Addressing Dak’s “Sophmore Slump”

[glimmerman]

He's trying to be more of the prototypical NFL QB, Romo was being Favre. The number of plays that Romo created as opposed to the play called executed was just like Favre's and it is easy for a team to become dependent on that.

The mistake they made with Romo was not studying what Holmgren did with Favre since he couldn't change him and the frustration was evident on his face during games. But he figured it out and surrounded Favre with better talent like Reggie and gave him a better defense. He couldn't change him so he changed what was around him.

Dak needs a strong team around him with a good D and run game. He's not a gunslinger but he does share a trait with those that are, he's streaky. When he's off, he's off.

We were a better Defense away from making a better playoff run his rookie year.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Your definition of “whining” is odd. I don’t care if you rush to judge. You may ultimately turn out to be right. If so. I will give you props like I give Romo haters props for taking the early stand agianst him and being proven right. I used to argue with them too, I lost on that one and I won’t mind losing on Dak either.

You glossed over how my comment related to your argument of rushing to judge. Your standard for that is unreasonable. It has been two years and 33 games that we have watched him. You can act like it's the middle of October of his rookie year and we are criticizing him but that is not the case. There is a large body of work on 1000s of plays used in the evaluation.

And I don't think Dak is bad. I think he is above average and near the top 10. You argue with anyone who criticizes the team's quarterback mindlessly.

 

[Aviano90]

You glossed over how my comment related to your argument of rushing to judge. Your standard for that is unreasonable. It has been two years and 33 games that we have watched him. You can act like it's the middle of October of his rookie year and we are criticizing him but that is not the case. There is a large body of work on 1000s of plays used in the evaluation.

And I don't think Dak is bad. I think he is above average and near the top 10. You argue with anyone who criticizes the team's quarterback mindlessly.

Yeah, I will stick with 2 years not being enough to judge yet. To my knowledge QBs aren’t fully developed after 2 years.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Yeah, I will stick with 2 years not being enough to judge yet. To my knowledge QBs aren’t fully developed after 2 years.

No player is ever done developing and we both know that you love the gushing reports and find those right on time. Nonetheless the people criticizing him have 1000s of snaps to base their evaluation.

And accuracy and pocket presence are typically not things that get better as a QB develops. Don't hold your breath thinking he is going to suddenly pinpoint throws downfield. What does improve is making reads and setting things up before the snap putting themselves in advantageous positions.

It certainly would be nice if Dak would start getting rid of the ball more quickly. I was very disappointed last season that he was still not anticipating throws and throwing late after he made his emphasis in the offseason reading defenses. When he attributed his accuracy woes early in the season to not working on his mechanics enough it was sickening given that context.

He needs to play better.

 

[Aviano90]

No player is ever done developing and we both know that you love the gushing reports and find those right on time. Nonetheless the people criticizing him have 1000s of snaps to base their evaluation.

And accuracy and pocket presence are typically not things that get better as a QB develops. Don't hold your breath thinking he is going to suddenly pinpoint throws downfield. What does improve is making reads and setting things up before the snap putting themselves in advantageous positions.

It certainly would be nice if Dak would start getting rid of the ball more quickly. I was very disappointed last season that he was still not anticipating throws and throwing late after he made his emphasis in the offseason reading defenses. When he attributed his accuracy woes early in the season to not working on his mechanics enough it was sickening given that context.

He needs to play better.

Agreed. He needs to play better.

 

[glimmerman]

No player is ever done developing and we both know that you love the gushing reports and find those right on time. Nonetheless the people criticizing him have 1000s of snaps to base their evaluation.

And accuracy and pocket presence are typically not things that get better as a QB develops. Don't hold your breath thinking he is going to suddenly pinpoint throws downfield. What does improve is making reads and setting things up before the snap putting themselves in advantageous positions.

It certainly would be nice if Dak would start getting rid of the ball more quickly. I was very disappointed last season that he was still not anticipating throws and throwing late after he made his emphasis in the offseason reading defenses. When he attributed his accuracy woes early in the season to not working on his mechanics enough it was sickening given that context.

He needs to play better.

I know in his rookie season they said that Romo was helping him quite a bit with his plays and reads. I wonder if him being gone effected him at all. His reads were so much better in his rookie year. Passes were better also.

 

[plasticman]

There is this strange perception from some that what we see from Dak is all we will ever get.He certainly has the capacity to learn and improve. He has gained valuable experience and this will increase each season.

If this is what we have after two seasons, 8th rated passer in history, imagine what we will have in five.

 

[phildadon86]

There is this strange perception from some that what we see from Dak is all we will ever get.He certainly has the capacity to learn and improve. He has gained valuable experience and this will increase each season.

If this is what we have after two seasons, 8th rated passer in history, imagine what we will have in five.

According to some here he wont be in the league that long.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Are you guys just going to repeat this narrative until it becomes true ie never?

No one is denying that he can improve.

 

[glimmerman]

Are you guys just going to repeat this narrative until it becomes true ie never?

No one is denying that he can improve.

I think until the preseason starts or regular season. It’s gonna be a long offseason.

 

[Captain-Crash]

I'm sick and tired of fans pushing false narratives...

"Under pressure all game"

Dak was the 16th most sacked QB in the league last year!! Not even close to being the most sacked!!

Wentz, Wilson, Brady , Stafford were sacked more times than Dak and they didn't turn into Tim Tebow..

What does Dak need? An OLine that doesn't give up any sacks? Get real..

Also, the Oline gets alot of blame but I think most of the sacks were on Dak because he was gun-shy and held on to the ball on some plays, stepped into sacks on other plays ,(instead of maneuvering in the pocket) and since teams didn't fear getting burnt deep they went blitz crazy on third downs..

teams don't Blitz guys like Brady or Rodgers often because they make you pay...

Some fans really don't understand football..

well his scouting reports do say he has pocket awareness problems..


and lets blame it all on "one guy" smith.... it couldn't have been Dak and his tunnel vision.. or "the glitch"

 

[percyhoward]

I already explained instances of how your statistics misrepresent outcomes. Bootlegs are pressures for example in context of his performance under pressure. The last time we had this discussion in the context of Dez, it was shown that Dez's drops spiked when Dak was pressured.

And your narrative is all about excusing said bad play.shifting blame. You trot it out every time I criticize Dak as if better protection will result in all of his issues going away.

This sounds like a "Dak sucks" vs "Dak's elite" type of discussion that I wouldn't be a part of, but it's got quotes from me in it.

So I guess I'm in it. Or was in it, whatever.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

This sounds like a "Dak sucks" vs "Dak's elite" type of discussion that I wouldn't be a part of, but it's got quotes from me in it.

So I guess I'm in it. Or was in it, whatever.

You are going to parse it how you are going to parse it; I don't think either of those two strawmen are valid. You still trot out that stat every time I have a criticism of Dak.

And again, many of those "pressures" are on designed naked bootlegs where the DE was unblocked. Again Dak generates his own pressure exacerbating his situation when he struggles to make reads and holds the ball. Compare and contrast with Brady or Eli who get the ball out on time consistently even if it is to throw it away. Again he doesn't get a pass for spitting the bit when pressured.

 

[Gameover]

Slump?

Don’t know if this is a good thing or not

 

[Gator88]

Slump?

Don’t know if this is a good thing or not

It's a good thing, but probably not that useful when 3 of the top 8 are Kizer, Savage, and Trubsiky.

 

[wssaustin]

Slump?

Don’t know if this is a good thing or not

How meaningful this stats is? Kizer is ahead of Dak but did he win any game at all?

 

[ghostdog]

Before Zeke was suspended, these were Dak’s numbers over the first eight games:

Total Yards - 2,013
Total TDS - 20
Interceptions - 4

Project those stats over an entire season:

Total Yards - 4,026
Total TDs - 40
Interceptions - 8

Compare that to his rookie year:

Total Yards - 3,949
Total TDs - 29
Interceptions - 4

So even with some early struggles from the offensive line and a worsening connection with Dez, Dak’s trajectory was pointing way up.

So had Dak & Zeke played the entire season together, we’d be talking about what a monster year Dak just had.

If you take away his best weapon, injure his best offensive lineman [and do nothing to compensate for it] and leave him with receivers who struggle to get open, your QB is bound to struggle.

But since Zeke will be playing a full season next year and the front office is using draft picks to make the offense “Dak friendly”, we have absolutely no reason to believe his trajectory won’t go back to pointing up.

Dak is the man and we’re fortunate to have him.

Well unless Zeke can play LT or WSL this post make little sense.

 

[85Cowboy85]

Dak's ypa is 6.8 which is garbage, and it was bad even before the Elliott suspension. Total yards is a bad metric. TD to INT ratio is good but it's not going to sustain itself at 6.8 ypa.

 

[Valorius]

Maybe you felt that way but 99.9% of philly fans wanted Foles gone and the posts are on your message boards to prove it and I remember the conversations with my friends then about how he couldn't play (I knew he was good, just like I know Dak is good) and even in December this year after the raiders game you were all ****ting your pants about how Foles was terrible. And oh look, he's good. I guarantee you Dak plays 7-10 more years as a Cowboy.

You're actually wrong about that. Eagles fans were outraged when Foles was traded for Bradford, doubly so given that the Eagles also shipped Stl our 1st round pick in the deal.

 

[Valorius]

Yeah. Our fans are fond of pointing that out when they feel self loathing. As if we didn’t go 13-3 the year before with a third string QB all year and backup LT playing games.

Went 13-3 and lost -at home- in the 1st round of the playoffs.