Zeke and Barkley, has he regressed?

[Zekeats]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

First off Zeke is lightning years ahead of where he was last season. He is in shape and running hard. He is the main focus of two defenses that are good run stopping teams. He and this oline will only get better as the game goes on. Also as far as the passing game is concerned it's very hard to involve him with 2-3 guys always concentrating on just him, hence all the big Dak runs when faked to Zeke. We should be hitting a couple of more play actions down the field with all the concentration going Zekes way.

As far as Barkley they really did a terrible job of getting him the ball. probably 8 of those catches were check downs and they only rushed 4 times with him in the first half I believe. That is a terrible job of getting him the ball.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

8 man fronts, down OL, and non-threatening passing game will make the best RB look bad.....See Todd Gurley a couple of years ago.

He wasn't facing 8 man fronts on every down.

 

[Cap12]

He wasn't facing 8 man fronts on every down.

No, but he was 53% of the time (accoding to Broaddus on Talkin' Cowboys eary last week). That's a pretty high percentage, especially considering the down and distance pickles we were frequently in due to untimely penalties and failures to execute.

 

[StuckMojo]

I would like to see the staff get more creative with Zeke. most of his runs seem to be slow delays up the center's butt. I was at the Panthers game and they played a ton of 7 or 8 man fronts, they were not concerned with our passing game. One thing I think we need to do in the passing game is truly sell the play action pass, I don't think we do it enough.

 

[hornitosmonster]

Is this thread real? People like the OP are the reason Cowboys fans have a bad rep

 

[Doomsday]

 

[Cmac]

He wasn't facing 8 man fronts on every down.

….then add predictable scheme.

 

[jaybird]

Ridiculous to suggest he's regressed. Plenty of RB's would love to have 147 yards and two TD's through two games while averaging 4.6 per carry.

The reason Barkley got 14 catches is because Eli's the checkdown king because their WR's were swallowed up last night.

Agree, Zeke is beas ting. The Giants game was as perfect example. Very few lanes to run through ,he turned several negative plays into positive plays.
That said; i see him getting more involved in the passing game as the season goes along

 

[Thomas82]

Even with 2 so-so games to start the season, Zeke is still currently 7th in the NFL in rushing and 37 yards out of 1st place.

 

[Thomas82]

I put issues in the run game on the current oline. Not Zeke. There isn't much Zeke can do if the openings aren't there.

I also put it on the play calling. When you go against defenses with stout interiors you should be calling more runs to the outside.

 

[kevm3]

yes i looked at the title of thread and thought how stupid is this. If you want Zeke to have flashy numbers like year 1 then a couple things need to happen. We need our Oline to get better health-wise and penalty-wise and at times blocking wise.

The other thing we need is more plays like the 3rd play of the game. If Dak makes them pay more frequent then they will take a player out of the box.

I thought Zeke made this offense go though> Why does he need Dak to light it up to get his?

 

[starfan1]

I thought Zeke made this offense go though> Why does he need Dak to light it up to get his?

because teams will continue to stack the box till Dak starts making them pay down the field. Its harder to run for a a decent YPC if the box constantly has 8 people or even 9 close to the line

 

[blueblood70]

First off Zeke is lightning years ahead of where he was last season. He is in shape and running hard. He is the main focus of two defenses that are good run stopping teams. He and this oline will only get better as the game goes on. Also as far as the passing game is concerned it's very hard to involve him with 2-3 guys always concentrating on just him, hence all the big Dak runs when faked to Zeke. We should be hitting a couple of more play actions down the field with all the concentration going Zekes way.

As far as Barkley they really did a terrible job of getting him the ball. probably 8 of those catches were check downs and they only rushed 4 times with him in the first half I believe. That is a terrible job of getting him the ball.

yup and 35 yards on the ground..he sure is tearing it up..)we all know this is the Line and Zeke had to work for his 78 because of our Line being a bit frantic right now..

 

[Whyjerry]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

He has not regressed at all. Teams have stacked the box and the OL has been average (that will happen when Garrett gives them the preseason off). Zeke is fast enough to get to the edge plus he can catch so it is amazing Linehan doesn't sweep, quick pitch, or run more screens to him. Just figure out how to get him the ball with some space and he will make plays. The O scheme is terrible. Been saying it for years.

 

[INCowboysFan]

I agree, he's already tough. My point is more about mixing up his running style. More north-south for 2-3 yds and not as much east-west. But clearly he's going to be an elite RB, if not already.

Barkley is NOT an elite RB at this point. He may have elite physical talent but that doesn't make him an elite RB. Take away that 68 yd TD run and he is averaging 2.3 ypc. That's not elite, even with a crappy o-line in front of him. He will make a handful of splash plays, but he won't get the tough yards when needed.

 

[xwalker]

I think Tyron played just fine last night. I think it was the interior of the line (Williams and Looney) that had trouble last night with Harrison. Even Zack had some trouble with him. I don't think Looney is bad at center, but getting Fredrick back sooner rather than later will help stabilize the O-line. Once that happens, I wouldn't be opposed to giving Looney a shot at LG if Williams continues to have problems. Most teams won't have a lot of success running it up the middle all game against the NYG. Zeke was solid and I'm glad they kept giving him the ball.

The issue was that Looney was helping C-Will often and Martin was single blocking Snacks.

In the past they always doubled Snacks.

My favorite non-Cowboys player is Damon Snacks Harrison.

For anybody that didn't get to see Larry Allen play, Snacks is the next closest thing in regards to power.

 

[Blackspider214]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

Uhhhh wut? You are praising one RB for having a god awful YPC the other night but saying the other regressed (Zeke)? He caught 14 balls for a whopping 80 some odd yards. What does that tell you? They were all checkdown dink and dunks that went nowhere. We were over him all night long on the run and pass.

Some of you guys need to get a clue and some reasoning before you make asinine posts like this.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Uhhhh wut? You are praising one RB for having a god awful YPC the other night but saying the other regressed (Zeke)? He caught 14 balls for a whopping 80 some odd yards. What does that tell you? They were all checkdown dink and dunks that went nowhere. We were over him all night long on the run and pass.

Some of you guys need to get a clue and some reasoning before you make asinine posts like this.

Or maybe you just cant read.

 

[Cap12]

I also put it on the play calling. When you go against defenses with stout interiors you should be calling more runs to the outside.

I disagree. Playcalling has been excellent by Linehan (even the Carolina game). Outside of the dumb penalities, the OL has been okay, but really missing Fredrick for his ability to block at the second level to free Zeke for bigger runs up the middle. This is not a knock on Looney. He's been steady, but he's a JAG while Travis is an All-Pro. The drop off isn't as worse as we feared, but it is palpable especially in the running game.

 

[mattjames2010]

because teams will continue to stack the box till Dak starts making them pay down the field. Its harder to run for a a decent YPC if the box constantly has 8 people or even 9 close to the line

You folks need to start reading threads. This was already addressed, Zeke is not the only one in the league facing these 8 man boxes.