Derek Eagleton On Zeke/O-Line

[aria]

2018...whether Solder or Hernandez were struggling or not they at least have shown they can play in this league. We haven one on the line that has shown that.

Hernandez has regressed big time but in 2018 his PFF grade was barely higher than Connors, like a couple points. Solder was better that year than anything we have now based on overall PFF but it’s honestly hard to tell because I can’t see the run blocking grades which are what we’re talking about here. In 2018, Solder and Hernandez were very similar to what we have now, based on overall PFF, and Barkley was playing with a high ankle sprain most of the season, missed 3 games and still hit 1K yards.

 

[budsboys]

There's no disputing that first part.I was with him until he said Barry Sanders had a bad O-line. That line was nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be.

Barry Sanders line wasn’t all that bad if you recall after stepnoski left we picked up ray donaldson who was lion people always try to act like all they had was sanders total bs they had receivers just not a quarterback Barry also wasn’t a 3 down back struggled blocking and receiving and danced to much behind the line before just hitting the hole

 

[Rockport]

Our hopes went down with Dak. Can’t score a point. Teams just blitz and stop the run on the way to the qb.

Don't say "our". That's "your" hopes, not mine.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

How so? Do you think that there is some 'cloud of darkness' with the Cowboys that somehow 'ruins' otherwise great players?

If so, Dak has managed to do a great job of fighting through it and it's scary to think of what he could be free of that cloud.

I think it's far more likely that the Cowboys guessed wrong and chose to invest in a few of the wrong guys.

I dunno. I do see a lot of "cowboys wasted xxxx careers".

Just posing as a possibility. If Jerry really is "the culture".....I just wonder if your golden boys woulda done much better.

I also think "what ifs" are a bit of fantasy....I don't think things work out exactly the same with different situations and stuff.

 

[kumizi]

Zeke is still a great player but he’s his own worst enemy right now and needs to get his head on straight

I see people are still having a tough time coming to grips with reality.

 

[bewp7]

follow my rb rule jerry!

never draft a rb in the top 20 (just because teams pick ing late are usully good and can make a “luxury” pick)
and
never give a rb a second contract

jerry did the opposite

 

[BHendri5]

Man please!! Barry didn’t get all those yards by himself. His style made his O line look worse than it was.

 

[RonnieT24]

Barry Sanders line wasn’t all that bad if you recall after stepnoski left we picked up ray donaldson who was lion people always try to act like all they had was sanders total bs they had receivers just not a quarterback Barry also wasn’t a 3 down back struggled blocking and receiving and danced to much behind the line before just hitting the hole

I'm pretty sure Donaldson came from the Colts not the Lions.. But he was a great player for a long long time.. I felt really bad for him in '95 when he broke his ankle late in the season which robbed him of his one chance to play in the Super Bowl.

 

[MikeB80]

Umm actually it was.. He had his highest passer rating AND QBR that year. It was also his best year in terms of TD/INT ration.. 34/9 .. Almost 4 to 1. It was not his biggest output yardage wise but ask any Dak hater and they will happily tell you that yards mean nothing..

It wasn't though. I don't worry about those interceptions as much as most people. Romo was in charge of a team playing to win throwing the ball and in a division with excellent defenses for years.

07 Romo was fantastic, 2011 Romo was great and 2014 Romo was great.

To me what Romo did in 09 was his best season. No one knew what was going to happen that year and he had a really odd situation where Roy Williams was supposed to be this number 1 guy and it was painfully obvious he was not. It took the team a few weeks to adjust in the style of play of all verticals and throwing so much plus marion barber got banged up in week 2 vs the giants.

He made some plays that year that were his best. It ended up on him and he managed it and then the defense played great after the chargers game they blew late.

That team was excellent and just had the misfortune of going to Minnesota which had not lost at home in over a year. Dallas tackles could not hold up in that environment and they ended up blown out.

14 I believe on paper might be his best year but to me 09 Romo was great. In 14 Romo finally had the complimentary element of a real running game but I will always view 07 and 09 higher.

also yards mean absolutely nothing in 2020 in the nfl. Go check Ryan Fitzpatrick's numbers in Miami.

 

[budsboys]

I'm pretty sure Donaldson came from the Colts not the Lions.. But he was a great player for a long long time.. I felt really bad for him in '95 when he broke his ankle late in the season which robbed him of his one chance to play in the Super Bowl.

Sorry my wrong came from Seattle

 

[Iago33]

Thanks for posti

I understand it. @aria quickly reminds the site lol.I'm not denying he was better his rookie season but look at these highlights....



Can you honestly see a difference in Zeke the runner? Because I don't. I just see a guy who's offensive line isn't nearly as good. There are times in these clips where he's not touched for 10 yards. I'm not going to say his production was strictly based on the offensive line but to me that's the biggest difference in him.

And this is what I mean by maybe we need to dial back what we initially thought of him. I think he was a good running back who profited off of a great offensive line. Everyone was so quick to point out the line being beneficial to Dak but it was to Zeke as well.

Thanks for posting. I watched the video, and you’re right that there’s not as big a gap between Elliot in that video and what I’ve seen this season. There is a noticeable difference in a couple of things—confidence in hitting the hole (but that may be because the holes aren’t there

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Thanks for posti

Thanks for posting. I watched the video, and you’re right that there’s not as big a gap between Elliot in that video and what I’ve seen this season. There is a noticeable difference in a couple of things—confidence in hitting the hole (but that may be because the holes aren’t there

I agree with you. I’m afraid the Zeke we are seeing aside from the fumbles may be the same one we’ve been seeing.

 

[Jipper]

I see people are still having a tough time coming to grips with reality.

Nope, I can see it pretty clearly that zeke is still one of the top 5 rbs in the nfl, playing behind a decimated line in an anemic offense...through the first few games everyone was talking about how he looked like his old self....he will be fine just having a rough patch and dealing with the challenges the overall team is facing

 

[StuckMojo]

Fumbles are in Zeke but I still think Moore is not good at the running game/scheme. Don’t think it’s a good match with Zeke.

 

[3rdEyewarrior]

There's no disputing that first part.I was with him until he said Barry Sanders had a bad O-line. That line was nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be.

Barry had two pro bowl linemen.

 

[3rdEyewarrior]

Nope, I can see it pretty clearly that zeke is still one of the top 5 rbs in the nfl, playing behind a decimated line in an anemic offense...through the first few games everyone was talking about how he looked like his old self....he will be fine just having a rough patch and dealing with the challenges the overall team is facing

Barry CD over ran his blockers. He just didn’t use them right. Think of tiki barber. He got to the lint when he wouldn’t get touched for 5-8 yards. It wasn’t because the line was great. He just used them so well:

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Barry had two pro bowl linemen.

I was going to say the same thing, center Kevin Glover and tackle Lomas Brown played at an all-pro level most of Sanders' career; and the rest of their line really wasn't that bad. Certainly better than the practice squad-level guys we're down to now.

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

Our chance to get leads in games went down the toilet when Dak went down.

Dak gave the ball away early in games too. But he was the reason the Cowboys had a chance at the end. Zeke makes very little positive impact in this offense.

Some would(smartly) even say he makes a negative impact.

 

[JPM]

Barry had two pro bowl linemen.

Lomas Brown was a damn good tackle for his entire career.

 

[Havic]

Adrian Peterson had a bad oline and constantly dominated a stacked box