Bewildered over Cowboy nation these days

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Elliott is not faster than DMC.

I think the comparisons to Tomlinson are overly optimistic.

We have far bigger needs, not only presently, but long term, than a RB.

We could have traded down with the Ravens who were NOT going to pick EE (it's been confirmed by multiple sources) and still gotten the same guy plus a 4th round pick. Could have easily sweetened the pot to get Lynch.

I don't see the adulation over EE. Seems like a great collegiate player, not sure that his stuff translates to the pros. His SPARQ score was pretty abysmal. That doesn't mean he can't play, but it means the comparisons to Peterson are a stretch.

We probably could not have screwed up this draft any worse than we did. I hope I'm wrong, but it sucks because if I'm not wrong, it's going to be a L-O-N-G five years to come.







YR

Yeah his jump scores belie the narrative of him being a powerful runner.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Tell me about it if and when it happens and save the woulda, coulda, shoulda's.

To be worth the huge investment, he needs to significantly outperform Murray's 2014 numbers.

Heck, even McFadden was able to get 1,100 yards, and that was with no quarterback or passing game to speak of.

One like is not enough. Pretty soon Zeke will be curing cancer.

 

[jday]

It's truly stunning.

A year ago, people around here were disgusted about signing Darren McFadden. Too old, too injury-prone, too slow, no production, 4th string on the Raiders, just a guy to give Joseph Randle a break. Nothing but a flyer and damage control.

Dallas was being disloyal to the greatness of Demarco Murray, and stupid to let him get away to an arch rival for $8 million a year. Dallas should have given this 27-year-old running back what he had earned the prior year, even though he'd never really done anything like that before (and probably wouldn't again).

The angst was rightly palpable, especially after a draft that yielded no answers.

Fast forward a year...

Many of these same people now claim McFadden is all the Cowboys needed behind this offensive line. Suddenly, he's a spring chicken with 300 carries easy in his body, and he would have delivered this time in the clutch, not just in meaningless games and garbage time. Alfred Morris would have added to the greatness, despite the fact Washington said "no thanks" just like Oakland did to McFadden. Other teams trash is suddenly our stolen treasure.

Drafting a 20-year-old phenom likened to Ladanian Tomlinson was a wasted pick. That's the gobbledygook being slopped around local radio and these boards.

The amazingly ridiculous suggestion is that Elliott won't be measurably more successful behind this offensive line than the two journeymen cast-offs. Never mind that Elliott is much faster, more powerful, vastly laterally quicker, better built, a better blocker, and a significantly better receiver than both of both of the vets combined. All that with a new set of Michelins, and a lesser price tag than Murray.

With a healthy Romo, this will now be the best offense in football. But never mind that. Wasted pick.

The stat dorks will point to McFadden's meaningless yards. They'll ignore the situational aspects of what it means to defend plays against a superstar back versus a scrap-heap guy. They'll ignore Elliott's propensity to score touchdowns, which McFadden has seldom done. They'll ignore the great likelihood that McFadden would have gotten hurt again, for the umpteenth time, any day now.

Fans around the division wanted to throw bricks through their TVs. The whole league is shaking their heads in disgust about what Elliott adds to this offense. Cowboy haters are none to happy because it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to do the math.

Apparently, we're running low on rocket surgeons these days. I expect it from local media, who are clawing and scratching for relevance and audience these days. But from the common Cowboys fans, especially those who watched what Dorsett and Emmitt did here, it's befuddling to put it kindly.

Six months from now, you'll nary here a whisper about it again. Elliott will be the brightest rookie star, and nobody except Jacksonville fans will be uttering the name of Jalen Ramsey. The NFC East will see the Cowboys in first place, and be dreading the next many years of facing Elliott and this monster line.

In the meantime, I think I need to invest in ear muffs. (Cue the Old School memes.)

Great write-up as usual erod but I'm curious about the math a rocket surgeon does...

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

It is not guaranteed, but it's about 90 percent certain.

Ramsey is about 55 percent certain to be a star. Goff and Wentz are about 10 percent.

I like the odds.

Making up stats is fun! Just because you think that does not make it so. You have no basis for those figures. The percentage of success for top 10 RB this past decade is abysmal.

 

[erod]

Tell me about it if and when it happens and save the woulda, coulda, shoulda's.

To be worth the huge investment, he needs to significantly outperform Murray's 2014 numbers.

Heck, even McFadden was able to get 1,100 yards, and that was with no quarterback or passing game to speak of.

I couldn't care less about numbers.

If he rushes for 1,200 yards, but teams play tight on the line of scrimmage and bite on every play fake, and Dez goes for 110 catches and 15 touchdowns, then the impact will be there.

If Romo takes far fewer sacks because teams are afraid to blitz, the impact will be there.

It's always about points, not stats.

 

[erod]

Making up stats is fun! Just because you think that does not make it so. You have no basis for those figures. The percentage of success for top 10 RB this past decade is abysmal.

That's half the point. I hate stats. They mean almost nothing.

Points and wins. That's all that matters.

Elliott figures to add to more of both, as Casserly and Polian and Riddick all have said about him.

 

[jday]

You don't get it because you don't want to get it. This discussion is really about financials. This has never, ever, been about the players abilities. Everybody knows that Elliot has talent. The question is, is it talent that is worth the money you will need to spend for it and would you be better served if you took a player like Booker in the 4th round and used that 4th over all for a player at another position?

That's the issue. All the rest you posted is really trying to paint a very specific picture that suites an angle.

Flaws abound in your 20/20 hindsight draft plan. 1st you assume that the cowboys should have known Booker would be there and 2 you assume we should be OK with Booker protecting Romo on 3rd and long. The perspective of the cowboys was if you are going to draft RB in the first four rounds you better know he is better than anyone you already have and that he can be a 3 down player. As the best blocking RB in the draft Zeke was the obvious choice and it's not even close.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

That burst is nice, and I hope he doesn't lose it anytime soon. Murray was a different build, and he lost it early on.

But great backs do more than just run for 80-yard touchdowns. Murray had poor vision at times, and never grasped the importance of ball security. The way he held the ball drove me nuts and it bit Dallas badly in Green Bay.

Elliott does everything well. Especially the little things. I see a career very similar to Emmitt's in role and purpose. He'll be the same impetus as Emmitt was.

Watch the attitude of the offense change now. Just like it did with Emmitt.

Emmitt. LaDainian. Peterson.

That's what you keep throwing out.

When your pick has to be some combination of all those for it to be justified.... You've goofed.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

That's half the point. I hate stats. They mean almost nothing.

Points and wins. That's all that matters.

Elliott figures to add to more of both, as Casserly and Polian and Riddick all have said about him.

Points and wins are just different stats. And whether or not you like stats is besides the point of reality and correlation. Name dropping isn't going to change that.

Points and stats are interrelated and I can make big bolded sentences too.

 

[DandyDon52]

I wanted to keep murray, and wanted to draft elliot.
The only way we could get him for sure was to take him at 4.
4 is high for a RB, but it just worked out that way.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Flaws abound in your 20/20 hindsight draft plan. 1st you assume that the cowboys should have known Booker would be there and 2 you assume we should be OK with Booker protecting Romo on 3rd and long. The perspective of the cowboys was if you are going to draft RB in the first four rounds you better know he is better than anyone you already have and that he can be a 3 down player. As the best blocking RB in the draft Zeke was the obvious choice and it's not even close.

LOL...... It's pretty easy to assume that Booker would be there in, at least, the 2nd round, if not the 4th. I'm guessing you don't really know anything about Booker do you? He is an excellent blitz pickup RB. He is a three down RB. Neither of these things are even debatable.

This is the problem. Too may Elliot fans believe that he was the only answer when in fact, that's just not true. Was he the best prospect? Yes. Was he the only good prospect? No.

 

[jnday]

I hope he is transcendent.

He doesn't wow me so much as a runner that I'd spend a top 10 pick on him but to each his own.


Again, I like the player but I see him as horrible value. Hopefully he proves me wrong and produces like Peterson without the Peterson injuries.

He has to be a game changer.

I am a big supporter of having a great RB with this great oline, but I have not been as sold on Zeke as other RBs in years past. I have stated that several times. I hope he is going to be a great all around RB. I don't get the support for a DB with the 4th pick at all. If anything , Bosa would have been my defensive pick because the pass rush is the problem and a DE will have more impact than any DB. Dallas has tried building the defense with addressing the DBs first and it has failed every single time. The only way to improve the defense is to start on the line, just like they did with the offense. It is all about the trenches.

 

[jnday]

LOL...... It's pretty easy to assume that Booker would be there in, at least, the 2nd round, if not the 4th. I'm guessing you don't really know anything about Booker do you? He is an excellent blitz pickup RB. He is a three down RB. Neither of these things are even debatable.

This is the problem. Too may Elliot fans believe that he was the only answer when in fact, that's just not true. Was he the best prospect? Yes. Was he the only good prospect? No.

He seemed to be the best prospect this year by a wide margin if you look at the next next RB selected. It seemed to be s weak RB draft class compared to many drafts.

 

[erod]

Points and wins are just different stats. And whether or not you like stats is besides the point of reality and correlation. Name dropping isn't going to change that.

Points and stats are interrelated and I can make big bolded sentences too.

LOL, why yes you can.

TOP is a dumb stat. It sometimes tells a story, but often times it just means it takes one team longer than the other to score. When Alan Ball was here, he really helped our TOP because he gave up touchdowns in a hurry.

Yardage is also often meaningless because the losing team often racks up tons of passing yards late in games. It also doesn't reflect defensive and special teams scores, which don't count in total yardage.

First downs are misleading because an 80-yard touchdown counts as a first down, and so does a 1-yard touchdown on first and goal.

Even punt average is misleading because one guy is punting from his own 20 all day, and the other guy is trying to pin teams inside the 10 from the 50.

I care about turnovers, 3rd-down percentage on both sides, and the final score. THOSE are the most inter-related.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

He seemed to be the best prospect this year by a wide margin if you look at the next next RB selected. It seemed to be s weak RB draft class compared to many drafts.

I've seen this argument that he's the best prospect in a decade.

He's not even the best prospect in the last 12 months.

And I don't think he'd be the top prospect next year.

Quite unfortunate.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

He seemed to be the best prospect this year by a wide margin if you look at the next next RB selected. It seemed to be s weak RB draft class compared to many drafts.

I don't think this is an indicator of much to be honest. I think that clearly, he was the best this year. However, this was a very deep RB draft and because the position is undervalued in the league, they just don't go as high. Now, it could be that the difference was this great but I will tell you, I've seen Booker play in person. He is a very, very good RB. I think he could have good career in the NFL.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

LOL, why yes you can.

TOP is a dumb stat. It sometimes tells a story, but often times it just means it takes one team longer than the other to score. When Alan Ball was here, he really helped our TOP because he gave up touchdowns in a hurry.

Yardage is also often meaningless because the losing team often racks up tons of passing yards late in games. It also doesn't reflect defensive and special teams scores, which don't count in total yardage.

First downs are misleading because an 80-yard touchdown counts as a first down, and so does a 1-yard touchdown on first and goal.

Even punt average is misleading because one guy is punting from his own 20 all day, and the other guy is trying to pin teams inside the 10 from the 50.

I care about turnovers, 3rd-down percentage on both sides, and the final score. THOSE are the most inter-related.

All you need to do is look at passing differential to determine who won most of the time.

In fact with the Cowboys the team that was the most efficient passer won 37 of 38 games.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I don't think this is an indicator of much to be honest. I think that clearly, he was the best this year. However, this was a very deep RB draft and because the position is undervalued in the league, they just don't go as high. Now, it could be that the difference was this great but I will tell you, I've seen Booker play in person. He is a very, very good RB. I think he could have good career in the NFL.

25 of 32 starting running backs last year weren't 1st rounders. Yet we had to blow 4 to "get back" to 2014.

Meanwhile in 2014 our RB was a 3rd rounder.

It's a joke argument.

 

[TheCount]

So many people have already made up their mind that Zeke is going to the HOF, don't even see the point in his suiting up for the regular season, just send him his gold jacket in the mail and move on.

 

[Philmonroe]

Now go look at the RB's since the position has been devalued and how many quality RB's you can get throughout the draft.

RB's are a dime a dozen. You don't have to take a hit on quality either because you can find quality RB's throughout the draft.


Forte, Charles, Miller, Murray, McCoy, Rice, Hyde, Foster, and the list goes on and on.

Look at David Johnson a year ago.. We should've been all over that.



I hope Zeke produces at a level that validates the pick but it will be tough and I think there will be guys drafted later on that produce similar results.

I'm pumped about Zeke though. I really am. I think it was a fun draft day move but probably not the smartest move.

Good ole half stats with bold. For all of these guys you mentioned its probably just as many that busted so you really have no point? Using that logic might as well trade your first pick every year and just get more picks since its soooo easy to get this all pro talent in later rounds. Then you add in you don't even know who's going to be where but its always all these awesome options. Also thanks for listing one RB from last year that did something when you know good and dang well it was more than that that didn't do much.