No one "hated" Dak back in 2016

Flamma

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From what I can remember, most of it started in 2017 and carried over to 2018 when Dallas went into the season with poor WRs. The bleeding stopped when Dallas signed Cooper but the divide remained. The damage was done.

Could the Cowboys success in 2016 be primarily due to the O-Line play? That's the one position group that hasn't played as well since 2016. Think about, who did Dak have to throw to then? Dez, T-Will, Beasley, Brice (I keep dropping them) Butler, and an aging Witten. And Dallas didn't skip a beat even when Dez was out injured.
 

ColoradoCowboy

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At the end of 2016, I was STRONGLY in favor of trading Dak to the Browns. At that point, we could have asked for the moon and mostly gotten it.
 

SteveTheCowboy

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Count me in as wanting Romo to assume the starter role WHEN HEALTHY. It was probably the first time in his career we gave him a full heal time. He usually either came back too soon or just played hurt.

I don;t think we should make starter decisions based on...superstition.
 

SteveTheCowboy

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Romo's heart didn't want to quit, but the rest of his body did. Too many broken backs, broken collar bones, broken fingers and cracked ribs.
It was time for Romo to quit.

I think given the amount of time he had to fully heal....he could have come back and made a big run into the playoffs. His experience and skills would have been the deal maker. And I stand on record that Zeke would have helped keep romo healthy with blocking and reliable dump offs.

In the end we'll never know...so we'll have to grip our opinions on the matter with white knuckles.
 

Vtwin

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I don't hate Dak. I did call it for what it was towards the end of 2016 though. He started to finally change my mind early last season but quickly regressed to the same guy he has been.
 

VACowboy

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Dak isn’t Mahomes. He isn’t Russell Wilson. He is better than a lot of other QBs though. People need get over the fact that he isn’t perfect.

That said the contract negotiations are causing his supporters to question signing him long term. I have been a big Dak guy since the beginning. I don’t know what to believe on the contract but it is getting ridiculous.
This is exactly how I feel. I also think he's a fantastic leader and the perfect front man for the Cowboys, but the contract stuff has really dulled his luster for me.
 

Rockport

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Here is a thought, how many people were talking poorly of Dak in 2016 ?????
How many " haters" were posting here?? ( haters = anyone who wants another qb or thinks dak isnt good enough,
or thinks he is good but not worth the money he is demanding.)
None I would guess, this all took the last 3 years to develop and then add in the whole longest contract debate ever, and dak wanting
to be top salary at point of signing, and yeah we have some people that are saying dont sign him.

It is NOT like people have been against dak since day 1.
Same thing for elliot back in 16, but this is years later and both have been meh for last 3 years.
They have good stats, but that has not translated to much season wise or in playoffs the last 3 years.

There are valid reasons for people to think dak is not the right guy, especially now that his pay will
go up what 35 times what he was making?

Again my point is this didnt happen overnight, and didnt really start until late into 2017.
Some slid back in 2018, but then after a 8-8 season and the last phil game , the whole
not liking dak started up in earnest, and then this contract thing has made it snowball.
All it took was 1 idiotic ESPN talking head to say something negative and the haters have been hating ever since. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the majority of the Dak haters hate on everything.
 

Rockport

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Fans is short for fanatics. No one ever said fanatics made intelligent decisions.

Fans tend to be lazy and stupid, so everything boils down to the head coach and the QB. The head coach is gone, so all that is left is the QB.

It is funny watching these "fans" pretend to have a rational basis for their reactions. It's one of the reasons I come here. :muttley:
Same here, it’s very entertaining watching the haters make fools of themselves.
 

Rockport

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No one 'hates' him now. What most dislike is the outright greed without earning it.

Sure, Dak had a great season in 2016, but lets not forget why the season went well. Romo was supposed to be the starter with Dak as the 3rd backup. The rest of the NFL had plenty of film on Romo, but nothing on #3, who unexpectedly got tossed into the mix when #1 and #2 went down. If you remember, Dak started going downhill later in the season as the film on him expanded and the rest of the NFL started catching on to his tendencies.

Dak is not a bad QB, but he hasn't come anywhere close to earning top tier money like Mahomes. If it makes some people trolls or haters for feeling that way then so be it.
Mahomes is the best QB in the league so no one should get paid like he will. And Dak won’t but I guarantee you’ll still be here crapping on him like you do everything else regardless. Triple platinum guarantee.
 

Buzzbait

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I think given the amount of time he had to fully heal....he could have come back and made a big run into the playoffs. His experience and skills would have been the deal maker. And I stand on record that Zeke would have helped keep romo healthy with blocking and reliable dump offs.

In the end we'll never know...so we'll have to grip our opinions on the matter with white knuckles.

Some of you guys are absolutely merciless! In 2008 -- Broken right pinkie finger. After that it was all downhill. The guy broke his left collarbone THREE TIMES, once in 2010 and twice in 2015.
In 2011, he suffered a broken rib and punctured lung. In 2013 he ruptured a disc! In 2014 he suffered two transverse process fractures. In 2016 he suffered a Compression fracture, L1 vertebra.
The guy was falling apart, have a heart! And you think Zeke was going to keep him healthy? Nothing was going to keep Romo healthy good grief!
At the rate he was going, he's lucky he can still play golf.
 

acr731

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Mahomes is the best QB in the league so no one should get paid like he will. And Dak won’t but I guarantee you’ll still be here crapping on him like you do everything else regardless. Triple platinum guarantee.

I was ok with him until he (and his agent) got greedy. I'm hard on him because I think he has room for improvement and I didn't see anything last season to justify his demands. But I think a lot of the problems he had could have been due to Garrett and his system. I'm curious to see what MM can do.

It might seem like I'm never satisfied, and for several years that was true. But honestly, for the first time in about 7 years I'm actually looking forward to the upcoming season.
 
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TwentyOne

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Here is a thought, how many people were talking poorly of Dak in 2016 ?????
How many " haters" were posting here?? ( haters = anyone who wants another qb or thinks dak isnt good enough,
or thinks he is good but not worth the money he is demanding.)
None I would guess, this all took the last 3 years to develop and then add in the whole longest contract debate ever, and dak wanting
to be top salary at point of signing, and yeah we have some people that are saying dont sign him.

It is NOT like people have been against dak since day 1.
Same thing for elliot back in 16, but this is years later and both have been meh for last 3 years.
They have good stats, but that has not translated to much season wise or in playoffs the last 3 years.

There are valid reasons for people to think dak is not the right guy, especially now that his pay will
go up what 35 times what he was making?

Again my point is this didnt happen overnight, and didnt really start until late into 2017.
Some slid back in 2018, but then after a 8-8 season and the last phil game , the whole
not liking dak started up in earnest, and then this contract thing has made it snowball.

When you evaluate a player it takes time.

Dak played good in 2016. But for opposing DCs it takes usually 1 year to gameplan for a new QB. Thats why people talk about 2nd year slumps QBs can have.

DCs need video material and time to figure out what a player can do and what he is not able to. Then of course OCs try to hide and scheme around his weaknessess.

Another reason for Daks good 2016 season was that the team was loaded back then. Remember with Romo we all thought this team is lacking just a great RB to win it all.

So usually when a QB plays good or ok in his first year most of the viewer will give him the benefit of the doubt even if they saw him play in college and know about his talent level.

In Daks second year his weaknessess were explored and it sgowrd in his play. Now he had so so year in 2018 but did not show any advancements in his game. 2019 then to me was a bad year for him. He clearly improved his throwing technique. But could hold onto it only to around game 5. When the preassure against better teams got stronger he showed he is still the QB that came out of college in 2016. He is just not able to get better in the more important areas.

So to answer your post:

Nobody with any knowledge of this game would have criticized Prescott in 2016. QBs take time to show if they are able to be great players.

He also was on a cheap rookie contract. So even in 2017 and 2018 it was hard to argue against a very very medicore player.

But he proved again in 2019 that even with a loaded offense he is not able to beat good teams. And i dont even want to mention elite teams.

Last but not least: even if you try your own definition of "haters" so the word wont sound too pathetic it does not make it any better. Just because you define a new definition for "car" for instance doesnt make it a train. It will still be a car.

To seperate opinions or people into haters or lovers is an easy way for those people who arent able to handle the complexity of things, people or live.
 
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morat1959

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When you evaluate a player it takes time.

Dak played good in 2016. But for opposing DCs it takes usually 1 year to gameplan for a new QB. Thats why people talk about 2nd year slumps QBs can have.

DCs need video material and time to figure out what a player can do and what he is not able to. Then of course OCs try to hide and scheme around his weaknessess.

Another reason for Daks good 2016 season was that the team was loaded back then. Remember with Romo we all thought this team is lacking just a great RB to win it all.

So usually when a QB plays good or ok in his first year most of the viewer will give him the benefit of the doubt even if they saw him play in college and know about his talent level.

In Daks second year his weaknessess were explored and it sgowrd in his play. Now he had so so year in 2018 but did not show any advancements in his game. 2019 then to me was a bad year for him. He clearly improved his throwing technique. But could hold onto it only to around game 5. When the preassure against better teams got stronger he showed he is still the QB that came out of college in 2016. He is just not able to get better in the more important areas.

So to answer your post:

Nobody with any knowledge of this game would have criticized Prescott in 2016. QBs take time to show if they are able to be great players.

He also was on a cheap rookie contract. So even in 2017 and 2018 it was hard to argue against a very very medicore player.

But he proved again in 2019 that even with a loaded offense he is not able to beat good teams. And i dont even want to mention elite teams.

Last but not least: even if you try your own definition of "haters" so the word wont sound too pathetic it does not make it any better. Just because you define a new definition for "car" for instance doesnt make it a train. It will still be a car.

To seperate opinions or people into haters or lovers is an easy way for those people who arent able to habdle the complexity of things.
Well said!
 

CouchCoach

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I am neither a Dakster or Dakater just like I wasn't a Romolover or Romorooter and I do not fault him one not for being tough to negotiate with because only he knows his own value.

I will say one thing about him, his story is outrageous. Who in he hell can't beat out the QB1 in high school, college and the NFL but takes over and never gives it back? I've never heard of anything like that happening in every stop he makes and on top of that, and here's the real kicker, walks right on in as the leader when he takes over. His high school coach said it was like there were two of him and the one that showed up when his name got called took it up a level. At Miss St, Dan Mullen said his practice and play were night and day before he took over and then it was like something just clicked the light on. And on offense at Miss St., he didn't have a lot of help.

You couldn't even write a script for a sports movie like that because it wouldn't be believable. Just the fact players had to get injured to even see him play is remarkable. The kid dreams of being the QB of the Cowboys all his life and that happens? Get's picked 7th, after they wanted to get 2 other QB's, assigned to 3rd string and is QB1 on opening day and plays at a level unseen before.

Dak Prescott lacks the pedigree that some need in their DC QB. He didn't win the Heisman and he wasn't the #1 pick in the draft. Romo suffered from that as well and I saw some use the fact he wasn't even invited to the Combine as a QB, didn't get drafted and carried a clipboard for so many years as negatives instead of obstacles he overcame to become the DC QB for a lot of years.
 

InTheZone

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Dak grew on me as the rookie season went out. About midway through is when I started to really see his flaws (which is reasonable for anyone watching a QB). Every QB has them and the fact that people can't even admit to them is a sad story in itself. So with those red flags raised they showed their faces even more in 2017. Sure he technically was getting better in other areas, but the major flaws remained. 2018, same story. 2019, same story. There were also excuses thrown every which way in each of those seasons for Dak. After the Dez situation I called it on the o-line for 2018 and there is no other way to put how god awful Dak was with pocket awareness in 2018. Luckily for us Dak improved in that regard since he was getting worse in that stat every year.

After 4 years I still see a lot of what I saw from his rookie season. Do you want a great leader who struggles with tight passes in coverage, maximizing YAC situations because he cannot consistently put the ball in the right spot, who still can't read a defenders priority on read option plays and doesn't instinctively use his feet to extend plays while looking down field? And too often on 3rd and mid/long he opts for the dumpoff. Don't look at this is all negative, look at this like he does everything else right, or most of it, but these are his flaws that I see.

If you are fine with that, Dak is your guy. I don't care about the yards, I don't care about beating up on bad teams or defenses that play soft. I don't think the flaws I see can be fixed because it might just be a natural/instinctive thing that he doesn't have. Actually I do think there's no reason for him not to be better on read options, but the other critiques I believe he is what he is at this point. I don't believe what he brings is that much or any better than a solid qb you can find in the 1st round of the draft, while also considering the pool of talent surrounding him (sure it's not his fault he has a solid team, but I expect more at this point). So that leads us to our next choice. $35-$40 mil/year vs $6-$7 mil/year? And we do have Dalton on the team so it's not like we're just risking everything.
 

ABQCOWBOY

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I have to disagree. Some on here didn't like Dak from the beginning and got ultra salty even Romo was "healthy" and sat on the bench as a backup

I can't say I really saw much of this. Yes, there were fans who wanted Romo to start when he was healthy but if we are fair about it, Romo was far and away better, at the time.

Dak was younger, the team was going with him, regardless and that was that. Tony knew it, Dak knew it, the team knew it and the Fans knew it.

It is what it is....
 
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