Addressing Dak’s “Sophmore Slump”

[Gameover]

Before Zeke was suspended, these were Dak’s numbers over the first eight games:

Total Yards - 2,013
Total TDS - 20
Interceptions - 4

Project those stats over an entire season:

Total Yards - 4,026
Total TDs - 40
Interceptions - 8

Compare that to his rookie year:

Total Yards - 3,949
Total TDs - 29
Interceptions - 4

So even with some early struggles from the offensive line and a worsening connection with Dez, Dak’s trajectory was pointing way up.

So had Dak & Zeke played the entire season together, we’d be talking about what a monster year Dak just had.

If you take away his best weapon, injure his best offensive lineman [and do nothing to compensate for it] and leave him with receivers who struggle to get open, your QB is bound to struggle.

But since Zeke will be playing a full season next year and the front office is using draft picks to make the offense “Dak friendly”, we have absolutely no reason to believe his trajectory won’t go back to pointing up.

Dak is the man and we’re fortunate to have him.

Not that simple kid.

 

[blueblood70]

Before Zeke was suspended, these were Dak’s numbers over the first eight games:

Total Yards - 2,013
Total TDS - 20
Interceptions - 4

Project those stats over an entire season:

Total Yards - 4,026
Total TDs - 40
Interceptions - 8

Compare that to his rookie year:

Total Yards - 3,949
Total TDs - 29
Interceptions - 4

So even with some early struggles from the offensive line and a worsening connection with Dez, Dak’s trajectory was pointing way up.

So had Dak & Zeke played the entire season together, we’d be talking about what a monster year Dak just had.

If you take away his best weapon, injure his best offensive lineman [and do nothing to compensate for it] and leave him with receivers who struggle to get open, your QB is bound to struggle.

But since Zeke will be playing a full season next year and the front office is using draft picks to make the offense “Dak friendly”, we have absolutely no reason to believe his trajectory won’t go back to pointing up.

Dak is the man and we’re fortunate to have him.

this is the deadest most beat horse ever!

its been gone over 100times..

first off it wasn't JUST Zeke , Zekes suspension happened to start the very first game Tsmith was hurt, the next game we lost martin for 3 quarters and all this with other hurt and coincided with the 3 games in 12 days with a Sunday night to start going into a Thursday game with than no 10days after right to another Thursday game..so many MORE factors than just zeke gone..it was more the offensive line and not having a good backup for Smith, Collins or martin..it just snowballed..

IMO i believe Morris/Smith would have produced well enough with Smith in the lineup to win or better compete against ATL and the Chargers..it is what it is..we will never truly know because we lost Bialy, Irving twice, Lee twice, Smith Twice, Martin for parts of games Collins back flare ups ,Hitchens for parts of games, had all our FAs cut, One Dlinemen suddenly retiring do to ijury and more.. theres so much factors into being 9-7 instead of 11-5 that you cant simply say dang if Zeke was there we would have carried on and made the playoffs..

 

[blindzebra]

You have evidence of one year and I have evidence of one year. Do you not think giving him year 3 to prove 2016 wasn't a fluke before saying hes never going to carry this team is fair?

Actually you have 1.5 years and he has .5, Dak was playing very well until the Atlanta game.

 

[Aviano90]

You guys really seem to struggle with the idea of temporal order and how to evaluate. You guys like making arguments that were settled in the past to the contrary.

That was the argument against Wilson when they let Okung and others go in FA. People were predicting that he would come down to Earth in the face of that. That is not what happened though after the fact.

The thing is that Wilson passed his test. Dak did not. Russell Wilson is a better QB.

We will see if Dak passes the test. The exam is not over.

 

[blueblood70]

Yep.

Translated into points per game in a game with a typical (for Dallas) number of drives:
with starting OL -- 28.4 points
without -- 8.1 points

with Zeke -- 24.2 points
without -- 18.1 points

it was both and that horribly unfair schedule with 3 games in 12 days with b2b Thursday games after a late Sunday night game..it all went bad there

 

[glimmerman]

This should be a huge year that will tell a lot. One thing we will hear from fans is I told you so. It will fall on one side or the other. Either told ya he wasn’t the one or told ya he was the man.

 

[Dylan88Wilson]

first off it wasn't JUST Zeke

Maybe read the rest of my post.

“If you take away his best weapon, injure his best offensive lineman [and do nothing to compensate for it] and leave him with receivers who struggle to get open, your QB is bound to struggle.”

 

[glimmerman]

Maybe read the rest of my post.

“If you take away his best weapon, injure his best offensive lineman [and do nothing to compensate for it] and leave him with receivers who struggle to get open, your QB is bound to struggle.”

He had a hard time recovering from that falcons game. That internal clock lost a second. I don’t really blame him. I blame the staff for not helping Chaz. They left him out there and it had a ripple effect.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Tell you what. The next time an Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson level QB is available. I am perfectly fine with the cowboys taking them.

They are only available around every 8-10 years though. So just let me know when that happens.

That's not how player acquisition works. It's hardly like Dak is top 5 QB material either.

I just picked those two off the top of my head. The over/under of where Dak ranks amongst NFL QBs is 12.

Ryan, Rodgers, Wilson, Roethlisberger, Brees, Brady, Stafford and Rivers are clearly ahead. Dak is in the mishmash with Carr, Smith, Wentz, Dalton, Bortles, Newton, Winston, Flacco, Bortles, and Mariota.

The point here is that the Cowboys should continue to try to get better at the QB position. Drafting one certainly would not be remiss.

 

[Aviano90]

He had a hard time recovering from that falcons game. That internal clock lost a second. I don’t really blame him. I blame the staff for not helping Chaz. They left him out there and it had a ripple effect.

I don't blame him. It took Romo 4 years to get over the butt kicking Minnesota put on him in 2009. LOL

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

He had a hard time recovering from that falcons game. That internal clock lost a second. I don’t really blame him. I blame the staff for not helping Chaz. They left him out there and it had a ripple effect.

Blame is besides the point here. IF that is actually the case --I don't buy it-- then he's broken. You can point the finger all you want but if Prescott is shell shocked by pressure its over.

 

[glimmerman]

That's not how player acquisition works. It's hardly like Dak is top 5 QB material either.

I just picked those two off the top of my head. The over/under of where Dak ranks amongst NFL QBs is 12.

Ryan, Rodgers, Wilson, Roethlisberger, Brees, Brady, Stafford and Rivers are clearly ahead. Dak is in the mishmash with Carr, Smith, Wentz, Dalton, Bortles, Newton, Winston, Flacco, Bortles, and Mariota.

The point here is that the Cowboys should continue to try to get better at the QB position. Drafting one certainly would not be remiss.

I wanted to see Rush in the last game. Will see plenty of him in preseason.

 

[glimmerman]

Blame is besides the point here. IF that is actually the case --I don't buy it-- then he's broken. You can point the finger all you want but if Prescott is shell shocked by pressure its over.

Then sheli has been done.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Actually you have 1.5 years and he has .5, Dak was playing very well until the Atlanta game.

Except when he played Denver, NY, Philly and a couple of other games. You sure like to bias. Sure he fell off a cliff the second half of last season but it was not all roses up to that point.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Then sheli has been done.

Manning's arm strength is much diminished. He's still able to counter the rush with quick decision making. Dak would have done well to get rid of the ball more quickly.

That is another rub against the stats Percy and others like to use. If a QB like Eli gets rid of the ball quickly before pressure manifests then it is not considered pressure. We had a great pass rush in his heyday and he countered it with quick throws. Used to drive me nuts.

Of course Dak would hold the ball and struggle to anticipate routes vs coverages. Not every game was a FFA like the Falcons.

 

[WillieBeamen]

lol.

How about a backup rb that was actually not a 1 trick poney and was a threat in the passing game?

How about a backup OL that could at least let him complete his drop without being sacked 8 times?

Average play from either would have been acceptable.

When Zeke came back, Dak threw a total of 1 TD with 2 INTs and a 67 rating.

Tyron played in the Chargers game where Dak had 0 Tds 2 INTs and a 60 rating


Once again, who wants a QB that stinks it up when some players are missing?

 

[Idgit]

They screwed up when they moved Green to OG. That was a big mistake.

As for Smith, I don't think the expectation was for him to be the full time MIKE last year. He was thrown into the fire when Hitchens went down.

You have to choose positions where you are going to go thin at with depth given the scarcity of talent and the cap. Sometimes you are just going to crap out although I think the defensive side of the ball is where you have the most attrition over time even with Marinelli's rotations.

I do think you are absolutely correct about the issues those two spots created with the horrific pass protection, run fits and coverage in the middle of the field.

I do think keeping Green at OT solves that problem for all the panic over the Falcons game. He had come off injury only a couple of weeks before and had two weeks to practice back at OT.

Unfortunately, this year is pretty bad in the draft for LB. There are not many good ones. Hitchens is in a great position.

I even get that sometimes stuff happens and you get stuck. The LB position bugs me more because we'd just got done over drafting DBs because we didn't manage those position groups properly the year prior, and then turned around and got rid of the backup LBs we had and didn't replace them with anybody but Durant, who was pretty clearly mentally at the end of a career. Whatever Jaylon's ability, he was a giant question mark at what was our 3rd or 4th most prominent LB position. We rolled the dice at a position where there were actually affordable vets available. And I said this at the time, so it's not hind-sight, but a guy like Zach Brown shakes free and signs for ~$2MM a hear or whatever it was. We rolled the dice and didn't give ourselves a backup.

OT ticks me off, too, because Green actually played well the year prior in short relief and finding a LG out of camp when you're sandwiching him between two of the best players at their position anywhere shouldn't be that hard. But at least they brought in Bell, who had quite a few starts and could play both sides. That's somewhat understandable. It just sucks that it bit us so hard.

 

[glimmerman]

Manning's arm strength is much diminished. He's still able to counter the rush with quick decision making. Dak would have done well to get rid of the ball more quickly.

That is another rub against the stats Percy and others like to use. If a QB like Eli gets rid of the ball quickly before pressure manifests then it is not considered pressure. We had a great pass rush in his heyday and he countered it with quick throws. Used to drive me nuts.

Of course Dak would hold the ball and struggle to anticipate routes vs coverages. Not every game was a FFA like the Falcons.

You don’t think that the staff could have helped him at all. Look at how well the egirls had foles coached up.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

What does Dez need?

Dez needs to run better routes, hold onto the footballs he does catch, and regain his burst and separation that several foot and ankle injuries have robbed him of.

Basically, he needs a time machine to go back five years and freeze his body at that level.

 

[blindzebra]

Except when he played Denver, NY, Philly and a couple of other games. You sure like to bias. Sure he fell off a cliff the second half of last season but it was not all roses up to that point.

Yeah bias is showing and it isn't coming from me. Philly was after the Atlanta game. He had one bad game in the first 8, Denver. He had a QBR of 82.5 against Washington but had no turnovers and the running game and defense played lights out. In the other 6 games he had 14 TD passes, 4 rushing TDs versus 2 INTs, including a 4 game streak where he had 3,3,4,4 TDs. Looks pretty rosey to anyone unbiased.