The best way to beat Dak is to force him to be indecisive by confusing him with coverages and bait him out of the running game by showing run heavy looks pre-snap and then dropping 7 into coverage once you are sure he's checked into max protect and is only sending 2-3 guys into the pattern. It's a game of cat and mouse because you either have to get a bead on his audibles or he gets a bead on your defense. If he deciphers what you're doing on defense you're toast no matter what you do. When that happens your only chance is the same as it is for every QB that has ever lived. You have to get heavy pressure in his face and keep him in the pocket. If he figures your defense out AND he has time, it's over for you. Now this is not some deep dark secret because it literally applies to just about any good QB. As I have said many times, the QB has not been born who can beat you from flat on his back. The caveat for Dak and really any athletic QB is you can get pressure on him and he can still escape and turn would be sacks into big plays or he can just run for first downs and frustrate your pass rush that way.
I think Dak before the calf injury last year was on a trajectory to challenge Rodgers for MVP honors. That little bit of loss of confidence in his legs was enough to derail what was on its way to being a historic season. We are seeing something of a repeat of that this year with Allen. He has been far less dominant after getting dinged than he was before. It remains to be seen if he can get back on track. His might be even tougher than Dak's because it was an injury to his throwing arm. But it will an interesting watch. Dak's biggest issue right now is he just needs to dial back the aggressiveness. All his INTs since returning have been aggressive shots. Some of them on friggin first down. He's got to learn to be more patient and to keep putting together drives and quit looking for the home run as much as he does. It's a balancing act, knowing when to take a shot and when to drop it off and let his guys do the work. He's not there yet.. but he's learning.
For me, the biggest issue last season wasn't the calf (though it was a problem). It was the inability to create mismatches.
- We had four good WR's but they're all kind of the same
- 6'1 tall
- 200lbs
- 4.5 speed
- 6.9' three-cone
- We stuck with a hobbled Zeke over Pollard
- We had a single TE (Jarwin)
That makes it hard for Dak to look at the field and say, this is what I need to exploit. CB's can easily switch between zone and man coverage, the run game and play action aren't respected, and maddeningly we never turned to Pollard. Jarwin going down meant we lost most of our 12 personnel plays which was the one way we could create mismatches.
Compare to this year
- Pollard being utilized as a primary back
- Zeke's healthy and more effective
- We have four effective TE's and regularly use 12 personnel and even 3 TE sets
- Dak can run
Now we are equally devastating running and passing from 12 personnel, we utilize play action more than anyone with great results, Pollard is able to find matchups against LB's, and Dak offers the threat of running it himself. The receivers are almost complementary in what's an incredibly varied offense. If you want to disguise your defense in a two-high shell like last season....good luck. We'll run it down your throat in 12 personnel and play hurry-up offense stopping you from subbing into a more favorable matchup.
