Cowboys are Giving Pollard a Heavier Load than Zeke in '22

[CalPolyTechnique]

Tony Pollard said he can handle it, I mean what was the old saying he had about call it ill haul it... lol

yes he's being used too much in short yardage and normal run between a Tackles plays

but hey everyone said he should be running back one they literally wanted the guy to be the starter,

they said he earned it they said that zeke Elliot was cheating him on the goal line and that all those touchdown zeke scored Tony could score I don't see it... wake up call for Tony Pollard he is not that same back,

that's why there are different levels of back some are like Elliot, and some are like Tony Pollard and Kamara guys like that you need to put them in more of a change of pace situation fresh legs...

You’re not watching the games if you really think we’ve had a bunch of goal line situations where Pollard was getting stuffed.

Folks make up narrative and run with them.

 

[erod]

Well it ain't working....

 

[RonnieT24]

You’re not watching the games if you really think we’ve had a bunch of goal line situations where Pollard was getting stuffed.

Folks make up narrative and run with them.

I dunno man.. the numbers say Pollard has ganged 12 yards on 17 carries in goal to go situations. That's a not so robust .7 ypc! Zeke has gained more yards (13) on 1/3 the carries (6) in that same situation. 2.2 yards a pop. I know they play on different teams but I promise you nobody on Earth thinks the Pats line is anywhere near as good as the Cowboys. Last year when they were on the same team behind the same line Pollard averaged 1.9 in goal to go situations with 3 TDs on 12 carries and Zeke averaged 2.0.. with 11 TDs on 26 carries. Clearly one guy is good at goal to go running and other is well.. not. But looking at the numbers.. maybe the narrative isn't all that made up.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Pathetic

Yep.

What's pathetic is people calling zeke trash when Tony has the same. They are either idiots or insane.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

You are ignoring the fact that Zeke was playing on an injured PCL which limited his snaps. Also, he rested during most of the final game.

Playing injured is no excuse.

he should have taken the Saquon Barkley route. Told them he ain't playing. I guess haters woulda hated THAT too.

 

[visionary]

Bottom line: shoulda traded for Henry

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I dunno man.. the numbers say Pollard has ganged 12 yards on 17 carries in goal to go situations. That's a not so robust .7 ypc! Zeke has gained more yards (13) on 1/3 the carries (6) in that same situation. 2.2 yards a pop. I know they play on different teams but I promise you nobody on Earth thinks the Pats line is anywhere near as good as the Cowboys. Last year when they were on the same team behind the same line Pollard averaged 1.9 in goal to go situations with 3 TDs on 12 carries and Zeke averaged 2.0.. with 11 TDs on 26 carries. Clearly one guy is good at goal to go running and other is well.. not. But looking at the numbers.. maybe the narrative isn't all that made up.

Link (see bold)?

Also, would you think YPC is a relevant stat for goal line situations, lool?

 

[T-RO]

After all, we want to compare Pollard to some of Zeke's best seasons and not his worse. correct?

The point of this thread was never to compare who deserves the heaviest load, or who is best capable of the heaviest load.

I simply believe Pollard is getting ground down unnecessarily, and wanted to show the numbers.

 

[T-RO]

What happened to Malik Davis?

He's on the roster still in some capacity.

 

[Buzzbait]

Or maybe the run blocking schemes are trash and blocking 4 guys with 3 linemen isn’t a good idea.

Totally agree 17. When our OL starts effectively run blocking we'll start seeing a more effective running game. People keep blaming Pollard and our running backs, how about blaming our OL for a change.

 

[AbeBeta]

Playing injured is no excuse.

he should have taken the Saquon Barkley route. Told them he ain't playing. I guess haters woulda hated THAT too.

haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

 

[plasticman]

The point of this thread was never to compare who deserves the heaviest load, or who is best capable of the heaviest load.

I simply believe Pollard is getting ground down unnecessarily, and wanted to show the numbers.

The point of this thread was never to compare who deserves the heaviest load, or who is best capable of the heaviest load.

I simply believe Pollard is getting ground down unnecessarily, and wanted to show the numbers.

I realize this. I am saying that you are not comparing Pollard's numbers to a typical starting RB if you are comparing him to Zeke in 2022. Although Zeke was the starter, they limited him to only 43.5% of the total carries last season because they planned on using Pollard more often, which they did.

In fact, in 2022, Zeke only had 38 more carries than Pollard. This is also true when it comes to Zeke's receptions. A starting RB typically carries the ball around 60% of the teams total number of carries. In 2022 Zeke had already been demoted from RB1 to RB1A while Pollard was RB1B.

This is why I placed the more realistic expectations of a starting RB as the average of Zeke's middle seasons where he carries the ball around 300 times and caught the ball around another 50 times each season. These are the numbers that should be used and they say that Pollard is being underutilized so far this season.

 

[T-RO]

I realize this. I am saying that you are not comparing Pollard's numbers to a typical starting RB if you are comparing him to Zeke in 2022.

For comparison I included the most heavily-utilized back of 2023, Travis Etienne. Etienne has been utilized in 81% of his team's offensive snaps, which is well above average for lead back utilization (as you accurately noted w/your 60% estimation).

In my database I have 5 teams at this point. Pollard is the 2nd heaviest back in load/utilization.

 

[T-RO]

Pollard is definitely not being "under-utilized". Far from it in two of his games.

Looking at full league data...Here are some of the guys with the most carries per game in 2023:
Travis Etienne...18.8 carries
Derrick Henry...17.1 carries
Christian McCaffrety...17.1 carries (tied w/Henry)
Tony Pollard...15.4
Gus Edwards...13.1
Najee Harris...12.5
Raheem Mostert...12.1

 

[T-RO]

I've been refining my graph/report in several ways.

Anyone want to see Load Factor...Pollard versus Derrick Henry? It's s*u*r*p*r*i*s*i*n*g.

(Not sure if anyone is still checking in on this thread).

 

[Typhus]

i agree and also hunter needs some extra carries as well...

I believe we start seeing more touches for Leupke, he is doing well on special teams and could immediately be a benefit in short yardage and goal line.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Cowboys should let Pollard go in the off season, just draft a back and upgrade the oline as well.

 

[blueblood70]

Cowboys should let Pollard go in the off season, just draft a back and upgrade the oline as well.

You do realize that's usually what the franchise tag means I mean it's the same thing with Dalton Schultz gonna happen that was the plan he's not gonna be here next year.. I know it's hindsight but they had to do it all over again it would have been better to had signed him for like 2 years $12 million and if he refused it let him walk because if you look at the running back situations in the NFL a lot of the guys who signed who are veterans and who are solid top ten running backs they got less than 7 million per year we paid this guy $10 million and while he's effective he needs to lose carries as well as snaps in order to be himself therefore he's back to being the number two technically and we have no clear cut number one so we need to do a full running back by committee and start giving a lot of the other guys some time on the field for sure...

 

[blueblood70]

I dunno man.. the numbers say Pollard has ganged 12 yards on 17 carries in goal to go situations. That's a not so robust .7 ypc! Zeke has gained more yards (13) on 1/3 the carries (6) in that same situation. 2.2 yards a pop. I know they play on different teams but I promise you nobody on Earth thinks the Pats line is anywhere near as good as the Cowboys. Last year when they were on the same team behind the same line Pollard averaged 1.9 in goal to go situations with 3 TDs on 12 carries and Zeke averaged 2.0.. with 11 TDs on 26 carries. Clearly one guy is good at goal to go running and other is well.. not. But looking at the numbers.. maybe the narrative isn't all that made up.

They don't want to admit last year when they were telling fans and the rest of the fan base and the coaches how Pollard was being cheated I mean you're saying Tony easily would have scored those touchdowns if given the chance and we said otherwise he is not a goal line or short yardage guy sure occasionally he can get one but go back to his last five games last year and his first seven games this year how many touchdowns does the guy scored he lost his burst he's needs fresh legs to be himself and he is not the guy to replace elliott's short yardage and touchdowns and now we have proof..

We all love Tony Pollard as a change of pace running back with fresh legs he's dangerous he's just now the way they're using him he's effective but we didn't pay him $10 million to be effective... I believe they need to give a whole bunch of carries and snaps spread out over some more players in that backfield and get Tony back to at least have the opportunity gonna have some burst back and some longer plays...

We all said it the little group who knows Ezekiel Elliott and was trying to give Ezekiel Elliott his credit and nobody wanted to hear it they called the guy washed but in reality when healthy his first halves of the last two seasons in 2021 and 2022 he was at 4.8 yards per carry and a lot more touchdowns that means he was more effective in the number one role then Tony Pollard even an older allegedly washed up Elliot was better than Tony Pollard in those situations and yes we realize Elliott needed to be cut or have his contract completely redone it didn't happen but now we have proof it's not that easy to be the number one running back who is used the way Mike McCarthy in this offense uses running backs they want the dude to hammer up inside constantly and that is not Tony Pollard... Now you add in the offensive line isn't doing what they normally do and EZ21 had to deal with this for the last three Four Seasons we have all the proof we need,

sometimes this is what it takes just show the fan base that they were wrong about Elliott sure he was at the end of his career and he was overpaid but the man did a lot more for this team even in the last two seasons then they're giving him credit for it and when you get close to 900 yards and 12 touchdowns on a bad leg two seasons in a row and yet the yards per carry in those first halves of both the last two seasons were better than Tony Pollard it shows that the fans need to stop the nonsense when they call players washed or bad or they want them gone and then realize it's not always better once they're gone...

Now I'm not sure about Rojo if he would have been able to do a little bit more but we will never know now because the guy got himself suspended and injured...

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

That's because we have no one we want out there this year as much as we did Pollard last year. Some fans here scream for Dowdle to get more carries, but it isn't like Dowdle is tearing it up. He's averaging just 3.8 per carry in a role where Pollard averaged 5.2 last year.

The Cowboys did a very poor job of planning at running back this year.

And it was so predictable.