Twitter: 4th & Goal at the 1, season on the line, which 1 of 4 Cowboys RBs gets the ball?

gimmesix

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If they all have the same line I’m going with Zeke. He and Herschel are the two bruisers. Emmitt wasn’t great on the goal line once his line started to deteriorate.

Some of you are remembering Herschel differently than I am. He was big, but he was not a bruiser.
 

Jarv

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Dak runs a little play action pass to Moose Johnston in the flat who is wide open but misses him way short and Cowboys turn the ball over on downs.
Lol...Then the argument of the decade ensues that Moose still should have caught it at his toes.
 

Lutonio

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From what I've seen during Zeke's time, his offense would likely call a toss anyway, so 4th and 1 becomes 4th and 5 by the time he gets the ball.
 

aikemirv

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100 percent agree. For the size that Herschel was, he rarely just tried to plow into the end zone. Part of that was because he ran high (not the Gregory kind of high) so he didn't generate as much power as he could. He preferred to either leap or look for a hole. I never quite understood it.

Emmitt understood how to get behind his pads and also how to get skinny when needed. He was tough to stop around the goal line. For his size, he had a great knowledge of what he needed to do to score in short-yardage situations. I think Elliott could stand to learn some of that slipperyness that Smith had. His mind-set is powering his way in.
I think a lot of it tied to how Emmitt knew how to avoid a direct shot as well. He knew how to contort his body into the slightest gap at the goaline or when he was about to get hit move his torso in a way to avoid the shot.
 

McKDaddy

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Some of you are remembering Herschel differently than I am. He was big, but he was not a bruiser.
youtube has some nice videos of Herschel you might want to check out. He punished a lot of folks. As in, "you are a professional football player. I'm gifted in ways you can't imagine. Feel free to watch in awe as I continue onward while you lay on the ground."
 

Golfzilla77

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It's Emmitt, no doubt, because of his strenght. But perhaps the better question might be which OL group you'd like to have on 4th and 1. There's 3 or 4 groups of those through the years that might be worth discussing.
 

gimmesix

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youtube has some nice videos of Herschel you might want to check out. He punished a lot of folks. As in, "you are a professional football player. I'm gifted in ways you can't imagine. Feel free to watch in awe as I continue onward while you lay on the ground."

He did at times, but that wasn't his MO. You can definitely make highlight videos of most players doing things they don't ordinarily do. If a big back lowers his pads and runs over some people several times in his career but mainly runs upright and with speed that doesn't make him a power back. Walker did not play like a power back and at times that would really bug me, because plays like you are mentioning showed that he could.
 

gimmesix

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I think a lot of it tied to how Emmitt knew how to avoid a direct shot as well. He knew how to contort his body into the slightest gap at the goaline or when he was about to get hit move his torso in a way to avoid the shot.

That's the part I would like to see Elliott learn, but it may not be a skill every back can pick up. Emmitt knew when he needed to plow and when he needed to slither.
 

McKDaddy

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He did at times, but that wasn't his MO. You can definitely make highlight videos of most players doing things they don't ordinarily do. If a big back lowers his pads and runs over some people several times in his career but mainly runs upright and with speed that doesn't make him a power back. Walker did not play like a power back and at times that would really bug me, because plays like you are mentioning showed that he could.
I understand where you are coming from.
 

ondaedg

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We Cowboys fans all love Emmitt, but I don't get the lack of respect for Zeke. If you were to go back and watch some of Emmitt's great performances you would see him running through massive holes from arguably the greatest OL in history and the best blocking fb in history.

Zeke has the same luxury of running behind a great OL but he is a bigger guy who can push the pile. I don't hesitate to run it with Zeke here. If he had half the vision of Emmitt he would be a 2k yard back IMO.
 

FloridaRob

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Well, Who is the coach? With MM the head coach now, watch for a fade pattern to the right, a fade pattern to the left or a back shoulder pass to the WR.
 

gimmesix

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We Cowboys fans all love Emmitt, but I don't get the lack of respect for Zeke. If you were to go back and watch some of Emmitt's great performances you would see him running through massive holes from arguably the greatest OL in history and the best blocking fb in history.

Zeke has the same luxury of running behind a great OL but he is a bigger guy who can push the pile. I don't hesitate to run it with Zeke here. If he had half the vision of Emmitt he would be a 2k yard back IMO.

Smith's vision was one of his outstanding traits. Even on the goal line, seeing the crease in time to burst into it is needed.

I love Elliott's fight. He hardly ever loses yardage even when he's hit in the backfield and he definitely has the ability to push the pile. However, I don't want to take away from what Smith could do by giving too much credit to the OL. That vision, surprising power in his lower body and ability to squeeze through creases made him very tough to stop around the goal line even when the OL didn't create gaping holes.
 

sean10mm

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The idea that Emmitt was just a product of that OL is a myth. When the Cowboys OL started to rot away Emmitt still kept piling up yards and touchdowns. By 1999 the god tier line was a thing years in the past... and he still had like 1,400 yards on the ground and 11 touchdowns at age 30.
 

KJJ

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This is too easy only Jerry Rice scored more TD’s than Emmitt. The endzone was known as the Emmitt zone. He had great balance and a great nose for the endzone. He had the ability to slither through defenders and stay on his feet.
 

Carson

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In no order of greatness

Lousaka Polite
Oliver Hoyte
Erik bickerstaff

In reality. #22 all day
 
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