Addressing Dak’s “Sophmore Slump”

[Hadenough]

The difference between Daks first 8 games and his last 8 games are the last 8 were against playoff teams. Case Keenum didnt have his starting RB almost all year and he out performed Dak. And guess what? The Vikings are still in pursuit of Kirk Cousins. Thats the difference between the Cowboys and other teams. The Cowboys are content with mediocre performance. Im not saying go after Cousins but Dallas should not be content with Daks rookie season and should consider drafting a QB and better have an alternate plan because if Dak comes out this year performing like he ended last year its going to be another wasted season for these players and fans.

 

[Hadenough]

Hes already playing at an nfl level. I dont see people talking about how carr regressed or how had a great ol and off around when he excelled. Or how wentz has a great d, great ol and very good rbs and a good receiving core including te. Hell foles didnt drop a beat. So either they have two great qbs or it is the system and surrounding talent. i believe it is the latter and dak is held to a different standard for whatever reason

Dak is supposed to have an elite oline and elite RB and very good WRs although I would argue Dez is a #2 but some consider him a great player. There is no reason Dallas shouldnt of beat the Seahawks who are in decline. Dak has no excuses. The defense played well in that Seattle game. The difference between Dak and Carr is big. Carr has actually shown that he can make all the throws and same goes for Wentz. With Dak he doesnt throw the deep outs or mid range crossing routes he can throw deep but his ball floats. I was the biggest fan his rookie year but ive seen enough to realize this kid is not good enough to win in the playoffs in my opinion. You think Wentz is a system QB just watch him his rookie season making throws into tight windows 20-25 yards down field. Putting the ball on a rope! He was doing last year too. Im a little sick and tired of watching Dallas try to get by on the cheap at the QB position. The last time Dallas won anything it was with a 1st round QB named Aikman!! This team isnt capable of finding raw QB talent and developing it. Their best chance is getting pedigree thats already good and just needs to learn the system.

 

[HanD]

Dak is supposed to have an elite oline and elite RB and very good WRs although I would argue Dez is a #2 but some consider him a great player. There is no reason Dallas shouldnt of beat the Seahawks who are in decline. Dak has no excuses. The defense played well in that Seattle game. The difference between Dak and Carr is big. Carr has actually shown that he can make all the throws and same goes for Wentz. With Dak he doesnt throw the deep outs or mid range crossing routes he can throw deep but his ball floats. I was the biggest fan his rookie year but ive seen enough to realize this kid is not good enough to win in the playoffs in my opinion. You think Wentz is a system QB just watch him his rookie season making throws into tight windows 20-25 yards down field. Putting the ball on a rope! He was doing last year too. Im a little sick and tired of watching Dallas try to get by on the cheap at the QB position. The last time Dallas won anything it was with a 1st round QB named Aikman!! This team isnt capable of finding raw QB talent and developing it. Their best chance is getting pedigree thats already good and just needs to learn the system.

romo was plenty good enough so it has nothing to do with where people are drafted. he was a raw qb that developed into a top 5-10 qb in the league. they just didn't get enough talent around him at the time.

the point is that many qbs are good enough. it depends on the system around them. case in point wentz and foles. foles isn't a great qb but won because of the team and system around him. wentz and carr and many others have had nice pieces around them. it's only dak that gets flak for it and no credit when he does well. it's only his OL and running game. so for you to say that he isn't playing on an nfl level is absurd imo. he is and is out playing plenty of other qbs in the league with a solid yards per attempt over his first 2 years. he might not be a top 5 qb but he isn't some scrub that shouldn't be in the league.

 

[HanD]

The difference between Daks first 8 games and his last 8 games are the last 8 were against playoff teams. Case Keenum didnt have his starting RB almost all year and he out performed Dak. And guess what? The Vikings are still in pursuit of Kirk Cousins. Thats the difference between the Cowboys and other teams. The Cowboys are content with mediocre performance. Im not saying go after Cousins but Dallas should not be content with Daks rookie season and should consider drafting a QB and better have an alternate plan because if Dak comes out this year performing like he ended last year its going to be another wasted season for these players and fans.

the vikings have zero qbs under contract. two have injury history and has been ok. one has only done it for 1 year. that is why they are pursuing cousins while considering their own.

but i do agree that dallas should never not look at the position. even when we had romo, teams should keep drafting and developing qbs because worst case is you can trade them like ne does.

 

[HungryLion]

The difference between Daks first 8 games and his last 8 games are the last 8 were against playoff teams. Case Keenum didnt have his starting RB almost all year and he out performed Dak. And guess what? The Vikings are still in pursuit of Kirk Cousins. Thats the difference between the Cowboys and other teams. The Cowboys are content with mediocre performance. Im not saying go after Cousins but Dallas should not be content with Daks rookie season and should consider drafting a QB and better have an alternate plan because if Dak comes out this year performing like he ended last year its going to be another wasted season for these players and fans.

The Vikings are not some geniuses when it comes to the QB position. These are the same folks who traded a first rounder for Sam freaking Bradford recently.

 

[Hadenough]

romo was plenty good enough so it has nothing to do with where people are drafted. he was a raw qb that developed into a top 5-10 qb in the league. they just didn't get enough talent around him at the time.

the point is that many qbs are good enough. it depends on the system around them. case in point wentz and foles. foles isn't a great qb but won because of the team and system around him. wentz and carr and many others have had nice pieces around them. it's only dak that gets flak for it and no credit when he does well. it's only his OL and running game. so for you to say that he isn't playing on an nfl level is absurd imo. he is and is out playing plenty of other qbs in the league with a solid yards per attempt over his first 2 years. he might not be a top 5 qb but he isn't some scrub that shouldn't be in the league.

I dont think Romo was good enough! Romo had one good playoff run statistically when they beat the Lions and lost to GB. I too also supported Romo for many years and used to say oh if he was with the Giants he could of won a SB. But I dont think he could have looking back because Eli actually raised the level of his play to get through and win a SB. Thats a whole different argument though.
Of course Dak is playing at an NFL level but he isnt a complete QB in the sense of his arm strength hinders his ability to throw down field. Have you ever seen a NFL QB when their mechanics go off a little bit they are as bad as Dak. He was throwing balls 3-5 yards short of his WR on a short passing tree. Usually when a QBs mechanics are off they are missing high or low but not putting balls that far off. Of course he worked on his footwork and it helped him in the short game but how is he going to be able to throw contested throws on 20 yard crossing routes into coverage where his WR has a half a step on the CB. That is very concerning! This season is going to be real interesting because they have another very tough schedule and teams are going to be forcing Dak to beat them with mid to long range passes. Elliott may be just enough to hide his flaws against weak teams but I dont see Daks one dimensional passing game winning in the playoffs.He is going to have to open it up.

 

[Parcells4Life]

Just look at film. Even in the first 8 games his accuracy wasn’t very good. Look at the Giants, Broncos, Rams and Packer games.

Only reason they won vs Arizona was he started playing street ball in 2nd half and DLaw had one of the most dominating games ever.

He is NOT a QB that carries a team to a championship. He’s a QB that can get them there if everything else is perfect. I wouldn’t break the bank for him

 

[Aviano90]

He is NOT a QB that carries a team to a championship. He’s a QB that can get them there if everything else is perfect. I wouldn’t break the bank for him

Staubach, Aikman, and Romo weren’t either.

We have had a decade of Romo “carrying the team” but couldn’t do anything in the post season because he didn’t have a team. If someone dropped a pass they got blamed.

All the other Super Bowl winning QBs get a ton of help from their team, too. We can get a much better QB than Dak and the same statement about not being able to carry the team to a championship will apply.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

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.

His YPA was down more than a yard at the start of the season too WITH Zeke and Tyron too.

 

[Parcells4Life]

Staubach, Aikman, and Romo weren’t either.

We have had a decade of Romo “carrying the team” but couldn’t do anything in the post season because he didn’t have a team. If someone dropped a pass they got blamed.

All the other Super Bowl winning QBs get a ton of help from their team, too. We can get a much better QB than Dak and the same statement about not being able to carry the team to a championship will apply.

Aaron Rodgers won a SB leading the league with guys on IR.

Brady routinely plays with #2 WRs

While I get and agree with your premise, most other QBs don’t have such a drastic fall off when things go awry around them.

We’ll see this year if his accuracy issues are better. They likely won’t be totally fixed because he has a long way to go.

 

[Aviano90]

Aaron Rodgers won a SB leading the league with guys on IR.

Brady routinely plays with #2 WRs

While I get and agree with your premise, most other QBs don’t have such a drastic fall off when things go awry around them.

We’ll see this year if his accuracy issues are better. They likely won’t be totally fixed because he has a long way to go.

Glad you bring up Aaron Rodgers. I used to use him as an example when defending Tony Romo when his haters used to claim Romo wasn't good enough to carry the team to a championship. The rebuttal to that claim was no QB did and it still holds true.

Aaron Roders is a great QB, no doubt. But if you look at that SB run, he needed the defense to intercept the ball in the corner of the end zone to prevent a game winning TD drive by Vick and the Eagles in the WC game. In the NFC Championship game he was horrible. The defense carried him or else GB may have lost to the 2nd and 3rd string Bears QB's. In the SB he played well but still got huge plays from the defense to include a pick 6 and critical fumble recovery when Pittsburgh had taken the momentum in the game.

I get the desire to have a better QB than Dak. I don't get the desire for wanting a QB to be able to "carry a team to the championship". We have had a great QB that couldn't carry the team to a championship. Why do we want Dak to do it if Romo never could?

We need a team which makes plays when they need to in order to win games, to include the Quarterback.

 

[sbark]

Just look at film. Even in the first 8 games his accuracy wasn’t very good. Look at the Giants, Broncos, Rams and Packer games.

Only reason they won vs Arizona was he started playing street ball in 2nd half and DLaw had one of the most dominating games ever.

He is NOT a QB that carries a team to a championship. He’s a QB that can get them there if everything else is perfect. I wouldn’t break the bank for him

Malik Collins also got 2 sacks that game.....

Once teams took Beasley away, left the intermediate middle open, offense started sputtering, teams started copying. As BTB poster showed, Dak almost refused to throw into a NFL window between the hashes 15-25 range....teams notice that crap, and committ resources elsewhere--as in not dropping LB and creeping a S up to remove Beasley, which also puts them in position to stop the run game.

 

[HungryLion]

Aaron Rodgers won a SB leading the league with guys on IR.

Brady routinely plays with #2 WRs

While I get and agree with your premise, most other QBs don’t have such a drastic fall off when things go awry around them.

We’ll see this year if his accuracy issues are better. They likely won’t be totally fixed because he has a long way to go.

I would disagree and say that most young, second year QB’s do have drastic drop offs when things go as bad as they did around Dak.

Not defending Dak. He needs to get better. But these things can happen to young QB’s.

Also, I think everybody on this board would take Brady and Rodgers in a second. Myself included. Sign me up for one right now. The problem is finding QB’s that good.

There’s usually only 2-3 that good in the league at a time. And every team in the league is trying to find them. They are very rare players to find. In the meantime you have to build the rest of the team around them to have a chance to compete.


Also as good as Brady and Rodgers are, neither one of them have won a title with no help.

 

[jnday]

There was no slump. Dak simply went back to playing the way he has in his college days. His rookie season was a case of him playing well beyond his ability. He is showing the very reasons that kept him from being drafted much higher. He is a great kid on and off the field when it comes character, but he has always lacked accuracy and other traits that will keep him from being a top pro QB.

 

[4th_and_short]

They screwed up when they moved Green to OG. That was a big mistake.

As for Smith, I don't think the expectation was for him to be the full time MIKE last year. He was thrown into the fire when Hitchens went down.

You have to choose positions where you are going to go thin at with depth given the scarcity of talent and the cap. Sometimes you are just going to crap out although I think the defensive side of the ball is where you have the most attrition over time even with Marinelli's rotations.

I do think you are absolutely correct about the issues those two spots created with the horrific pass protection, run fits and coverage in the middle of the field.

I do think keeping Green at OT solves that problem for all the panic over the Falcons game. He had come off injury only a couple of weeks before and had two weeks to practice back at OT.

Unfortunately, this year is pretty bad in the draft for LB. There are not many good ones. Hitchens is in a great position.

Green was made to look a child against Atlanta’s not even second or third best defensive lineman. No excuses for that. The coaching staff didn’t give any help either, but he got his butt whooped that game in embarrassing fashion.

 

[Hadenough]

Staubach, Aikman, and Romo weren’t either.

We have had a decade of Romo “carrying the team” but couldn’t do anything in the post season because he didn’t have a team. If someone dropped a pass they got blamed.

All the other Super Bowl winning QBs get a ton of help from their team, too. We can get a much better QB than Dak and the same statement about not being able to carry the team to a championship will apply.

Staubach, Aikman, and Romo weren’t either.

We have had a decade of Romo “carrying the team” but couldn’t do anything in the post season because he didn’t have a team. If someone dropped a pass they got blamed.

All the other Super Bowl winning QBs get a ton of help from their team, too. We can get a much better QB than Dak and the same statement about not being able to carry the team to a championship will apply.

Usually a QQ that wins a SB catches fire and gets hot at some point at the end of the season and it carries into the playoffs. Romo reached his ceiling during the regular season but guys like Eli, Rothlisburger, Flacco, Brees, Rodgers, even Foles elevate thier game. But you have to have your supporting cast catch the ball and block too. The thing about Dak is I hate to say it but without the arm he is limited to how much he can raise his game.

 

[Hadenough]

Green was made to look a child against Atlanta’s not even second or third best defensive lineman. No excuses for that. The coaching staff didn’t give any help either, but he got his butt whooped that game in embarrassing fashion.

That Atlanta game really showed how dumb this coaching staff is. That is the worst type of handicap to try and overcome. All the talent in the world won't help a stupid game planning without adjustments.

 

[JDSmith]

Usually a QQ that wins a SB catches fire and gets hot at some point at the end of the season and it carries into the playoffs. Romo reached his ceiling during the regular season but guys like Eli, Rothlisburger, Flacco, Brees, Rodgers, even Foles elevate thier game. But you have to have your supporting cast catch the ball and block too. The thing about Dak is I hate to say it but without the arm he is limited to how much he can raise his game.

It's a good thing that Eli caught that ball on his helmet, dropped the easy interception against the Giants and held the Patriots to 17 points. Had any one of those things gone the other way he wouldn't have 'elevated' his play enough to win a Super Bowl in 2007.

 

[Hadenough]

It's a good thing that Eli caught that ball on his helmet, dropped the easy interception against the Giants and held the Patriots to 17 points. Had any one of those things gone the other way he wouldn't have 'elevated' his play enough to win a Super Bowl in 2007.

Just goes to show that you also need a little luck to go with a 8-1 TD to int ratio in the playoffs. For some reason he beat the Patriots a 2 nd time to prove he is capable. But the point is he is pedigree and those the type if QBs that seem to be good and lucky.

 

[DakBringMeBack]

Gonna leave this here:
https://clutchpoints.com/cowboys-news-jerry-jones-says-dak-prescott-will-get-extraordinary-contract/