Video: Destroying the myth that Tony Pollard can't block

[Hoofbite]

Playing guys who are not as good because of salary loses games and losing games is how coaches get fired. I don't know of a lot of coaches willing to sacrifice their paychecks to put lesser players on the field because of salary. Maybe they do, but I don't think a lot of them do. For the most part the better players play. Nothing is universal of course but I think that's the general rule. I think Pollard will play over Zeke when the coaches determine he is better than Zeke.. not when he makes more money than Zeke.

It's not Mike's call. The person Mike reports to is going to make that call, and he'll ultimately fire Mike if it doesn't work. That's what's great about being Jerry Jones; nobody can fire him and he never really has to fear making the wrong decision.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Attention please, to whom it may concern...I didn't make the decision to play a hurt player, to rest a hurt player. So your attacks on me ain't making no sense, really.
.
Pollard came into the league as a questionable blocker, but that's what they have coaches for...to coach a player up. To sit back and say a player couldn't get better or a player can't learn is just...mind boggling.

Why did you quote my post? Because anyone with half a brain would know I had nothing to do with playing a hurt Zeke. And anyone with a half a brain would know that RB's can practice and get better at picking up the blitz.


P.S. - next time, make sure you have a concise point to make before you quote someone's post. Just saying.

PS. And attention please. To whom it may concern. -...and all that nonsense.

Where did I say YOU "decided"? I never said that. But hey nice rant.

I will try to say it slow. What I objected to to is your notion they didn't want to play a hurt Pollard so they played a hurt zeke. Why not play a hurt Pollard? Save zeke and get him healthy. There must have been some other reason.....

If both are hurt....and they decided to play Zeke instead of Tony. or even the #3, it's a POSSIBLE indication the injuries were a different scale but I don't think it was enough. I think it means even injured, they think Zeke is the better back for what needs done. It shows Zeke CAN play injured...even if he doesn;t rack up the stats the haters...er I mean critics....demand.

PS....Next time make sure to read a bit slower so you don;t make a false assessment of what was said and make up something that was never said. Or just ask for clarification...would be a polite thing to do.

 

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

PS. And attention please. To whom it may concern. -...and all that nonsense.

Where did I say YOU "decided"? I never said that. But hey nice rant.

I will try to say it slow. What I objected to to is your notion they didn't want to play a hurt Pollard so they played a hurt zeke. Why not play a hurt Pollard? Save zeke and get him healthy. There must have been some other reason.....

If both are hurt....and they decided to play Zeke instead of Tony. or even the #3, it's a POSSIBLE indication the injuries were a different scale but I don't think it was enough. I think it means even injured, they think Zeke is the better back for what needs done. It shows Zeke CAN play injured...even if he doesn;t rack up the stats the haters...er I mean critics....demand.

PS....Next time make sure to read a bit slower so you don;t make a false assessment of what was said and make up something that was never said. Or just ask for clarification...would be a polite thing to do.

It's like Parcells used to say....are you hurt or are you injured? If a player says I can't play then he can't play. A player could rule himself out, or the doctors could rule a player out. So they ended up playing s hurt Zeke instead of a hurt Pollard. So the question is, why do you take exception to something that actually happened? If I say Russia has invaded the Ukraine are going to take exception to that too? Sounds like you really thought this through.

 

[Creeper]

Zeke is better at blocking, but the myth that Pollard cant block is over. Its a lie.

Backs get paid to run and catch. Connor Williams can block too. YOU dont see him out catching passes.

It is not a lie, it is an opinion. And Connor Williams is not asked to catch passes. Pollard is asked to block. And as I said, I am not criticizing him because some of the best backs in the league are some of the worst blockers. I would rather not have Pollard blocking anyway. He is a legitimate Home Run threat so keeping him in to block they may as well leave him on the bench.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Better question is, were YOU in the meeting room or the doctor's office? Your statements are opinions just like everyone else's here. Nothing wrong with it, just an opinion.

Opinions are correct and some are just plain dumb and or wrong.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

It's like Parcells used to say....are you hurt or are you injured? If a player says I can't play then he can't play. A player could rule himself out, or the doctors could rule a player out. So they ended up playing s hurt Zeke instead of a hurt Pollard. So the question is, why do you take exception to something that actually happened? If I say Russia has invaded the Ukraine are going to take exception to that too? Sounds like you really thought this through.

We know what happened of course. The question is why?

If you're just only gonna tell us what happened...um...we already know that.

And even "what already happened"...doesn't really make too much sense. #3 should have been in there. The only thing I can surmise is that the coaches don't have a lot of confidence...particularly in protecting the QB...in Tony or #3...hurt or not.

They must have asked Zeke to play hurt and protect Dak. And he gets flak for no RB stats by some (not you). I don't get it.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Cory Clement had some carries against Philly. Ito Smith even had a couple of carries. So why play those guys in place of Pollard?

Because Pollard was hurt?

(Sorry....I'm jumping in without previous context! Just sayin! That would be a good reason! )

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Opinions are correct and some are just plain dumb and or wrong.

If the opinions were correct, then they could be proven to be factual. In this case, you'd have to be involved with the medical facility or know Pollard personally to know the extent to which his plantar fasciitis affected him, as that is what apparently held him out from the Eagles game.

Additionally, I'll go one step further with a hypothetical question. Let's assume that you are correct, hypothetically, that Pollard could have played. Could it not be that Mike decided to rest Pollard for the following week? Let's say, hypothetically, he got to Philly and was considering playing, but then he was really feeling a lot of pain in his foot on game day. This could lead to the hypothetical question being a real possibility. Just pointing out that there may be more to it than we know. You don't know all of the details that went into the decision, and nor do I. There are some things you simply don't know if you're not actually on the team or working for the team in some capacity.

 

[CowboyRoy]

It doesn’t really matter if Pollard is the best RB in team history. Zeke will see more playing time because of his contract and how it would be viewed if Pollard started. They would be admitting that they were failures. It is what it is and nothing else matters. The topic has been discussed for weeks on this board and it doesn’t matter.

100% correct. But still, the myth is busted. Pollard can block.

 

[CowboyRoy]

What was the excuses for the other fools that didn’t show up the next week?

SF probably had something to do with it. But you would have to ask them.

 

[CowboyRoy]

It is not a lie, it is an opinion. And Connor Williams is not asked to catch passes. Pollard is asked to block. And as I said, I am not criticizing him because some of the best backs in the league are some of the worst blockers. I would rather not have Pollard blocking anyway. He is a legitimate Home Run threat so keeping him in to block they may as well leave him on the bench.

Obviously he can block. RB's arent drafted to block. They don't get the big bucks to block. Henry has rarely been in on 3rd downs in his career. Not a big deal.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

It is not a lie, it is an opinion. And Connor Williams is not asked to catch passes. Pollard is asked to block. And as I said, I am not criticizing him because some of the best backs in the league are some of the worst blockers. I would rather not have Pollard blocking anyway. He is a legitimate Home Run threat so keeping him in to block they may as well leave him on the bench.

With our o-line...we have to call the right plays for Tony. We generally do. It's why he is supposed to get obscene stats. We (usually) roll him out away from the terrible interior..into open territory where he can use his best skills.

When he does play the middle...he doesn't get anymore than Zeke (less even?) and can miss the blocking.

This is not a knock....wonderfully different skill sets that we haven't taken advantage of.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Obviously he can block. RB's arent drafted to block. They don't get the big bucks to block. Henry has rarely been in on 3rd downs in his career. Not a big deal.

Henry has an o-line and coaches that dont; need him to sacrifice his body blocking D-line and LBers.

 

[RonnieT24]

It's not Mike's call. The person Mike reports to is going to make that call, and he'll ultimately fire Mike if it doesn't work. That's what's great about being Jerry Jones; nobody can fire him and he never really has to fear making the wrong decision.

Sorry bro but I have never bought into the "Jerry makes the lineup" narrative. The last time he did was when he cut Tony Banks to force Campo to start Quincy Carter just because Carter had looked okay in a couple of 4th quarter preseason games. Rushing that kid into the starting lineup ruined his career.. Oh there was one other time I think Jerry meddled in the lineup.. ironically that one also involved Carter. It was after Carter cussed Jerry out on the sideline at the end of the loss at Arizona right after Carter tossed the TD to Galloway that should have won that game.. only to have the kicker miss the PAT which should have won the game so it ended up going to OT. I don't think the Cowboys ever recovered and had a couple of drives stall in OT and the Cards won it on a FG of their own. I am all but certain Jerry told Campo to sit him after that tirade.. on top of his putrid 4 INT performance. Carter's rant was about having to split practice snaps 50/50 with Hutchinson which was absolutely brain dead but it was what Bruce Coslett wanted. Coslett hated Quincy and thought Hutchinson was the next Aikman. Coslett completely sabotaged that season for us. Remember he was the idiot that refused to give Emmitt the ball down the stretch so Emmitt went into the final weekend of that season well short of his customary 1000 yards. And the Ratscums took it personal and basically played 9 in the box that day to keep Emmitt from getting there. It's not like they had anything to worry about from the passing game.

 

[Hoofbite]

Sorry bro but I have never bought into the "Jerry makes the lineup" narrative. The last time he did was when he cut Tony Banks to force Campo to start Quincy Carter just because Carter had looked okay in a couple of 4th quarter preseason games. Rushing that kid into the starting lineup ruined his career.. Oh there was one other time I think Jerry meddled in the lineup.. ironically that one also involved Carter. It was after Carter cussed Jerry out on the sideline at the end of the loss at Arizona right after Carter tossed the TD to Galloway that should have won that game.. only to have the kicker miss the PAT which should have won the game so it ended up going to OT. I don't think the Cowboys ever recovered and had a couple of drives stall in OT and the Cards won it on a FG of their own. I am all but certain Jerry told Campo to sit him after that tirade.. on top of his putrid 4 INT performance. Carter's rant was about having to split practice snaps 50/50 with Hutchinson which was absolutely brain dead but it was what Bruce Coslett wanted. Coslett hated Quincy and thought Hutchinson was the next Aikman. Coslett completely sabotaged that season for us. Remember he was the idiot that refused to give Emmitt the ball down the stretch so Emmitt went into the final weekend of that season well short of his customary 1000 yards. And the Ratscums took it personal and basically played 9 in the box that day to keep Emmitt from getting there. It's not like they had anything to worry about from the passing game.

"I have never bought into it, but here's a time it happened"

What you mean is you don't want to believe it is still happening. That's fine, I don't care to argue about it because I don't think Jerry is any less involved today than he was 20 years ago.

 

[Praxit]

..he's ok, holds up for most part. But when you really need a pillar back there, its Zeke.

 

[RonnieT24]

"I have never bought into it, but here's a time it happened"

What you mean is you don't want to believe it is still happening. That's fine, I don't care to argue about it because I don't think Jerry is any less involved today than he was 20 years ago.

Really the point in relaying the Carter story was to illustrate that when Jerry meddles we KNOW about it.. and when he has done so it has usually blown up in his face. There are more loose lips in Cowboy-land than a Taliban torture chamber. I choose to believe he learned his lesson after the spectacular failures of his previous meddling forays. People can believe different.. I'm fine with that. Jerry is ALWAYS going to be involved. The Cowboys are his life.. I just don't think his involvement stretches to forcing the coaches to play lesser players. Particularly injured players who would cost him millions of dollars for NOT playing if the injury turned out to be season ending. More if it was career ending. If nothing else Jerry is a business man. He owed Zeke a boatload of money this season and last.. If that injury had taken Zeke out for the last say 6 games of last year and then all of this year, then playing him would have been a horrible business decision. Just doesn't add up.

 

[Typhus]

100% correct. But still, the myth is busted. Pollard can block.

Pollard would be better suited not having to block anyone.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Pollard would be better suited not having to block anyone.

Which is a myth. Clearly he can block.