13 of last 14 plays to end the game were runs

I'm all for using the run when possible (even if it makes me cringe watching Zeke fail to break arm tackles in space and essentially just be a 3 yard battering ram), but it's myopic to overlook the fact that most of the time multiple plays are called and the QB switches to the "correct" one based on the box count or alignment. I would expect that most of the time, when it's not situationally obvious (like trying to kill the clock at the end), the choices are pass and run. So to give credit or blame to the OC ignores the role that the QB has in changing the play. As you can see in the broadcast, Rush isn't merely a "call the play on the wristband and hike the ball" guy.
 
CowboyRoy said:
Sorry, that excuse doenst fly. Pollard pass protection is just fine. You want Zeke in on 3rd downs for pass protection, be my guest. Pollard can catch the passes and run the ball.
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LOL your zeke hate makes you nuts. You mean not even seeing a back side blitz block...is "just fine"?

That wasn;t an isolated incident.

Like you WANT Cooper blasted.
 
We were up by two scores. Like I said, we run the ball because we’re winning. We don’t win because we ran the ball.
 
CowboyRoy said:
Sorry, that excuse doenst fly. Pollard pass protection is just fine. You want Zeke in on 3rd downs for pass protection, be my guest. Pollard can catch the passes and run the ball.
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Completely false. He was atrocious week 1, and he was atrocious on Sunday. He has been so bad that in pass protection that he barely gets snaps that way. I mean just look at the Ramsey sack and tell me Pollard is just fine in pass pro.

The guy can be absolutely electric with the football in his hands, but if you can't block you become a liability. He has so much to offer this team, and honestly has the pure running ability to take over the bulk of carries from Zeke, but if you are going to get your QB killed in the process it wont do you much good.
 
Hawkeye0202 said:
I agree but MM did admit we are now a defense-first team. You are right though, lets's see if it changes when Dak returns
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It better not change. It’s a formula that works. Dak is paid. No need to pad stats. No need for Moore to change the formula. Run the rock and play action.
 
kumizi said:
We were up by two scores. Like I said, we run the ball because we’re winning. We don’t win because we ran the ball.
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Sorry but if we had run the ball on those two red zone trips we likely would have been winning by more. The failed attempts to pass into the end zone in the compressed space of the red area is the only reason the game wasn't a blowout. The running game was destroying the Rams most of the way. The only reason the ypc dropped at the end is because of the kneel downs and because the guys were just falling into the 9 man fronts with both arms hugging the ball and making very little real effort to actually gain yards. Zeke had 17 carries for 75 yards before getting 3 yards on his last 5 carries to end out the game. People harping on the fact that he ended up averaging only 3.5 ypc ignore that those last few carries were pretty much "running kneel downs." I mean the play calls were all middle runs with the entire defense collapsing on the middle.

One thing that I should mention is that much of the local media and the Cowboys.com commentators, especially Nate Newton, Danny McCray and Isaiah Stanback, are all talking about how much they appreciate Zeke's football IQ and unselfishness. His willingness to "do the dirty work" is appreciated by people inside the walls even if not by a lot of idiot fans. To a man (and a couple of women) they all expressed incredulity at some fans' failure to appreciate Zeke. I admit I don't get it either. But I also don't care.
 
CowboyRoy said:
Yep and your hero Zeke got worse and worse as the game went on. There goes your "Zeke is wearing down the defense BS." It took Pollard 2 carries to do what it takes Zeke 3 carries to do. Time to give it to the better back.
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How many times do I have to tell you? Zeke is the better back off of durability alone.
:muttley:
 
thunderpimp91 said:
Completely false. He was atrocious week 1, and he was atrocious on Sunday. He has been so bad that in pass protection that he barely gets snaps that way. I mean just look at the Ramsey sack and tell me Pollard is just fine in pass pro.

The guy can be absolutely electric with the football in his hands, but if you can't block you become a liability. He has so much to offer this team, and honestly has the pure running ability to take over the bulk of carries from Zeke, but if you are going to get your QB killed in the process it wont do you much good.
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Every running back that comes into this league as something other than a high first round pick gets told that blitz pickup is how you get on the field. Derrick Henry sat a season and a half.. not because he wasn't a great runner but because he could not be trusted in pass protection. Even Zeke was primarily a 2 down back his rookie season and he was a top 5 pick. It's just reality that in a league where teams are passing 60-65% of the time simple math tells you that backs play more in pass protection than they do totin the rock.. Apparently that math is lost on some people.
 
Let's hope the sentiment is the same when Dak gets back and not shift the focus to Air Prescott.
 
USArmyVet said:
Let's hope the sentiment is the same when Dak gets back and not shift the focus to Air Prescott.
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No one wants to see that.. This game plan that we've seen over the past 4 weeks is what many of us have been screaming for since Moore took over play calling. This team is more successful when it's balanced. I honestly don't care if other teams are able to win doing it a different way. I know what this team does well and what it needs to do to be successful.
 
RonnieT24 said:
No one wants to see that.. This game plan that we've seen over the past 4 weeks is what many of us have been screaming for since Moore took over play calling. This team is more successful when it's balanced. I honestly don't care if other teams are able to win doing it a different way. I know what this team does well and what it needs to do to be successful.
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Agreed and hope feet are held to the fire if plays are changed early and often by the QB.
 
Reality said:
Cowboys had a two-score lead so the playbook says run out as much of the clock as you can once you reach the fourth quarter.

I am not saying there has not been a change, but had they been down or up by 6 or less points, I suspect the play calling would have been drastically different.
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Agreed. Rams were playing run and we ran the ball anyway. Generally, you'd check out of that run because you have single coverage, but we wanted to use up the clock as much as possible.
 
USArmyVet said:
Agreed and hope feet are held to the fire if plays are changed early and often by the QB.
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If we take Dak at his word I think he's seen it as well. I've said for three years that the last hurdle he has to clear in his development as a QB is learning how to determine when defenses are trying to bait him into changing plays. It took Romo till year 10 to get there and by the time he did his body was starting to fail him. I really hope it doesn't take Dak that long.. and I REALLY hope this last couple of years with the injury bug biting doesn't signal that HIS body isn't already breaking down.
 
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