Elephant in the room, J. Smith

[NoLuv4Jerry]

I am going to say last year was the first year you could really judge Smith given his injury. So the body of work is small. Coakley - Too soon. Godfrey - you are kidding right? Nguyen - Too soon. McClain - again, is this a joke? Way better than that turd. Lee - No. Hitchens - Yes. Clearly you don't like the guy and have decided to single him out for the garbage play. Problems go way beyond Smith. He is a rare talent that will be a fixture here for years.

Hope you are right...but don't see it. He is not even solid to me. Forced fumbles, big hits, tackles for loss, pass deflections, interceptions etc...don't see it

 

[Rayman70]

I think Jaylon looked fine. If anything, LVE appeared a step behind and a second too late to every play.

go back and rewatch the game. WATCH THE FIRST 4 OR 5 GAMES. We miss a ton of easy tackles and assignments. Hope you like seeing average running backs burn us coming out of the backfield.Until we show we can stop the screen pass, they gonna keep doing it. Its a copy cat league.

 

[Rayman70]

All I know is Jones was shaking everybody out of their boots last night with plenty of ridiculous cut-backs. LVE was often times the first guy there, but Jones kept making him miss.

GB set a lot of this up attacking the outside early and systematically, including with plenty of screens.

which we don't do well..cover screens.

 

[BoysForLife]

I thought u were gonna say Zeke. Pollard can produce Zeke numbers and save 50 million.

In the old days 5.2 yards-per-carry was considered pretty doggone good. Are you saying it's Elliott's fault that they only gave him the ball 12 times yesterday?

 

[Fletch]

The defensive line is a bigger issue than the linebackers.

Yes Jaylon and LVE have been underwhelming.

Our defensive line gets pushed the heck around on running plays all game long.

Yep! J Smith hasn’t been poor, but he’s been a product of what the D-line lacks in a BIG WAY!

Dude has made plays. Has had some splash plays to help the team. Then the rest of the team falters a play later!

 

[xwalker]

Still waiting to be convinced that #54 is even an AVERAGE player. It is embarrassing to watch him run around...that is literally ALL he does. Other organizations front office, scouts and coaching staff have to be laughing at us for extending him. He is courageous, has an infectious smile....great story of perseverance....but this guy is not a NFL starter. Let alone someone you extend for big money.

No, in-depth analysis of the coaches film does not indicate that Jaylon is a problem.

The Rams schemed specifically to get the Cowboys LBs out of position based on the Cowboys defensive assignments for each front 7 player.

Other teams are copying what the Rams did.

Without scheme changes the Cowboys LBs will struggle against team that run that blocking scheme the Rams used.

 

[OmerV]

Still waiting to be convinced that #54 is even an AVERAGE player. It is embarrassing to watch him run around...that is literally ALL he does. Other organizations front office, scouts and coaching staff have to be laughing at us for extending him. He is courageous, has an infectious smile....great story of perseverance....but this guy is not a NFL starter. Let alone someone you extend for big money.

While doing nothing but "running around" he somehow managed to run into and knock down more ball carriers than all but 6 other players in the NFL. Apparently by accident. lol.

 

[Sydla]

While doing nothing but "running around" he somehow managed to run into and knock down more ball carriers than all but 6 other players in the NFL. Apparently by accident. lol.

Excuse me. I did not mean to bump into you and knock you over.

 

[OmerV]

Excuse me. I did not mean to bump into you and knock you over.

He's such a klutz

 

[ArtClink]

In the old days 5.2 yards-per-carry was considered pretty doggone good. Are you saying it's Elliott's fault that they only gave him the ball 12 times yesterday?

Im saying Zeke has only broken a few tackles over 5 games. Jerry paid 50 mil for a rb who hasnt made anyone miss in the open field this yr and looks like he is content to mail in his performance now that he has big money in the bank.

 

[buybuydandavis]

One thing to note............. Jaylon has always run like a spaz at times. This dates back to college. He's very fast and athletic but he's not that guy that has a smooth running style and movement to him. His head is sometimes always bobbing and his arms are flailing around.

Again, I am in no way suggesting he isn't hurt with some, any, injury here. I have no idea but I think people might be overanalyzing his movements at this point because he's just not playing well (frankly, none of Lee, Smith or LVE are playing great).

It's not a spaz I see, but a guy running and favoring a leg. Although it's a good thought to look at his college tape for comparison. Maybe it's just an idiosyncracy.

Thing is, I don't remember seeing this in straight line running until this year.

 

[Trueboysfan]

Still waiting to be convinced that #54 is even an AVERAGE player. It is embarrassing to watch him run around...that is literally ALL he does. Other organizations front office, scouts and coaching staff have to be laughing at us for extending him. He is courageous, has an infectious smile....great story of perseverance....but this guy is not a NFL starter. Let alone someone you extend for big money.

Still waiting to be convinced that #54 is even an AVERAGE player. It is embarrassing to watch him run around...that is literally ALL he does. Other organizations front office, scouts and coaching staff have to be laughing at us for extending him. He is courageous, has an infectious smile....great story of perseverance....but this guy is not a NFL starter. Let alone someone you extend for big money.

This has got to be a troll post...

 

[Walker]

Jaylon has actually played pretty well. Could his game improve? Sure, but look at how bad the DL is playing, the OL are going second and third levels.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

While doing nothing but "running around" he somehow managed to run into and knock down more ball carriers than all but 6 other players in the NFL. Apparently by accident. lol.

Going to guess you've never played football...but a difference making LBer actually meets someone in the hole...meets someone in the backfield....lays the wood...forces fumbles...deflects passes...intercepts the ball. Him tackling people after they've gained 5 yards or already caught the ball is NOT impressive. Him running to the ball after someone else has already held the ball carrier up is NOT impressive. Stick to video games.

 

[BoysForLife]

Im saying Zeke has only broken a few tackles over 5 games. Jerry paid 50 mil for a rb who hasnt made anyone miss in the open field this yr and looks like he is content to mail in his performance now that he has big money in the bank.

I would disagree but I'm willing to resume this conversation at seasons end.... Perhaps one or both of our perspectives may change a bit

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

No, in-depth analysis of the coaches film does not indicate that Jaylon is a problem.

The Rams schemed specifically to get the Cowboys LBs out of position based on the Cowboys defensive assignments for each front 7 player.

Other teams are copying what the Rams did.

Without scheme changes the Cowboys LBs will struggle against team that run that blocking scheme the Rams used.

You aren’t suggesting what you do is “in-depth analysis” are you?

 

[OmerV]

Going to guess you've never played football...but a difference making LBer actually meets someone in the hole...meets someone in the backfield....lays the wood...forces fumbles...deflects passes...intercepts the ball. Him tackling people after they've gained 5 yards or already caught the ball is NOT impressive. Him running to the ball after someone else has already held the ball carrier up is NOT impressive. Stick to video games.

And I'm guessing you didn't pass reading comprehension. The comment I responded to wasn't that he wasn't playing great, or that he wasn't playing at a star level, it was that he wasn't doing "anything". Your comment makes no sense if you understand the context.

I've said myself a number of times that both LVE and Jaylon Smith aren't doing well plugging the running lanes in the middle, but to act as if Smith isn't doing some good things is nonsense. Smith has done a solid job blitzing, and he is still chasing plays down from sideline to sideline, so he very clearly is doing some good things. There are just areas he needs to improve, the main one being, in my mind, plugging the interior running lanes.

 

[Rayman70]

Jaylon and the entire LB group outside of Thomas, are having rough years so far. Much of it is lack of prep.

 

[OmerV]

Jaylon and the entire LB group outside of Thomas, are having rough years so far. Much of it is lack of prep.

They are all doing some good things, but the seem to be AWOL on runs in the middle.

 

[mattjames2010]

You aren’t suggesting what you do is “in-depth analysis” are you?

xwalker in-depth analysis: Watched the all-22, and my conclusion is....it's still Dez Bryant's fault.