Bob Sturm on Dak

[The Natural]

Dak just doesn’t have the mental makeup to succeed in pressure situations that the playoffs present. When he said this after losing to the Cardinals in week 3 I knew he just couldnt cut the dijon: “I’m sure the media got what it wanted”. What kind of weak crap is that from a leader

 

[CowboyStar88]

Dak isn’t bad. He’s just not good enough. After the first two drives, everyone here knew what was about to happen. Dak had nowhere to go. Not because his receivers are poor. Not because his protection is poor. Not because of play calling. He simply lacks the arm talent to beat certain coverages consistently. It’s been eight years. It’s only going to get worse.

He has arm talent though. He can sling the rock, for me he struggles with ball placement and that’s why he struggles to beat certain coverages. It’s maddening because he does it, but he’s just not consistent enough at it.

 

[CowboyStar88]

By Pro Football Reference's stats, Dak had the highest OnTarget% in the league.
He doesn't lack arm talent. He has developed the kind of touch and ball placement you see a lot of the good QBs develop with significant experience.
After Lamb, our WRs are Cooks, Gallup, and Tolbert. Pretty damn meh. Our punt returner has been *significantly* more effective on a QB rating basis than those 3.
Dak started the game off target and out of sorts, but the lack wasn't in his arm.
Dak was up front about playing poorly. I haven't heard the press corps ask him if he had any theories why. Were we trying to do something different than usual on offense? Did GB do something that surprised him? That other teams hadn't done this season?

He said something to the effect that the coverage they showed pre-snap was not the same post snap.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Hate to see the name calling though. Someone might follow their lead and get benched without knowing that’s not ok

I don’t want to get benched, so I’ll try and craft my response carefully. I absolutely agree with you about being benched for name calling, but that’s IF it’s applied evenly.

 

[buybuydandavis]

It’s not one game, though. It’s literally every game against heavy zone defenses that aren’t terrible—for eight years.

Time to move on.

Maybe it is to move on.
There's an argument for that, and you've made it. I put it differently in other posts, but I think we see the same weakness in Dak's game. He has trouble with zones and mixed coverages. Doesn't see where the receiver is *going* to very well.
The counter argument is that while Dak still has a weakness, most QBs do, and those that don't can't be ordered from Amazon. And more than most QBs, Dak has shown he can significantly improve his game. Are the chances with Dak *worse* than the alternative?

My ideal long term QB strategy is to continually churn down draft QBs and QB retreads until you hit on one. Particularly running QBs. Build the rest of the team but QB on the cheap. Only think about paying free agent money when the rest of the team is ready.
I've said this for years, and wanted to move on from Dak to pursue that strategy in other years. But Dak really has improved major aspects of his game, and I think he's almost worth the free agent money he requires. And the rest of the team is close as well. We're not perfect at every position, but we're strong on both sides of the ball. The main weakness is right up the gut on defense, but much of that could have been fixed *this* year by playing Parsons at MLB. Still need better play at DT, though.

But I was responding to a post with two false claims with two counter claims - that Dak does have arm talent, and our WRs past Lamb are meh. If you disagree with those, have at it.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

Maybe it is to move on.
There's an argument for that, and you've made it. I put it differently in other posts, but I think we see the same weakness in Dak's game. He has trouble with zones and mixed coverages. Doesn't see where the receiver is *going* to very well.
The counter argument is that while Dak still has a weakness, most QBs do, and those that don't can't be ordered from Amazon. And more than most QBs, Dak has shown he can significantly improve his game. Are the chances with Dak *worse* than the alternative?

My ideal long term QB strategy is to continually churn down draft QBs and QB retreads until you hit on one. Particularly running QBs. Build the rest of the team but QB on the cheap. Only think about paying free agent money when the rest of the team is ready.
I've said this for years, and wanted to move on from Dak to pursue that strategy in other years. But Dak really has improved major aspects of his game, and I think he's almost worth the free agent money he requires. And the rest of the team is close as well. We're not perfect at every position, but we're strong on both sides of the ball. The main weakness is right up the gut on defense, but much of that could have been fixed *this* year by playing Parsons at MLB. Still need better play at DT, though.

But I was responding to a post with two false claims with two counter claims - that Dak does have arm talent, and our WRs past Lamb are meh. If you disagree with those, have at it.

Dak’s arm talent is limited for an NFL QB. That’s why he fell to the fourth round. That’s why his foot work and technique have to be absolutely perfect.

Brandin Cooks was a perennial 1000 yard receiver prior to coming to Dallas. Ferguson is a young, up and coming TE. He has a legitimate number one receiver and a safety valve tight end. Jordan Love definitely doesn’t have the first, and it’s debatable he has the second.

Your argument is based on a single, cherry-picked, PFF stat. To his credit, Dak is generally risk averse. If he knows he can’t make the throw, he won’t throw it. Usually. On the flip side, this leads to a lot of happy feet at the top of his drops. He won’t throw the ball away. Instead, he walks into sacks unless someone happens to break open. He gets away with this until the playoffs. That’s why his numbers tend to go down and interceptions tend to go up.

 

[vig454]

Yeah man y'all tripping now y'all trolling. How y'all happy we lost is some crazy **** that I can't even process lol. And then you got the nerve to have a avatar of Micah Parson who has choked just as much as Dak over the last 3 years lol.

Dak does suck.

 

[zeke21]

Dak’s arm talent is limited for an NFL QB. That’s why he fell to the fourth round. That’s why his foot work and technique have to be absolutely perfect.

Brandin Cooks was a perennial 1000 yard receiver prior to coming to Dallas. Ferguson is a young, up and coming TE. He has a legitimate number one receiver and a safety valve tight end. Jordan Love definitely doesn’t have the first, and it’s debatable he has the second.

Your argument is based on a single, cherry-picked, PFF stat. To his credit, Dak is generally risk averse. If he knows he can’t make the throw, he won’t throw it. Usually. On the flip side, this leads to a lot of happy feet at the top of his drops. He won’t throw the ball away. Instead, he walks into sacks unless someone happens to break open. He gets away with this until the playoffs. That’s why his numbers tend to go down and interceptions tend to go up.

Spot on.

You simply can't use stats to analyse Dak. He stat pads way too much and has such vastly inferior opposition to make it meaningful.

You have to be able to watch and analyse Dak's play rationally. It has been a forgotten point all too often about the weapons at Daks disposal. What I would like to know is how anyone can justify that Dak makes receivers look worse. Again I use the Romo comparison as that seems to be common around here.. but Romo made average guys look better.. he makes Dez look like an all pro.. witten becomes all pro TE.. miles austin.. Cole Beasley.. I mean there were so many guys that Romo made look better.. guys that then usually went and got paid elsewhere and came back to earth with a thud. Dak is the opposite.. Cooks is a highly rated WR.. he has shown that no matter what scheme, what QB.. he can put 1K yards up. We made him look like trash for large parts of the season. HOW many times did we see Cooks behind the defenders with a run to the endzone and the pass just didn't get to him? Too many. Ferg is a legit TE1.. could be as good as a Kelce et al. Lamb is a genuine star WR. Bone Fide. Then you sprinkle in Tolbert, Gallup etc for some options.

I mean with this many weapons and 3 pro bowlers on your OLine.. I am still in shock how you **** that up so badly.

Daks arm talent is very limited and always has been. No way he makes the throws that Love made.. that side arm sling to the 3rd (or 4th?) TD was just a thing of beauty.. pressure up the middle, backing out of the pocket and he flicks his wrist, threads the needle between 3 defenders and nails his receiver on the chest. Pure Clase. Dak just simple can not do that. He can't.

Not to mention the dumb situational football he plays.. we still haven't really started to talk about the stupid sack he took to get us OUT of FG range.. the decision to throw short of the line on the last play of the first half (I know we got away with it due to penalty but it was dumb). Or the play he stuffed up because he passed on the goal line instead of running it in.. and thus we give away a penalty. The Hail Mary that went over the end zone.. I've just never seen that before.. just never. He is not accurate. All his throws require the receiver to really work for it. Always has been that way,

Stats will never tell the full story for Dak.