At least now we know why they haven't been using Luepke in the red zone

[glimmerman]

i saw it as simply a rookie mistake. yeh bad timing and costly point of the game for the fumble turnover, cuz we
really needed those points by game's end.

maybe Hunter thought it was meant as a " play-fake" , and he was not meant to get the ball.
Will it likely happen again ? Likely not.

He did not fumble the ball when he scored from 9 yards out TD earlier game this season when given a chance in red zone,
and his size and run skills could come in handy. Don't give up on him from one mistake.

Not to mention this kid only had a few plays ALL SEASON LONG where he actually had the ball in his hands. He has had plenty of snaps where he blocks or takes up space as a decoy.

 

[Buzzbait]

It was unfortunate....I would still use him the way they were though...it looked good until the fumble.

Agreed. He's not the 1st guy to fumble and he won't be the last. I hated to see it too, but stuff happens. I doubt that anybody hates it more than Hunter Luepke does, but I'm certainly not going to write the guy off for one lousy fumble. If we wrote RBs off after 1 fumble we wouldn't have any RBs left. LOL
I hope we keep using the big guy regularly, he'll be OK.

 

[sbark]

i saw it as simply a rookie mistake. yeh bad timing and costly point of the game for the fumble turnover, cuz we
really needed those points by game's end.

maybe Hunter thought it was meant as a " play-fake" , and he was not meant to get the ball.
Will it likely happen again ? Likely not.

He did not fumble the ball when he scored from 9 yards out TD earlier game this season when given a chance in red zone,
and his size and run skills could come in handy. Don't give up on him from one mistake.

It’s good to see that so far no one is throwing anyone under the bus.
Thumbs up for all involved including MM

 

[kskboys]

A lot of us, myself included, have been calling for them to use the big guy on the goal line.

I suppose you could put some of the blame for that fumbled exchange on Dak but Dak has handed off probably about 10,000 times since he came into the league and only on THIS one did the back manage not to take the ball. I put most of the blame for that on the rook. He didn't clamp down when the ball hit his chest plate and basically left his arms separated. If it's not a read play as a back you are taught to TAKE the ball from the QB as soon as he puts it into your arms. That way it doesn't go bouncing around in the backfield. In my honest opinion I think the kid just froze in the moment. He was asked to do something significant in a meaningful juncture in the game and I think it got to him. Not the end of the world and I'm sure it will never happen again as long as he's in the league.. but that one hurt. The Cowboys should have had TDs on their first two drives and been up 14-3 after CeeDee's score. Probably would have been a very different game if that happens.

Do we? One play and you've got your mind made up?

 

[RonnieT24]

Do we? One play and you've got your mind made up?

The only thing my mind is made up about is that it has been a mistake not to be grooming the kid for this moment long ago. And hopefully they will keep him in the rotation going forward. Pollard showed me for the last time that he simply is not a goal line/short yardage runner. Something every team needs no matter what some idiot fans want to say. Leupke needs to be that guy for us. Which means they need to keep giving him opportunities to keep the moment from being to big for him. The error on that fumble was mental not physical. And that my friend is on the coaches. Either for not having him ready or not knowing he wasn't ready.

 

[Buzzbait]

I blame everyone for hypin up a fb to actually touch the ball. Its 2023 not 1976. Dowdle should have gotten that or qb sneak

I don't! Dowdle could've fumbled that ball as well. Stuff happens.

 

[VaqueroTD]

I agree with what I heard from some ex-players today and read from some folks here on the forum — why install this so heavy so late in the season??? it was great to watch but come on, why weren’t we doing this in week Six? One of the biggest games of the season and now we choose to play hunter almost every snap for the first series? Maybe dude doesn’t have it in him but maybe none of this happens if they had just tried it a little bit more in season when we’re struggling on the goal line instead of waiting until the end.

 

[DandyDon52]

A lot of us, myself included, have been calling for them to use the big guy on the goal line.

I suppose you could put some of the blame for that fumbled exchange on Dak but Dak has handed off probably about 10,000 times since he came into the league and only on THIS one did the back manage not to take the ball. I put most of the blame for that on the rook. He didn't clamp down when the ball hit his chest plate and basically left his arms separated. If it's not a read play as a back you are taught to TAKE the ball from the QB as soon as he puts it into your arms. That way it doesn't go bouncing around in the backfield. In my honest opinion I think the kid just froze in the moment. He was asked to do something significant in a meaningful juncture in the game and I think it got to him. Not the end of the world and I'm sure it will never happen again as long as he's in the league.. but that one hurt. The Cowboys should have had TDs on their first two drives and been up 14-3 after CeeDee's score. Probably would have been a very different game if that happens.

Well your leaving out coaching, he needs to be coached up better on hand offs, dak too.
The other thing is was he supposed to take that, or did he think dak would pull it out?? they wont say on that, so that is a possibility.
He was looking forward so he either thought dak was going to pull it, explains why he made no attempt to wrap it up, or he was focused too much on looking
for where to go with it, also means bad coaching.

also I SEE BAD PLAY selection at that point, your not fooling miami with that except your hand it to a guy who has only had 3 carrys all season,
a guy who hasnt handled the ball in weeks? Does that sound smart?
The ball if a handoff has to go to someone who does it on a regular basis.
To surprise them you do a play where you fake a handoff to pollard, let lupke do a block and drift outside and then throw to him and have no one else over there.
He should be open as he pulls off his block, then you have a td unless he drops it or dak throws a bad pass.

On plays like this it is rarely just on person that messed up , it is multiple people that messed up starting with mike , as he draws up plays and calls them,
and decided who was in, who gets the ball, and if they have been properly coached up for all plays and situations.

So no that play isnt lupkes fault it is on mike mainly. He put him and dak in a position they would most likely fail at a key point in the game.
mike is supposed to do the opposite.

 

[Gonzomandela01]

I wonder if it was an option play and Dak could have taken the ball if he saw something, not blaming Dak at all, but Leupke acted like he was not supposed to have the ball, he just kept running forward like it was play action or something.

 

[Mikexike]

It's on the Coach to understand situational football and put your best players in the position to succeed in those moments.

If only we had the best players.... We don't need pollard not giving enough effort to be stopped at the 1... lol

 

[32BellyOption]

It's on the Coach to understand situational football and put your best players in the position to succeed in those moments.

I agree. Late in the season, on the road isn’t the time to break in a rookie. This team is a 15 win team with good coaching. Maybe Jimmy can take the headset from MCCarthy this week.

 

[nightrain]

If only we had the best players.... We don't need pollard not giving enough effort to be stopped at the 1... lol

Pollard would have been better served lowering his head, but I can't complain about the Man's effort. The other dude gets paid to play as well. It was a good hit.

I agree. Late in the season, on the road isn’t the time to break in a rookie. This team is a 15 win team with good coaching. Maybe Jimmy can take the headset from MCCarthy this week.

Begeez, with all the blowout games they had, Luepke could have gotten a lot of totes before relying on him in that big of a spot.

 

[Mobinvans]

That fumble was just a fluke, happens to everyone

 

[32BellyOption]

Pollard would have been better served lowering his head, but I can't complain about the Man's effort. The other dude gets paid to play as well. It was a good hit.

Begeez, with all the blowout games they had, Luepke could have gotten a lot of totes before relying on him in that big of a spot.

I agree. The timing was odd and irresponsible.

 

[Mcsports]

The dude had 312 combined rushes and receptions in college. He only fumbled it twice.

 

[charron]

I'd only question the coach if he looked bad in practice. Coaches have got to use everyone on the 53 otherwise they hamstring themselves. Just have to be sure the rookies are ready for the moment. Run them hard in practice so these moments feel soft.

 

[blueblood70]

Agree
Takes some carries off of Pollard & Dowdle as we head into playoffs. Carries that can really put wear & tear on prime backs
I wonder if MM isn’t considering that.
Don’t need to get into playoffs without Pollard

like I said I hope what we saw in the last game continues to increase where they start using the fullback more start using the other backs more create a run game and start using it as practice at the very least but yeah get Pollard some rest he may not like it but right now we're supposed to be running back by committee and we're not using the rest of the running backs enough in my opinion it's taken away from pollard's burst

 

[Redsfan_83]

Here we go again....admit it or not each and every one of you were bat crazy ecstatic that we found our FB in the pre season, and finally had our guy to help us. He hasn't been used much and in this game used him effectively, so MM figured what could possibly happen? Well...that happened. This is what happens when Jerry and Son refused to go out and replace Zeke with some sort of ground and pound RB so the blame rest soley on them nobody else

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

A lot of us, myself included, have been calling for them to use the big guy on the goal line.

I suppose you could put some of the blame for that fumbled exchange on Dak but Dak has handed off probably about 10,000 times since he came into the league and only on THIS one did the back manage not to take the ball. I put most of the blame for that on the rook. He didn't clamp down when the ball hit his chest plate and basically left his arms separated. If it's not a read play as a back you are taught to TAKE the ball from the QB as soon as he puts it into your arms. That way it doesn't go bouncing around in the backfield. In my honest opinion I think the kid just froze in the moment. He was asked to do something significant in a meaningful juncture in the game and I think it got to him. Not the end of the world and I'm sure it will never happen again as long as he's in the league.. but that one hurt. The Cowboys should have had TDs on their first two drives and been up 14-3 after CeeDee's score. Probably would have been a very different game if that happens.

I think the fumble is on both Dak and Hunter. In this video, pause at the 7 second mark. Look atr how high the ball is given. Dak bounced it off his chest pads. It's at the same level as Hunter's arm pit. That ball has to go in his gut.

Hunter does have to get a handle on it, sure. Dak didn't make it easy.

FYI...just my opinion I'm no expert, never played one on TV never stayed at Holiday Inn Express.

 

[RonnieT24]

I think the fumble is on both Dak and Hunter. In this video, pause at the 7 second mark. Look atr how high the ball is given. Dak bounced it off his chest pads. It's at the same level as Hunter's arm pit. That ball has to go in his gut.

Hunter does have to get a handle on it, sure. Dak didn't make it easy.

FYI...just my opinion I'm no expert, never played one on TV never stayed at Holiday Inn Express.

The ball was given high because of Luepke's arm placement. The QB has to put the ball between the arms and his arms are high.



Again I chalk it up to inexperience in a big moment. It's as much on the coaches as it was on him.