7 Sacks Broken Down

[ConstantReboot]

At a young age most QBs are taught you have 3 seconds, in other words you have to make a decision. That decision can be made in second 1, or second 2 or second 3 but it has to be made. if you are still trying to formulate a decision by second 2.5 you have not made a decision at all. 3 Step drops has the ball out in less than 2 seconds usually.

Our plays take more than 3 seconds to develop. We had that same problem with Romo also. Thus Romo changed the plays often. Dak doesn't do that. He runs the plays given to him.

 

[Ken]

The play where Dak pulled the ball down and fumbled it, no one hit it out of his hands. he has fumbled the ball like that multiple times this season. I'm sorry but the average time a QB has to hold the ball is 2.5 seconds. You have to go through your reads in that time. Make a decision and get the ball out. 3 seconds in the nfl is a lot of time. Can't blame the o-line for coverage sacks. Get the ball out. Throw it away. There was one sack where Yes a lineman got beat but Dak just never felt the guy coming. He has terrible pocket awareness as of right now. He had room to get out of the pocket to the right and tried to duck out of the reach of a different defender both coming from the left who also beat his man and got blindsided. Another sack you mentioned where he ran into the sack. The one to Zeke he had plenty of time to throw saw Zeke and couldn't pull the trigger. I really like Dak and want him to succeed. My criticism of him is my hope he works on his weakness and improves. He is Young and has plenty of time to mature. I mean he never got to ride the pine and learn under a vet. He was thrust into the spotlight and is now forced to learn on the fly. Do parents not love their children when they correct them? Not everyone is just a hater like Dak lovers claim. My assessment of the game is 50/50 blame for the sacks.

I promise you...i have watched the play slowed down and blown up...#93 knocks it out of his hand.

Only the broadcast replay angle shows it, all 22 did a terrible job on the play.

Further proof...box score credits #93 Onyemata with a Forced fumble.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

Since everyone LOVES to blame Dak that he is holding the ball too long and it is all his fault...let's take a look at the 7:

1st: 3rd and 5 at NO 5; No where to go with the ball, DT breaks free in under 3 seconds, Makes contact with Dak 3.06 seconds. There was no one open and those that claim he had Zeke coming across the front, not open until he is about to get hit and Dak has already pulled it down. COVERAGE SACK. OL blocking was ok...not great.

2nd 3rd and 6- Sacked in 2.5 seconds. Sua Fila got beat bad. Had no chance at all. NOT DAKS FAULT.

3rd: 2nd and 6- Cowboys go empty set motioning Zeke out wide. N.O. goes looks to be man cover 2... Total coverage sack here as Dak had no where to go with the ball....at all. Sacked in 3.92 seconds. Started running at about 3.3 seconds and almost made it back to LOS. COVERAGE SACK. OL was good.

4th: 3rd and 7: This is the play where he pulls it down and gets the ball hit out of his hand by the defender in 2.3 seconds. Sua Fila got completely destroyed and pushed back into Dak in that amount of time. NOT HIS FAULT. OL was terrible.

5th- 1st and 10- Dak Sacked in 2.5 seconds. Protection was horrible as they brought a delayed blitz by the lb and he came running free on a stunt. Little chance for Dak to do anything. Don't have coaches film for this one so I can't see all of the options...may have had a crossing route with a bit more time. NOT DAK'S FAULT. Didn't Hold the ball to long. Limited option to dump to if any.

6th: 2nd and 8. Dak bails on a pretty good pocket in under 2 seconds. Not sure if this was a run try by Dak but this was the play Dak got facemasked with no call. If he stayed in the pocket, had Beasley in the flat where he was looking initially. On DAK as he ran into that sack (Do wonder if he was trying to run though)

7th: Sacked in 2.61 seconds. Fumbled trying to pass...can't see if he had a play without coaches film.

Horrible Protection!!! Not Dak's fault.


So 1 out of 7 can be directly attributed to Dak. The other's are a poor OL or Coverage Sacks.

Please stop repeating the stupid mantra that they are Dak's fault. Thank you.

Thank you.

 

[cwbyfn88]

I promise you...i have watched the play slowed down and blown up...#93 knocks it out of his hand.

Only the broadcast replay angle shows it, all 22 did a terrible job on the play.

Further proof...box score credits #93 Onyemata with a Forced fumble.

Weird. Runwild DVR the game and put it on a CD for me. Every time I rewind and watch it Dak tries to tuck it and it just squirts out. Was the lineman uncomfortablly close? Yes. Even bumps into Daks body not hand. But from the live game angles it doesn't look like anyone knocks it out. Do you have a pic of the angle you are looking at? I'm good with admitting I'm wrong just have seen Dak fumble tucking the ball down three times already this year

 

[Ken]

Weird. Runwild DVR the game and put it on a CD for me. Every time I rewind and watch it Dak tries to tuck it and it just squirts out. Was the lineman uncomfortablly close? Yes. Even bumps into Daks body not hand. But from the live game angles it doesn't look like anyone knocks it out. Do you have a pic of the angle you are looking at? I'm good with admitting I'm wrong just have seen Dak fumble tucking the ball down three times already this year

 

[cwbyfn88]

Wow. Ok I guess I was wrong..I didn't have that angle. I couldn't see the defender through the lineman. It just looked like Dak tried to tuck the ball and fumbled like he has done many times this year.

 

[DallasInDC]

Yep, these folks that want to blame Prescott for ALL those sacks clearly have an agenda.

What I found absolutely hilarious is every sack by our defense is a tremendous play by our players. Every sack on offense is the result of a mistake by our players. So apparently, our team is directly responsible (both good and bad) for every play and opponents have no impact on the outcome.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

What I found absolutely hilarious is every sack by our defense is a tremendous play by our players. Every sack on offense is the result of a mistake by our players. So apparently, our team is directly responsible (both good and bad) for every play and opponents have no impact on the outcome.

Boy ain't that the truth.

Obviously the other team's players do not get paid.

 

[Idgit]

based on your descriptions, 3 out of 7 were his fault. 7th one, he had the rusher to his right, but didn't realize he was coming and needed to step up in the pocket. that's how you buy extra time, instead he never looked to the right and got strip sacked.

the 1st sack, you have 3 seconds, pocket is closing. no one open, throw it high and out of bounds....why hold on to the ball...recognition is slow.

the 3rd sack..if he had 3.92 seconds...then he should have got rid of the ball...


he doesn't quite have the pocket awareness he needs....he doesn't recognize what's going on around him and have a feel to move up in the pocket.

I don’t think the issue is pocket awareness. It’s a situation where his willingness to take a hit combined with his ability to scramble blur the line re when to throw a ball away. Most QBs don’t have to make a call like that because converting with their legs isn’t the same viable option.

And really, if it weren’t for the fumbles I’d be fine with it. He converts so many drives with his legs flushed out of the pocket. And his OT play this year has been downright bad at times. I can live with the long sacks that are mostly protection failings, because when the game is in the line Dak is clutch.

Protect him properly and half of the problem goes away. The other half is the slippery ball issue. Dak needs to fix that, and I’m not sure how he does it. It seems a lot of the time it’s happening on pump fakes because he’s sweaty and doesn’t have a great grip on the ball. Experiment with a glove again, maybe?

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I don’t think the issue is pocket awareness. It’s a situation where his willingness to take a hit combined with his ability to scramble blur the line re when to throw a ball away. Most QBs don’t have to make a call like that because converting with their legs isn’t the same viable option.

And really, if it weren’t for the fumbles I’d be fine with it. He converts so many drives with his legs flushed out of the pocket. And his OT play this year has been downright bad at times. I can live with the long sacks that are mostly protection failings, because when the game is in the line Dak is clutch.

Protect him properly and half of the problem goes away. The other half is the slippery ball issue. Dak needs to fix that, and I’m not sure how he does it. It seems a lot of the time it’s happening on pump fakes because he’s sweaty and doesn’t have a great grip on the ball. Experiment with a glove again, maybe?

I think its partially pocket awareness as he still doesn't know how to use it and thus as you said tendency is to try and scramble as opposed to move up in the pocket and make the throw....some of that is because he doesn't trust his arm, so he rather run than make an errant throw, which is fine given we expect him to minimize mistakes and play it safe....

I am with you. the line isn't perfect and sacks will happen, even to the best of them.

there is no denying his heart, his desire, his leadership. I have always said that. his skills as a passer are limited. he is a great game manager and understands his role. thus he plays it safe. the coaches know that and currently our scheme and game plan is based on that.....

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I don’t think the issue is pocket awareness. It’s a situation where his willingness to take a hit combined with his ability to scramble blur the line re when to throw a ball away. Most QBs don’t have to make a call like that because converting with their legs isn’t the same viable option.

And really, if it weren’t for the fumbles I’d be fine with it. He converts so many drives with his legs flushed out of the pocket. And his OT play this year has been downright bad at times. I can live with the long sacks that are mostly protection failings, because when the game is in the line Dak is clutch.

Protect him properly and half of the problem goes away. The other half is the slippery ball issue. Dak needs to fix that, and I’m not sure how he does it. It seems a lot of the time it’s happening on pump fakes because he’s sweaty and doesn’t have a great grip on the ball. Experiment with a glove again, maybe?

That's pretty much my take on this. I do not have as much a problem with all the sacks as I do the fumbles.

To say "Well he needs to throw the ball in 2.5 seconds" is easy.

But what if no one is open in 2.5 seconds? Which is probably more than likely...

Then does he toss the ball out of bounds and stop the clock?

The offense didn't score a lot of points vs. the Saints BUT what it did do was hog the football.

And if you don't think that completion percentage of 80-some % didn't have a big hand in that, then you're way off base. Dak kept the clock moving, moving and moving by completing pass after pass.

In addition what about the passes he DOES complete after holding the ball after 3 seconds? So you want to give all those up and instead force an incompletion at 2.5 seconds???? Dumb.

 

[tm1119]

Right, PFF attributes 14 of Dak's 45 sacks to Prescott himself. That's 31.1%. Here are QB ranked according to the percentage of their sacks PFF says are the QB's fault (minimum 200 attempts):

Mahomes 45.0%
Trubisky 36.8%
Flacco 31.3%
Prescott 31.1%
Goff 29.2%
Wilson 23.5%
Mayfield 22.7%
Winston 21.4%
Darnold 19.0%
Watson 18.9%

Prescott, by game
2 0 2 3 0 0 2 1 2 0 1 1

Meanwhile...

Prescott vs. Blitz
Games 1-10
48 of 87 (55%) 542 yd (6.2 ypa) 3 td 3 int 71.1
Games 11-12
20 of 25 (80%) 242 yd (9.7 ypa) 1 td 0 int 120.3

compiled from PFF data

Sample size....Mahomes, Flacco, and Trubisky have all been sacked less than 1/2 the amount of times Dak has which greatly skews those %’s.

Dak- 45
Goff- 24
Mahomes- 20
Trubisky- 19
Flacco- 16

Not a valid comparison since there is such a gap in sample size. Watson and Wilson are the closest at 37 and 34 times sacked and their % are a good bit lower.

 

[percyhoward]

Sample size....Mahomes, Flacco, and Trubisky have all been sacked less than 1/2 the amount of times Dak has which greatly skews those %’s.

You suggest that we only compare Prescott to QB on teams with poor pass protection?

 

[Oh_Canada]

They're only "coverage sacks" because Dak can't anticipate anybody becoming open. He waits half a second too long way too much, and in the NFL, that makes all the difference in the world.

Between Cooper and Beasley, one of them are open basically ANY time Dak drops back. Stop absolving Dak from blame

Lol....no receiver is open every time. Give me a break.

 

[Sarge]

Yep, these folks that want to blame Prescott for ALL those sacks clearly have an agenda.

 

[America's Cowboy]

People that absolve Dak of any kind of blame are just as bad as the ones that blame him for everything.

People do know there is a middle area, right?

Not everything is on a Dak, not everything is on the O line, not everything is on the receivers, and not everything is on the coaching staff.

A majority of the time it's on the Oline.

 

[Sarge]

Our pass protection from the OL is not the best. They excel at run blocking.

 

[aikemirv]

Sack 1 - good coverage-he stepped up -trying to run for it-good decision-Aikman says a little late getting off first read-could have thrown it away but I like the decision to try to run for it- I think it is a sack on Dak though if we are counting that way-not on the Oline considering he could throw away and had 3 seconds

Sack 2-all on Oline and protection breakdown

Sack 3 -at least 4 seconds. And stepped up into wrong hole-all on Dak there! Sack for all of a half yard but i think he could have run for more with a little better pocket movement



Sack 4- I will say that was on the Oline IF Dak should have not passed it when he pulled it back-was the guy open-I can’t see that.....

 

[sbark]

The blame is not on just one thing, as Bob Sturm observed in his Morning After post at The Athletic.

I will tell you that the 45 sacks in 2018 have many different stories. Sometimes, they’re reflective of a QB who is trying to find a solution to a problem and not able to see it. Sometimes you can point at an offensive line that cannot maintain its protection for the proper amount of time. Sometimes blame falls at the feet of protectors failing to see an ambush from the opposition and letting a man run free. Sometimes a sack really is the result of nobody being open. But the Cowboys give up a ridiculous 3.75 sacks per game, which far exceeds anything they have allowed in decades. Heck, it is worse than anything the NFL has put out since the 2016 Browns.


Read Sturms report in the article.
Yes, Dak has had some issues. But the real issue is the line went from top 2 to bottom half overnight. Not many teams do well with three back up linemen.

Linehan also just confirmed they ask Dak to try and extend plays. It’s not always Dak’s lack of presence, sometimes he’s trying to escape and make something happen with his feet because he’s coached to do so. See for yourself.

"If you’re always telling him to throw the ball away, he’s not going to make those plays with his legs. We’ve got this catch-22 thing we’re willing to live with." Linehan