or b) the game is in hand and the Cowboys are resting Zeke.

Pollard also has 8 career games where he has averaged 3 ypc or less. That's 8 of his 46 games played. basically in 17.4% of his games he averages less than 3 ypc. On the other hand that guy you hate so much has had 14 career games of 3 ypc or less. Or 14 of 88 which works out to 15.9%. So for all his greatness Pollard is slightly more likely to be held to 3 ypc or less than Elliott is. Oh and before anybody chimes in with "well Pollard doesn't get the carries.." No he doesn't.. and if he is coming in and giving the same ypc as Elliott on top of not being as good of a blocker he's not going to. Sorry if that bothers people but that's the reality. When you're the backup you are not going to play more than the starter unless you come in and light it up. If both backs are getting < 4 ypc the one who can block is rightfully going to play more. In those games where Pollard has come in and tore it up I think he has gotten totes.

Daks contract too, right?

 

[CowboyRoy]

Then how did he average 4.2 ypc?

Big first half of the year. Notice..............."2nd half" in my post.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Some players can handle a heavier load than others. Emmitt was unique. Same for Walter Payton. Plus those guys worked incredibly hard- extra hard to keep their bodies in top shape. Zeke isn’t lazy but he’s no where near the off season workout warrior that Sweetness was. Zeke is just not in as good shape as he could be.

But Emmitt rarely had over 50 yards at the half. He was a 4th quarter player. By carry 20, him and our OL had worn down the opposing defense allowing Emmitt to start ripping off bigger runs and cementing games.

The NFL is now all about player safety and RBs don't play with some of the injuries Emmitt played through.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Big first half of the year. Notice..............."2nd half" in my post.

Make sure to qualify the stat to suit your hate agenda!

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Are you aware that posting blatant lies does nothing to bolster your point..

In 2020 the Cowboys lost to Arizone 38-10 while Pollard was racking up 31 yards on 10 carries.
In 2021 the Cowboys lost to Las Vegas with Pollard lighting it up for 36 yards on 10 carries.

The fact of the matter is Pollard generally only gets 10 carries or more when he is a) lighting it up or b) the game is in hand and the Cowboys are resting Zeke.

Pollard also has 8 career games where he has averaged 3 ypc or less. That's 8 of his 46 games played. basically in 17.4% of his games he averages less than 3 ypc. On the other hand that guy you hate so much has had 14 career games of 3 ypc or less. Or 14 of 88 which works out to 15.9%. So for all his greatness Pollard is slightly more likely to be held to 3 ypc or less than Elliott is. Oh and before anybody chimes in with "well Pollard doesn't get the carries.." No he doesn't.. and if he is coming in and giving the same ypc as Elliott on top of not being as good of a blocker he's not going to. Sorry if that bothers people but that's the reality. When you're the backup you are not going to play more than the starter unless you come in and light it up. If both backs are getting < 4 ypc the one who can block is rightfully going to play more. In those games where Pollard has come in and tore it up I think he has gotten totes.

So true. It's no knock on Tony. He is a very nice asset to have in our offense. But this notion that Tony can step in and do what Zeke does, better even, to some....is pure ignorance or worse.

When each one is given the opportunity to fulfill their roles and strong suits, it's a devastating combo. I am not convinced are staff has done that.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Are you aware that posting blatant lies does nothing to bolster your point..

In 2020 the Cowboys lost to Arizone 38-10 while Pollard was racking up 31 yards on 10 carries.
In 2021 the Cowboys lost to Las Vegas with Pollard lighting it up for 36 yards on 10 carries.

The fact of the matter is Pollard generally only gets 10 carries or more when he is a) lighting it up or b) the game is in hand and the Cowboys are resting Zeke.

Pollard also has 8 career games where he has averaged 3 ypc or less. That's 8 of his 46 games played. basically in 17.4% of his games he averages less than 3 ypc. On the other hand that guy you hate so much has had 14 career games of 3 ypc or less. Or 14 of 88 which works out to 15.9%. So for all his greatness Pollard is slightly more likely to be held to 3 ypc or less than Elliott is. Oh and before anybody chimes in with "well Pollard doesn't get the carries.." No he doesn't.. and if he is coming in and giving the same ypc as Elliott on top of not being as good of a blocker he's not going to. Sorry if that bothers people but that's the reality. When you're the backup you are not going to play more than the starter unless you come in and light it up. If both backs are getting < 4 ypc the one who can block is rightfully going to play more. In those games where Pollard has come in and tore it up I think he has gotten totes.

My bad its MORE THAN CARRIES. So that is a fact you cannot run from.

The Cowboys running backs situation with Ezekiel Elliott, Tony ...
https://www.bloggingtheboys.com › dallas-cowboys-ru...

2 days ago — The Cowboys have a decision to make at running back with no clear ... the Cowboys have never lost whenever Pollard has more than 10 carries ...

You are the only guy that still thinks Zeke is a great back.

As far as Pollard being the backup, that is the point. He shoudn't be. Everyone knows that Pollard is better, more explosive runner and deserves to lead the rushing attack.

Your hero has one more year here. I hope you enjoy him falling forward into the middle of the line. He will be gone next year. Maybe you can follow him to his new team.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Are you aware that posting blatant lies does nothing to bolster your point..

In 2020 the Cowboys lost to Arizone 38-10 while Pollard was racking up 31 yards on 10 carries.
In 2021 the Cowboys lost to Las Vegas with Pollard lighting it up for 36 yards on 10 carries.

The fact of the matter is Pollard generally only gets 10 carries or more when he is a) lighting it up or b) the game is in hand and the Cowboys are resting Zeke.

Pollard also has 8 career games where he has averaged 3 ypc or less. That's 8 of his 46 games played. basically in 17.4% of his games he averages less than 3 ypc. On the other hand that guy you hate so much has had 14 career games of 3 ypc or less. Or 14 of 88 which works out to 15.9%. So for all his greatness Pollard is slightly more likely to be held to 3 ypc or less than Elliott is. Oh and before anybody chimes in with "well Pollard doesn't get the carries.." No he doesn't.. and if he is coming in and giving the same ypc as Elliott on top of not being as good of a blocker he's not going to. Sorry if that bothers people but that's the reality. When you're the backup you are not going to play more than the starter unless you come in and light it up. If both backs are getting < 4 ypc the one who can block is rightfully going to play more. In those games where Pollard has come in and tore it up I think he has gotten totes.

Pollard should be starting no question about it.

-Pollard is more explosive
-Pollard breaks more tackles
-Pollard is the more versatile back

Facts are stubborn things.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Are you aware that posting blatant lies does nothing to bolster your point..

In 2020 the Cowboys lost to Arizone 38-10 while Pollard was racking up 31 yards on 10 carries.
In 2021 the Cowboys lost to Las Vegas with Pollard lighting it up for 36 yards on 10 carries.

The fact of the matter is Pollard generally only gets 10 carries or more when he is a) lighting it up or b) the game is in hand and the Cowboys are resting Zeke.

Pollard also has 8 career games where he has averaged 3 ypc or less. That's 8 of his 46 games played. basically in 17.4% of his games he averages less than 3 ypc. On the other hand that guy you hate so much has had 14 career games of 3 ypc or less. Or 14 of 88 which works out to 15.9%. So for all his greatness Pollard is slightly more likely to be held to 3 ypc or less than Elliott is. Oh and before anybody chimes in with "well Pollard doesn't get the carries.." No he doesn't.. and if he is coming in and giving the same ypc as Elliott on top of not being as good of a blocker he's not going to. Sorry if that bothers people but that's the reality. When you're the backup you are not going to play more than the starter unless you come in and light it up. If both backs are getting < 4 ypc the one who can block is rightfully going to play more. In those games where Pollard has come in and tore it up I think he has gotten totes.

OUCH!!!!

The Tony Pollard situation

As much criticism as Elliott receives, Pollard receives an equal amount of love. And deservedly so because he’s been fantastic. He stutter-steps his way to the line patiently waiting for a crease, has an incredible burst, and caps it off with outstanding breakaway speed to hit the home run. He’s an upright runner who generates a lot of speed and uses that momentum to fall forward for extra yards. For someone who’s not nearly as thick as Elliott, Pollard surprisingly grinds out a lot of extra yards after contact. And his efficiency is night and day different than what Elliott has been producing.

 

[RonnieT24]

OUCH!!!!

The Tony Pollard situation

As much criticism as Elliott receives, Pollard receives an equal amount of love. And deservedly so because he’s been fantastic. He stutter-steps his way to the line patiently waiting for a crease, has an incredible burst, and caps it off with outstanding breakaway speed to hit the home run. He’s an upright runner who generates a lot of speed and uses that momentum to fall forward for extra yards. For someone who’s not nearly as thick as Elliott, Pollard surprisingly grinds out a lot of extra yards after contact. And his efficiency is night and day different than what Elliott has been producing.

Posting other people's opinions will not absolve you of lying to prop up your agenda nor will it get Pollard more snaps if he can't block any better. Get mad at anybody who posts anything positive about Zeke until the cows come home but Pollard's lack of snaps are his fault. Learn to do ALL the things this offense demands at least as well as Zeke does and he will play more. Until then, no team that wants to drop back 50 times a game wants to risk its 160 million dollar QBs health any more than it already has to. And that means those 20-25 times a game when we're handing off are less important than the 45-50 times a game we're slingin' it. So in reality pass protection is more important in Moore's offense than running is. Don't like it? I'm sure you can get in touch with Kellen Moore and express your thoughts.

 

[RonnieT24]

Pollard should be starting no question about it.

-Pollard is more explosive
-Pollard breaks more tackles
-Pollard is the more versatile back

Facts are stubborn things.

The Cowboys pass a lot more than they run .. so the running backs block a lot more than they run.
Pollard misses more blitz pickups.
Pollard is more likely to rush for less than 3 ypc than Elliott is
In half their games Pollard averages the same or fewer ypc than Elliott does..

You're right.. those pesky facts refuse to go away to suit your agenda.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Posting other people's opinions will not absolve you of lying to prop up your agenda nor will it get Pollard more snaps if he can't block any better. Get mad at anybody who posts anything positive about Zeke until the cows come home but Pollard's lack of snaps are his fault. Learn to do ALL the things this offense demands at least as well as Zeke does and he will play more. Until then, no team that wants to drop back 50 times a game wants to risk its 160 million dollar QBs health any more than it already has to. And that means those 20-25 times a game when we're handing off are less important than the 45-50 times a game we're slingin' it. So in reality pass protection is more important in Moore's offense than running is. Don't like it? I'm sure you can get in touch with Kellen Moore and express your thoughts.

Lying? LOL

Now you are getting desperate.

Never heard anyone brag about a RB's blocking skills more then you do. I guess you realize that is all you have left. Pollard does everything else better and you know it.

Yah, poor Pollard, all he does is show up Zeke whenever he gets the chance. Almost by a full ypc.

Maybe Zeke can play FB since he is such a stud blocker.

18 million dollard blocking back!!!! How pathetic.

 

[CowboyRoy]

The Cowboys pass a lot more than they run .. so the running backs block a lot more than they run.
Pollard misses more blitz pickups.
Pollard is more likely to rush for less than 3 ypc than Elliott is
In half their games Pollard averages the same or fewer ypc than Elliott does..

You're right.. those pesky facts refuse to go away to suit your agenda.

Yah, I am sure that Moore is looking for backs that run poorly and block great.

I think this is my favorite quote of yours yet. You cant possibly believe this nonsense.

"so the running backs block a lot more than they run."

 

[CowboyRoy]

The Cowboys pass a lot more than they run .. so the running backs block a lot more than they run.
Pollard misses more blitz pickups.
Pollard is more likely to rush for less than 3 ypc than Elliott is
In half their games Pollard averages the same or fewer ypc than Elliott does..

You're right.. those pesky facts refuse to go away to suit your agenda.

Sure buddy, whatever you say. Zeke is paid 18 million to block. Lol

half the games? Lol

And what about the other half?

Facts are stubborn things!