News: BR: Tony Pollard: "I thought I would probably have a better year than I am now"

[Vinnie2u]

Cowboys need to stop using the Franchise tag.

 

[gimmesix]

But that's not what was happening last year. It's not like they ran Zeke 20 times at the defense and then Pollard would come it for a big play. Zeke and Pollard were splitting reps all game and Pollard had the same impact early as he did late.

What we see this year is a mix of his injury, blocking, and play calling.

He would have been great as a lead back last year (all other things equal).

I don't disagree with that, but it was because we had two backs that we trusted and defenses respected and we could use them to their strengths. I'd love to see a breakdown of how many of Pollard's runs last year were outside the tackles compared to this year. As I've said before, I'm not saying that Pollard is bad between the tackles, just that the strength of his play is using his speed and maneuverability in space.

If we would have made it a priority to get a strong inside runner to pair with him this year, then Pollard's numbers would have probably been better. Of course, like you said, we likely would have needed to adjust the blocking scheme some for that. For example, I believe we've used far less zone stretch and outside zone than Schottenheimer's used in previous stops.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

The guys in the top third of the league with a crappy blocking scheme, a dink & dunk pass game, while recovering from a horrible injury.

The Cowboys have the 4th best passing offense in terms of yards in the entire league. I don't know how you could possibly call that dink and dunk.

Pollard is still a good player, but due to a combination of poor run blocking and losing half a step after the injury, he has had a mildly disappointing season. People that say he sucks don't know what they're talking about.

 

[Beaker42]

I didn't. I've seen what happens to 2nd RB's when they are given the majority of snaps.

It wore Barber down. It exposed Joe Randal.

There is a big difference between coming in fresh to a fatigued defense after it's been pummeled by a power back behind an aggressive O-line and coming in play #1 when the defense is fresh, motivated and inspired.

You left out Felix Jones.

 

[cowboys5xsbs]

That's why the franchise tag is useful. His value plummeted and he is gone of coming back real cheap.

 

[quickccc]

I thought he would as long as he still had limits on his carries. I never thought he could be a workhorse.

But I suspect there is more to it than that. I think the O-Line is regressing, and I'm not convinced he was fully back to his old self after his ijury

Not only did McCarthy & co made Pollard into a workhouse, and they have not developed him
as a receiver outa the backfield. Something given his utility dayz at Memphis, and very few display as a receiver under Kellen ( ala the wheel route TD vs Vikes, and slot TD vs Lions years back)

As much as I flamed Kellen for not being a RB screen guy, or not involving the RBs in pass game much more, i did not imagine McCarthy was even worse,... really surprisingly especially given his past experience with RBs in pass game in GB, ala Aaron Jones, Ty Montgomery, Ahmad Green, etc.

 

[Silverz1972]

It’s never too late to change that.

 

[KJJ]

I thought he would as long as he still had limits on his carries. I never thought he could be a workhorse.

But I suspect there is more to it than that. I think the O-Line is regressing, and I'm not convinced he was fully back to his old self after his ijury

He benefited a lot from having Zeke start and soften up the defense. Now Pollard has that role and it’s contributed to wearing him down, along with the added carries. He currently has 235 carries compared to 193 last season. The OL hasn’t been good but our run blocking was an issue last season. There were plenty of games where it was like running into a wall. We ran the ball well early last season when Rush was QB but it regressed when Dak returned.

 

[noshame]

The Cowboys have the 4th best passing offense in terms of yards in the entire league. I don't know how you could possibly call that dink and dunk.

Pollard is still a good player, but due to a combination of poor run blocking and losing half a step after the injury, he has had a mildly disappointing season. People that say he sucks don't know what they're talking about.

It's called CeeDee Lamb RAC

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

It's called CeeDee Lamb RAC

Dak is 5th in air yards per attempt this season. It doesn't really get more definitive than that.

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/most-qb-air-yards-per-attempt-2023

 

[America's Cowboy]

We had endless debates about Elliott. Some he was right about and some he was wrong about. There were some things that did not need to be said the way that he said them, but that's neither here nor there.

The one thing I won't argue is that Elliott did not need to be kept for the amount Dallas was paying him. His play had slipped and injuries were starting to take their toll. I never had a problem with giving Pollard more carries, because he showed he deserved them or a bigger role. I didn't even have a problem with franchising him. My only contention was that having Elliott gave us a good 1-2 punch. Each player had a lane that they stayed in (although I felt we needed to give Elliott a few more outside runs the last year he was here). And I questioned whether Pollard could be as effective if we started asking him to do things that better suited Elliott.

Some of our fans get too caught up in backing a certain player, like things can't change for that player from year to year or they just have to be right about that player. I try not to get overly invested in any one player because I just want whatever is best for the team to make it great to help it win. The running back plan was clear to a lot of us that it was not best for the team. Elevating Pollard to starting back coming off a serious injury smelled of what we did with Gallup. Bringing in Ronald Jones II for cheap to be his primary backup smelled of what we just did with James Washington. I would have liked to hope that the front office learned from what it did with the receiver position in 2022, but it just repeated those mistakes at the running back position in 2023.

Spot on!

 

[Denim Chicken]

I don't disagree with that, but it was because we had two backs that we trusted and defenses respected and we could use them to their strengths. I'd love to see a breakdown of how many of Pollard's runs last year were outside the tackles compared to this year. As I've said before, I'm not saying that Pollard is bad between the tackles, just that the strength of his play is using his speed and maneuverability in space.

If we would have made it a priority to get a strong inside runner to pair with him this year, then Pollard's numbers would have probably been better. Of course, like you said, we likely would have needed to adjust the blocking scheme some for that. For example, I believe we've used far less zone stretch and outside zone than Schottenheimer's used in previous stops.

Here the run charts from his best games last year

 

[America's Cowboy]

CowboyRoy, now that you mention it where did he go?

CowboyRoy is no longer on CZ. Either he canceled his account or got permanently banned.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Different era...with fearsome o-line and HoF QB.

Having said that...Emmitt was one of the best ever. The team, scheme and coaching facilitated that.

Too bad Zeke couldn't get the same. Emmitt had a more sophisticated football mind, but they actually share a lot of attributes.

he carried the load, didn't slow down. even with the OL, and when you have a good OL, then you produce and produce he did. the fact that he didn't get injured until later in his career when he had so many carries, literally carrying the team and specially his toughness displayed in that Giants game. he was a beast.

 

[KJJ]

This FO dropped the ball not drafting a RB. Big time. And no Deuce doesn’t count. Pollard is a change of pace guy. Always has been. Even in college. They treated RB like they did WR last year. So expect a trade or FA pickup of a RB this off-season regardless how the season ends.

We should have drafted an RB earlier than we did. De’Von Achane who was drafted by Miami in the 3rd round has put up almost 750 yards and 7 TDs on just 93 carries. He’s averaging 8.0 a carry. He would have been a lot better pick than the second rounder we wasted on Schoonmaker.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Here the run charts from his best games last year

Yeah...I would have picked "his best games" too if I were you.

 

[gimmesix]

We should have drafted an RB earlier than we did. De’Von Achane who was drafted by Miami in the 3rd round has put up almost 750 yards and 7 TDs on just 93 carries. He’s averaging 8.0 a carry. He would have been a lot better pick than the second rounder we wasted on Schoonmaker.

I thought we needed to go running back in the second and tight end in the fourth because of the promise shown by Ferguson and Hendershot. I was wary of Achane, but he's having a good year. The player I wanted was Charbonnet but he was gone before we picked in the second. But some liked Tajae Spears and he's doing well in Tennessee, Achane. Kendre Miller also went in that range, but he hasn't done much for New Orleans.

 

[starfan1]

I thought we needed to go running back in the second and tight end in the fourth because of the promise shown by Ferguson and Hendershot. I was wary of Achane, but he's having a good year. The player I wanted was Charbonnet but he was gone before we picked in the second. But some liked Tajae Spears and he's doing well in Tennessee, Achane. Kendre Miller also went in that range, but he hasn't done much for New Orleans.

Im in the same camp. Furious with 23 draft but its water under the bridge and who know these early picks may pan out but i thought the war room crapped the bed this year and I usually love their drafting

 

[gimmesix]

Im in the same camp. Furious with 23 draft but its water under the bridge and who know these early picks may pan out but i thought the war room crapped the bed this year and I usually love their drafting

I was OK with the Mazi pick because I've been wanting us to seriously address the DT spots for years. He wasn't the player that I wanted, but I was glad to at least see them take a shot. Schoonmaker might develop into a really good tight end, so I'm not going to knock that. I just felt it wasn't a pressing need and we kind of forced it like it was.

 

[FVSTONE]

Most of Cowboy Nation thought Pollard was the ANSWER and it's clear now that the Boys got stuck with some damaged goods. However, with that said come next season when he's with another team he'll probably run for 150 yds if he's on our schedule.....LOL!!!!!