Dak’s fumbling issues

[Nav22]

Obviously, Dak needs to get better in his regard. The good news is that his predecessor also had a fumbling issue early in his career until he committed himself to holding onto the ball with 2 hands when the pocket is collapsing around him.

Tony Romo had a whopping 32 fumbles in his first 3 seasons as the starter (39 games).... and 33 fumbles for the REST OF HIS CAREER (88 more starts), finishing with 65 total.

In 2008 (Romo’s 3rd season as the starter), he had 13 fumbles in 13 games. Yikes.

Something changed for him in the ensuing offseason, because he had just 6 fumbles in 16 games in 2009.

Dak had 9 fumbles as a rookie, just 4 last season and 11 this season.

His INT totals have fluctuated similarly: 4, 13, 5. So it seems that he forced more passes last season and is correcting that by being more conservative/taking more sacks this season.

Fixing the fumbling issue will go a long way in making Dak a better QB, since it appears that he’s back to being the guy who simply refuses to throw the ball into harm’s way. That’s his next step.

 

[Ranching]

Get the OL back at full speed, those fumbles will go down. He does need to learn to step up in the pocket and not try to spn out of it every time.

 

[rynochop]

They are frustrating as well as the sacks..he's such a good runner but completely sucks at avoiding sacks..weird

 

[Cydios]

I think he's been used to our dominant oline in the past. We've never really seen his pocket presence. He gets very walleyed out there.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

How many fumbles were ball tips by defensive players? Just me but the fumbling doesn't bother me nearly as much number times he's getting sacked.

 

[JW82]

Maybe he needs to consider gloves. Too many drops without contact.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Obviously, Dak needs to get better in his regard. The good news is that his predecessor also had a fumbling issue early in his career until he committed himself to holding onto the ball with 2 hands when the pocket is collapsing around him.

Tony Romo had a whopping 32 fumbles in his first 3 seasons as the starter (39 games).... and 33 fumbles for the REST OF HIS CAREER (88 more starts), finishing with 65 total.

In 2008 (Romo’s 3rd season as the starter), he had 13 fumbles in 13 games. Yikes.

Something changed for him in the ensuing offseason, because he had just 6 fumbles in 16 games in 2009.

Dak had 9 fumbles as a rookie, just 4 last season and 11 this season.

His INT totals have fluctuated similarly: 4, 13, 5. So it seems that he forced more passes last season and is correcting that by being more conservative/taking more sacks this season.

Fixing the fumbling issue will go a long way in making Dak a better QB, since it appears that he’s back to being the guy who simply refuses to throw the ball into harm’s way. That’s his next step.

good point. it seems when dak fumbles he tends to hold the ball low...that's why they teach QBs to hold the ball high and shorten the release as well.

 

[Nova]

He needs to hold the ball higher

 

[Creeper]

Dak seems slow to recognize the pocket is collapsing around him. Maybe he is trying to hard to stand in there and find the open guy or maybe he just doesn't see it The fumbles are bad but they are really bad in the red zone. So are the sacks. He need to recognize the pressure and where its coming from. Then he needs to secure the football at all costs. Tuck it in and go down if necessary but in the red zone he has to protect the football.

Dak holds the ball too long. There was one third down play last night where it was obvious the Saints were coming with a blitz. Dak didn't see it, or at least he didn't react like he saw it. He stood there holding the ball and got sacked. When he sees the blitz he has to get rid of it even if it means throwing it at someone's feet or out of bounds. Equally annoying though are the holding calls by the offensive line. I think they had 3 more last night. Every one of those is a drive killer. Going into next year they have to resolve Tyron Smith's and Travis Frederick's health issues, get Connor Williams to bulk up, and work on La'el Collins' technique when pass blocking.

 

[droopdog7]

It's ball security and Dak clearly has issues. I can say is hopefully he can get over this with experience.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Maybe he needs to consider gloves. Too many drops without contact.

Name them. Name those fumbles without contact. Let's see if they truly are "too many".

 

[America's Cowboy]

Dak seems slow to recognize the pocket is collapsing around him. Maybe he is trying to hard to stand in there and find the open guy or maybe he just doesn't see it The fumbles are bad but they are really bad in the red zone. So are the sacks. He need to recognize the pressure and where its coming from. Then he needs to secure the football at all costs. Tuck it in and go down if necessary but in the red zone he has to protect the football.

Dak holds the ball too long. There was one third down play last night where it was obvious the Saints were coming with a blitz. Dak didn't see it, or at least he didn't react like he saw it. He stood there holding the ball and got sacked. When he sees the blitz he has to get rid of it even if it means throwing it at someone's feet or out of bounds. Equally annoying though are the holding calls by the offensive line. I think they had 3 more last night. Every one of those is a drive killer. Going into next year they have to resolve Tyron Smith's and Travis Frederick's health issues, get Connor Williams to bulk up, and work on La'el Collins' technique when pass blocking.

You're talking about the blitz where the Saints overwhelmed the Cowboys left side of the Oline. They had done it before but dropped players back. This time they brought them all. Someone should have noticed such an overmatched alignment and called timeout.

 

[JW82]

Name them. Name those fumbles without contact. Let's see if they truly are "too many".

Do you not remember 2 in the last 3 games that just happened to bounce right back into his hands with no one within 5 yards?? That's TOO MANY!

 

[TruBluSince1982]

He was going to Beasely in the endzone who was open for 6 on that one fumble. Really wish Collins had not gotten abused like that. Literally 1 more second and that is most likely 6 points

 

[America's Cowboy]

Do you not remember 2 in the last 3 games that just happened to bounce right back into his hands with no one within 5 yards?? That's TOO MANY!

2 is TOO MANY? Really? 2 is just 2. Not TOO MANY. 5+ of fumbles on his own is TOO MANY. Plus, both of those 2 he actually recovered and ran for positive yards.

 

[Doomsday101]

Obviously, Dak needs to get better in his regard. The good news is that his predecessor also had a fumbling issue early in his career until he committed himself to holding onto the ball with 2 hands when the pocket is collapsing around him.

Tony Romo had a whopping 32 fumbles in his first 3 seasons as the starter (39 games).... and 33 fumbles for the REST OF HIS CAREER (88 more starts), finishing with 65 total.

In 2008 (Romo’s 3rd season as the starter), he had 13 fumbles in 13 games. Yikes.

Something changed for him in the ensuing offseason, because he had just 6 fumbles in 16 games in 2009.

Dak had 9 fumbles as a rookie, just 4 last season and 11 this season.

His INT totals have fluctuated similarly: 4, 13, 5. So it seems that he forced more passes last season and is correcting that by being more conservative/taking more sacks this season.

Fixing the fumbling issue will go a long way in making Dak a better QB, since it appears that he’s back to being the guy who simply refuses to throw the ball into harm’s way. That’s his next step.

I like Dak but I agree he has to do a better job of protecting the ball as defense is closing in.