CFZ How Zeke in a new role would help us WIN more

[SteveTheCowboy]

His yards before contact last year was near the top of his career
The oline wasn’t dominating but the run blocking in general wasn’t that bad. The penalties killed our run game more than anything
Zeke played well before he got banged up and finished with 4.2 per carry. Zeke is not done though he’s probably in his last year here because of money
Some fans feel the need to hate in player just like they did Ware when he left. Many said he never got meaningful sacks but his sacks in 3rd and 4th downs was very high. Same with Zeke, he’s still a good player but sometimes you have to move on for financial reasons, and just like Ware did, Zeke will do the same. No reason to hate on guys for what ever the reason and mostly false reasons, just wish them well and move on
Our fan base sees the need to hate on guys

I dig. A very reasonable view.

 

[G2]

The entire offense came to an idle mid season and it wasn't just one thing. The scheme is trash when a team publically calls it out for the world to see and proves the point. You can't run injured RBs and expect things to be playoff caliber.
Remember how the 49ers had 72 RBs on their roster and just kept plugging them in and kept running the ball? We did the opposite of that. And worse than that, we didn't learn from last season. They STILL haven't addressed it.

 

[DandyDon52]

I was thinking water boy might be a good role for him !

But a reduced role?????? good luck on that.

Keep in mind bob, the jones boys use hillbilly jones style logic, not normal logic. They dont think like we do, as they are so smart
they are on a whole different plane of reality.

Heck they may be planning on not running the ball at all this season lol, 100% passing!
I mean why wait till they get behind to go all pass lol, just go all pass at start of game!

 

[Jason 82 Witten]

You’re right, Zeke will never be what he once was, but I think he can be effective with a better OL.

 

[Praxit]

Zeke was damn good last season until he dinged that knee. He and Pollard was pretty much unstoppable. If he can get back to what he was a year ago, I think we will all like what we see.

..then OL fell apart. They could not open hole, without holding someone. Zeke had to regress to what OL was giving him.

 

[RonnieT24]

The entire premise of this post is horribly flawed for the simple reason that the statement that "he doesn't have a productive 20 carry game in him anymore" is patently false. Zeke got 20 carries twice last season.. and topped 100 yards both times. Including a 143 yard explosion against Carolina. There were three reasons why Zeke was not more productive last season.. One was the damage to his knee, second was the terrible play of the line and third was the OC's pass heavy play calling. Assuming the knee heals up in the offseason I expect the Zeke we saw the first 5 games to come back for a visit. How long that guy sticks around is up to Moore and Philbin. Both of those guys need to get better at their jobs.. If they don't Zeke and Pollard will both miss games to injury this year and this team will put up lots of fluffy numbers in the passing game that won't mean squat.

 

[KJJ]

Zeke’s role isn’t going to change. He’ll continue splitting carries with Pollard and pushing the pile. He’s declined because he was a workhorse for three years and the OL has regressed. Plus he’s not getting as many opportunities which is lowering his numbers.

 

[Texasfootball21]

Teams still stack the box when Zeke is in the game in fear that he will continue to move the chains. With a better Oline Zeke would still tear this league up imo...

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

If this thread doesn’t draw out Aria nothing will. Miss my old Zeke hating buddy. Did not see him post during the course of the whole season that we just witnessed.

 

[Coogiguy03]

Great post per usual!

My one issue with RBBC…and it’s not that it doesn’t work or that it couldn’t help us immensely.. is telegraphing plays. I thought KM took a step back last year and at times we looked like we couldn’t get creative. The minute I read this I started thinking of a 3 headed RBBC and other teams saying “oh it’s Rico, it’s the jet sweep” or “it’s Zeke lined up on the right. Look for …” ..you get the picture. I know all teams deal with this but I’m hoping this year brings more creativity from KM and our situational play calling doesn’t turn into patterns.

Same like 4th and 1 go in jumbo set or bring Noah Brown in it's a run, bring Zeke in on the goal line we all know where it's going.

 

[Coogiguy03]

Teams still stack the box when Zeke is in the game in fear that he will continue to move the chains. With a better Oline Zeke would still tear this league up imo...

Is that really why they do it?? Or is it because they know they can stop him easily!! They did this for emmitt his last year, they said they respected him, yeah right they know he wasn't going past anyone lol

 

[Bullflop]

I think our FO has an extremely foolish way of getting the best out of Elliott's usage. I do believe they've seen that Zeke is unwilling to take a pay cut and feel as though to ensure that they "get their money's worth" out of him by keeping him grossly overused as a power back. Evidently, that's how their miserly minds operate, instead of being wisely concerned with how he best affects the team's effectiveness.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Zeke Elliott will never again be what he once was. Ever. BUT- he’s probably just got one more year here and accepting who Zeke is now and understanding how he could still help us WIN is a good step forward. So let’s look at why Zeke has declined and how he can still help us.

WHY ZEKE HAS DECLINED:

• His body has endured a ton of touches since college.
  • This goes all the way back to his days at Ohio state. He had 650 touches- rushing and receiving at OSU in 3 years.
  • In 6 seasons of NFL games, he has an additional 1938 total touches- that’s a whopping 2,588 which averages out to nearly 300 touches a year for 9 straight seasons.

That’s a tough load for anyone’s body. He’s no longer capable of 350 touch season that gives us what we need to win. We need to accept him having a lesser role.

HOW CAN ZEKE STILL BE USED TO HELP US WIN:

• Zeke has evolved from an explosive quick strike back to a slower, methodical power back. It makes zero sense for the Cowboys to pretend he is ever going to be what he was in 2016-19.
• Here’s how we can use him and help us win. Use Zeke as a power back and situational receiver who needs about 12-15 touches a game- MAX. Using Pollard MORE helps this team have more chances for a big play. Keeping Zeke at 20 touches a game reduces our big play chances.
• He needs to be in a RBBC. Using Zeke, Tony Pollard and perhaps another back is a great way to have a better situational running game. We just need him to be part of helping this team win.
• He would make an excellent goal line and short yardage runner. Maybe even a great close out runner in the role Marion Barber played about 15 years ago. But his load needs to be managed carefully. He doesn’t have a productive 20-25 carry game left in him IMO.

With all that’s been said above, I fully expect Zeke to be in his usual role because of Jerry. JJ always plays his players based 100% on how much he’s paying them as opposed to how much he helps the TEAM. Tony Pollard should be at least 12 touches a game himself.

Zeke Elliott can still help this team win. But he would give us a better chance by reducing his role.

Zeke was never an explosive quick strike back. Methodical? LOL You should have just stopped after SLOW.

Zeke should get some short yardage and some GL, but thats about it. IF you have to use him at all.

Maybe have him playing some FB. He could probably be the best FB in the NFL.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Elliotts success = Cowboys success.

It’s no accident both years he led he league in rushing was our best seasons with Dak in 2016 and 2018 reaching divisional playoff round .

His production takes pressure off our QB and helps mask our defense weaknesses.

You could say that about any RB. It doesnt need to be Zeke.

Are you aware that the Cowboys are 11-0 when Pollard gets 10 carries or more?

Zekes great rushing years coincide directly with our best Oline years. Its the Oline that has always been the key both for Zeke and Dak. As the line has faded, so has Zeke.

 

[Diehardblues]

You could say that about any RB. It doesnt need to be Zeke.

Are you aware that the Cowboys are 11-0 when Pollard gets 10 carries or more?

Zekes great rushing years coincide directly with our best Oline years. Its the Oline that has always been the key both for Zeke and Dak. As the line has faded, so has Zeke.

I’m good with that . Any RB is fine with those numbers.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Is that really why they do it?? Or is it because they know they can stop him easily!! They did this for emmitt his last year, they said they respected him, yeah right they know he wasn't going past anyone lol

The myth that Zeke is facing stacked boxes when he is in there has been busted a while ago. In fact, the 2nd half of last year they were playing a two deep zone every week and daring us to run the slow Zeke. And he still could only average 3 ypc.

 

[Coogiguy03]

The myth that Zeke is facing stacked boxes when he is in there has been busted a while ago. In fact, the 2nd half of last year they were playing a two deep zone every week and daring us to run the slow Zeke. And he still could only average 3 ypc.

Their guys can be in prevent, ball is snapped Zeke gets the ball puts his head down FOR CONTACT, as you stated 3 yard gain as usual. They continue to say run the offense through him, for what reason????? He's the reason we pass so much let's be real. Do you think we'd run more if we got better yardage?? Duh!!

SPOT ON POST

 

[Cowpolk]

Teams still stack the box when Zeke is in the game in fear that he will continue to move the chains. With a better Oline Zeke would still tear this league up imo...

He will

 

[CowboyRoy]

Their guys can be in prevent, ball is snapped Zeke gets the ball puts his head down FOR CONTACT, as you stated 3 yard gain as usual. They continue to say run the offense through him, for what reason????? He's the reason we pass so much let's be real. Do you think we'd run more if we got better yardage?? Duh!!

SPOT ON POST

 

[Cowpolk]

The myth that Zeke is facing stacked boxes when he is in there has been busted a while ago. In fact, the 2nd half of last year they were playing a two deep zone every week and daring us to run the slow Zeke. And he still could only average 3 ypc.

Then how did he average 4.2 ypc?