I think Dez is the same guy he was in 2014

[ConceptCoop]

I know that's not a popular opinion and am open to being wrong. But please help me understand what has changed and where he has fallen off? He was never fast; he never ran great routes; he always had concentration drops; he was never great at creating separation. Dez is only 28 YO and doesn't rely on speed. It would be odd for him to be past his prime at this age.

The only change I see is at the QB spot. Dak--as much as I love him and think he's a stud--is more cautious and less accurate than Romo. His deep ball is more sporadic--he's missed Dez on deep balls that would have connected, coming from Tony. Dak's fade isn't all that great--and the fade route is a major strength of Dez's (and Tony's). Put more simply, the quality of target has dropped.

I've seen some argue that defenses have figured him out - but that's silly. It didn't take the NFL 5 years to realize who Dez Bryant was. They've known since day 1, they just haven't been able to stop him.

Help me understand what I'm missing. Please tell me specifically what has changed with Dez Bryant. I think he's the same guy. What makes him great is his ability to win 50/50 balls. He hasn't had as many chances with Dak, and when does get the opportunity, the balls aren't the same quality. Despite that, he's still one of the top TD scorers at the WR position.

Edit: The same reason T. Williams' production has fallen off. Remember, the guy scored 8 TDs in 2014. He was a big play machine. Last season was by far his worst.

 

[Howboutdemcowboys31]

People just want something new. Dez is top 8 and they feel we need top 3

 

[Corso]

Reach out and touch faith.

 

[IheartRomo]

I don't know - I'd love to believe this is the case, but the physical differences are apparent I think. 2010-2014 Dez had remarkable leaping ability and made brutally difficult catches look routine. I just think the drop off in his high pointing ability and hands is noticeable.

Can never question his effort but he seems somewhere along the lines of 80-85% of his past self following the injuries of the past couple years.

 

[WillieBeamen]

Dez is a beast and is top 10.



Dont @ me

 

[Hawkeye0202]

No question he can take over a game.......just wanna see it game after game after game (LOL). It's not all him, some coaching.....as well all have heard with the great WRs, you have to get them involve early. Hell, I remember hearing John Madden say it......

 

[ConceptCoop]

I don't know - I'd love to believe this is the case, but the physical differences are apparent I think. 2010-2014 Dez had remarkable leaping ability and made brutally difficult catches look routine. I just think the drop off in his high pointing ability and hands is noticeable.

Can never question his effort but he seems somewhere along the lines of 80-85% of his past self following the injuries of the past couple years.

I'm certainly open to this being the case. I haven't noticed it, but my memory isn't what it used to be (and I'm not even 40 yet). I'll take a look at some older clips and pay attention to the leaping ability. Do you have any specific games that stick out? I can't really think of many times he's been given a chance to win jump balls recently, honestly.

But I do think he still makes difficult catches look routine. Yesterday's touchdown grab, for example.

 

[ConceptCoop]

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/20171...ameinfo|contentId:0ap3000000853880&tab=videos

 

[Nightman]

I know that's not a popular opinion and am open to being wrong. But please help me understand what has changed and where he has fallen off? He was never fast; he never ran great routes; he always had concentration drops; he was never great at creating separation. Dez is only 28 YO and doesn't rely on speed. It would be odd for him to be past his prime at this age.

The only change I see is at the QB spot. Dak--as much as I love him and think he's a stud--is more cautious and less accurate than Romo. His deep ball is more sporadic--he's missed Dez on deep balls that would have connected, coming from Tony. Dak's fade isn't all that great--and the fade route is a major strength of Dez's (and Tony's). Put more simply, the quality of target has dropped.

I've seen some argue that defenses have figured him out - but that's silly. It didn't take the NFL 5 years to realize who Dez Bryant was. They've known since day 1, they just haven't been able to stop him.

Help me understand what I'm missing. Please tell me specifically what has changed with Dez Bryant. I think he's the same guy. What makes him great is his ability to win 50/50 balls. He hasn't had as many chances with Dak, and when does get the opportunity, the balls aren't the same quality. Despite that, he's still one of the top TD scorers at the WR position.

Edit: The same reason T. Williams' production has fallen off. Remember, the guy scored 8 TDs in 2014. He was a big play machine. Last season was by far his worst.

I think Dez is the same and will stay the same for 10 more years

He is a 50-50 ball winner....... first down getter and redzone freak

His strength, heart and intensity will age well........... he won't be a 10m+ WR but at 7-8m a year he can stay forever...... we just don't throw as much and have other viable weapons

 

[CATCH17]

When Romo was improvising it was Dez who was the guy that benefited the most from that.

Dak for the most part just runs the system and the system isn't that great. There isn't a lot of improvisation even though he has shown he can do it pretty well.

Also, Romo was just a better passer then Dak is at this point and probably ever will be.



Julio Jones just scored his first TD of the season yesterday... What if that was Dez?

 

[noshame]

I don't know - I'd love to believe this is the case, but the physical differences are apparent I think. 2010-2014 Dez had remarkable leaping ability and made brutally difficult catches look routine. I just think the drop off in his high pointing ability and hands is noticeable.

Can never question his effort but he seems somewhere along the lines of 80-85% of his past self following the injuries of the past couple years.

I don't have time to read the rest of the replies but this is pretty close I said in 2014 if Dez keep leaping up in the air and coming down in awkward positions he's going to injure himself he cannot do this for his entire career.

Romo had the luxury of chucking the ball up in the air and Dez either pulled up and waited or just out leaped the back.
This has indeed learned he cannot do that but he can become an awesome weapon in side which you showed this past game hopefully we will continue to use in that way

 

[IheartRomo]

I'm certainly open to this being the case. I haven't noticed it, but my memory isn't what it used to be (and I'm not even 40 yet). I'll take a look at some older clips and pay attention to the leaping ability. Do you have any specific games that stick out? I can't really think of many times he's been given a chance to win jump balls recently, honestly.

But I do think he still makes difficult catches look routine. Yesterday's touchdown grab, for example.

Yesterday's was an absolute beauty, no question. As far as specific games, I'm not certain highlight reels would do it justice. Dez still makes great plays, it just seems far less often and it seems as though he converts opportunities at a much lower %. Again, this is simply the eye test and nothing quantitative as it's hard to see the difference without watching an entire game from one of those prime seasons vs. now. To me, and again just my opinion, it's more about the consistency/conversion rate.

 

[The Natural]

They could get Dez 100 yards a week if they wanted to, that's just not how our offense works. Dez is who he is, a great receiver that wont get his due from a lot of these clowns until his playing days are done. The franchise record he'll set next week will stand for the next 25 years at minimum, think about that.

 

[xwalker]

I know that's not a popular opinion and am open to being wrong. But please help me understand what has changed and where he has fallen off? He was never fast; he never ran great routes; he always had concentration drops; he was never great at creating separation. Dez is only 28 YO and doesn't rely on speed. It would be odd for him to be past his prime at this age.

The only change I see is at the QB spot. Dak--as much as I love him and think he's a stud--is more cautious and less accurate than Romo. His deep ball is more sporadic--he's missed Dez on deep balls that would have connected, coming from Tony. Dak's fade isn't all that great--and the fade route is a major strength of Dez's (and Tony's). Put more simply, the quality of target has dropped.

I've seen some argue that defenses have figured him out - but that's silly. It didn't take the NFL 5 years to realize who Dez Bryant was. They've known since day 1, they just haven't been able to stop him.

Help me understand what I'm missing. Please tell me specifically what has changed with Dez Bryant. I think he's the same guy. What makes him great is his ability to win 50/50 balls. He hasn't had as many chances with Dak, and when does get the opportunity, the balls aren't the same quality. Despite that, he's still one of the top TD scorers at the WR position.

Edit: The same reason T. Williams' production has fallen off. Remember, the guy scored 8 TDs in 2014. He was a big play machine. Last season was by far his worst.

He got paid...

Also, he probably lost 6" on his vert.

He is good in the redzone but a liability in the other part of the field.

Before the SF game he was 21 of 48. That is a terrible catch rate for any WR.

Brice Butler was 8 of 11 in that same span and he gets the low percentage deep route passes.

 

[Tristan]

Dez is an amazing player! Id love to see him get his "alvin harper" opposite him, i think dezs only problem is he is the only true stud playmaker at wr. Love little bease but him and the others are fine conplimentary pieces, wr3 & 4 types imo. We dont have a legit #2 imo.

Over the last few weeks its become obvious to me that we are missing a guy w true speed and clutch ball skills deep to open everything up. I always want bpa in draft and woulda took Foster this year but I would love it if we drafted a new stud wr next year in the first, A Tyrek Hill type would make us and Dez truly unstoppable imo

 

[kevm3]

This latest game is a result of coaching adjustments. The coaches saw him and Dez weren't really connecting on those jump balls and that most of their catches came with Dez running slants, and that's what they went to with astounding success.

 

[Iago33]

He got paid...

Also, he probably lost 6" on his vert.

He is good in the redzone but a liability in the other part of the field.

Before the SF game he was 21 of 48. That is a terrible catch rate for any WR.

Brice Butler was 8 of 11 in that same span and he gets the low percentage deep route passes.

He also broke a finger that still doesn't look right.

 

[CF74]

I’ve been one of his biggest fans but I’m starting to see he’s not the same 2014 Dez. He hasn’t been the same since those last two injuries..

 

[Cowboysfan917]

I know that's not a popular opinion and am open to being wrong. But please help me understand what has changed and where he has fallen off? He was never fast; he never ran great routes; he always had concentration drops; he was never great at creating separation. Dez is only 28 YO and doesn't rely on speed. It would be odd for him to be past his prime at this age.

The only change I see is at the QB spot. Dak--as much as I love him and think he's a stud--is more cautious and less accurate than Romo. His deep ball is more sporadic--he's missed Dez on deep balls that would have connected, coming from Tony. Dak's fade isn't all that great--and the fade route is a major strength of Dez's (and Tony's). Put more simply, the quality of target has dropped.

I've seen some argue that defenses have figured him out - but that's silly. It didn't take the NFL 5 years to realize who Dez Bryant was. They've known since day 1, they just haven't been able to stop him.

Help me understand what I'm missing. Please tell me specifically what has changed with Dez Bryant. I think he's the same guy. What makes him great is his ability to win 50/50 balls. He hasn't had as many chances with Dak, and when does get the opportunity, the balls aren't the same quality. Despite that, he's still one of the top TD scorers at the WR position.

Edit: The same reason T. Williams' production has fallen off. Remember, the guy scored 8 TDs in 2014. He was a big play machine. Last season was by far his worst.

I agree 100%.

 

[Idgit]

He's fallen off. I agree there's a bit of a coordination issue with he and Dak, but at his peak, Dez could hold his own as often as not v. elite cover CBs, and he was getting to a point where he could beat double coverage. Right now, he can still be a part of the game plan when he's up against an elite guy, but he doesn't break those games open. And there are times when teams are giving us Dez and we can't take advantage of it properly.

He's still a huge weapon, and he's playing with guys in Elliott and Beasley who are earning the attention of the QB themselves, but he's not quite the same guy he was. And the team seems to think so, too, the way they're handling absorbing his contract.