I changed my mind on Linehan

[Ddisco22]

Zeke getting only 15 touches is a fail on the coaching staff. This offense should revolve around getting Zeke the ball, whether running or catching. 15 touches to far and away our best player is terrible coaching.

I agree, that's what he is here for, feed the dam kid!

they need to stop with the Dak threads, we all saw how it went down. everyone's in a rush to remove DAK but don't think about whom you could replace him with.
All QB's have a bad game.

And yes Linehan does suck.

 

[Roadtrip635]

It kinda reminds me of the Falcons game last year. You see a guy is struggling, but don't adjust. The difference this time is we had a way better option with getting Zeke involved more than the solution in that Falcons game.

 

[Keithfansince5]

You just have to ask yourself this. What if this guy played for the Commanders? Would I still think he's a promising QB for the future? Would I still see the upside?

The answer is no. We'd all laugh at the Commanders.

Well, actually I would be happy he were playing for a team that I do not like. I would hope he remains with them for a decade or more.

 

[Keithfansince5]

That is on JG more then Linehan. I am not fan of either but how is Linehan suppose to get the offense into rhythm when the first 2 series start off with penalties?

1 on a run and another on a bubble screen to Austin that went for 9 yards.

They were in 2nd and 3rd and 8 plus the entire first half, mostly because of Dak's inability to get the ball out, I am not sure any coach can over come that.

You are right, they can't.

 

[Blackspider214]

All we heard this offseason was how this offense was going to have new wrinkles. It didn't. The same big TE sets when these TE's are horrible. The same predictable playcalling that guys at a sports bar can call before the plays happen. Telling us about using Tavon and he gets one lame jet sweep. Our best player gets 15 carries. Meanwhile the old AP in Washington gets 23 carries? Zeke does not even touch the ball in the final 5min. That is all coaching.

Dak needs to get better and fast but to change your mind about this terrible coaching staff is ignorant and giving these losers a pass.

 

[Keithfansince5]

A lot of those plays that he overlooked required anticipation and timing, neither of which he has with this group. And then there were a few bad passes that he just missed, no excuses other than maybe the ball was wet, he has little hands, etc..

Dak came up small on many plays but they were there for the taking. Lineham may not be as much to blame as we thought after all...

That is the opinion I have finally come too. Get a better QB and suddenly Linehan won't look so bad. Yes, Linehan needs to run more running plays. However, against the Panther's I am OK with featuring the pass more. The Panthers are one of the better run stuffing teams in the league. They have not given up a 100 yard rusher in over a year. Running Zeke 30 times would not be the best use of those 30 plays. Not saying passing 30 times is the best either. Against the Panthers using a slightly more passing attack VS a rushing attack is prudent.

 

[Keithfansince5]

Those TEs were open the entire day and blocked pretty well.

To me the bigger issue with the 2 TE sets was being so stubborn and set in your ways that you can't adjust your philosophy to avoid trying to attack the heart of the Panthers defense. To me it is an ongoing issue with JG and Linehan, they don't tweak their game plans to go after weaknesses.

I didn't even know the starting CB for the Panthers was a rookie til the 4th quarter when Troy mentioned it. Every other coach in the league would of tested him deep a few times early on to set the tone in my opinion. What better way to back the defense off then to force them to give the rook help.

Perhaps Linehan told that to Dak in some of their meetings? Point is, we saw several occasions where the CB's were beat and beat bad and Dak did not throw the ball. If I were the coach I would be fuming mad at Dak.

 

[uvaballa]

Linehan is a big problem. They don’t know how to attach defenses weak spots. He rarely creates mismatches for his players. He runs too much shotgun especially for being a run first team.

 

[Keithfansince5]

Dak was holding the ball way too long and trying to make something happen, but lack of confidence or ability made it worse. The Steelers used Bell in the passing game quite a bit, as do the Rams with Gurley, the Saints for years have always incorporated their RBs quite a bit into their passing game plans. Take advantage of the weapons we have and find ways to get him the ball. It does matter a bit whether he is the primary or checkdown, as a check down, he would most likely have a defense already set after the progressions and Zeke is more than likely not on the move. While as the primary, Zeke is moving, think a quick flare or wheel route and in better position to get YAC. Either way, he needs more touches.

I agree with that. One one play they lined Zeke up in the slot on the right and his route was to jog out 5 yards and just stop and stand there. I was watching him the entire time. I HATE plays where receivers are used as decoys and do not actually run anything. Dak was also scrambling at that point and there was Zeke just standing there. This team is not motivated and I blame Jason Garrett. He 100% HAS TO GO!!!!!

 

[Idgit]

I read somewhere yesterday on this site. That the average time a QB holds on to the ball is 2.51 seconds. Dak holds on for 3.01. Hesitation and scared confusion is causing the sacks

And Elliott hesitating is causing the running lanes not to be there? Maybe.

 

[Keithfansince5]

Your opinion means nothing.

Just sayin. You had no clue and then you got a biased video and now you change your mind off of that. Awesome.

Yet here you are reading MY OPINION and voicing yours hahaha. Nice.

 

[dfense]

After watching a video from AKOYE Media, demonstrating just how bad Dak is, and just how open our receivers where, I changed my mind on Linehan.

Folks, we have a problem here. Dak is costing us games. His fear and inability to throw the ball, it is crushing this team. This loss falls squarely on Dak.

Dak routinely ONLY looks at one half of the field. Guys are running wide open and Dak isn't even looking. It takes him too long to process this info for him to pull the trigger. Often times he creates a sack when in fact he had a receiver wide open.

Not sure how Dak recovers from this. He simply is not throwing to guys who are open for 10-20 yards. He literally had 2 EASY TD's sitting there that he muffed. One was a 60+ yarder to Jarwin the other a 50+ yarder to TWill. Dang.

Watch this expose on Dak. Be prepared to be sick.

Great job. Video tells the truth. I'm going to go to the bathroom now and get sick.

 

[Keithfansince5]

We heard from SJ that he was gonna get 1-2 dozen touches a game. He has game changing speed and he just wasn't being used correctly by former coaches and that Linehan knew how to get production out of him. After all, Linehan had Reggie Bush and look what he did with him. With Tavon on the field, teams couldn't just focus on stopping Zeke. There was so much talk about adding speed to this team and how to utilize it.

Tavon gets 1 touch, Deonte Thompson is a bottom of the roster player and gets more touches than a guy they touted as a game changer and big part of this offense. This is another example where their offensive philosophy fails again. People can blame Dak all they want, but the blame starts with the guys holding the clipboards.

True to a point until one of those guys is runnig a perfectly designed slant route that fools the defense and is WIDE OPEN and our lousy wannabe QB either doesn't see it, or doesn't throw it at the right time or does throw it and it is so poorly thrown that the WR has to stop, contort his body to catch the ball that he gets tackled right away. When we watch the game, this is what we see in an emotional state. Perhaps he picked up the first down doing that? We are good as it "worked" yet under further review we see just what SHOULD HAVE happened as it could have been a TD or a long 30+ play. I think this is what AKOYE and I and others are saying.

If Dak is off and say on 10 plays he selects the wrong read on 7 of them and completes 4 of those passes with 2 of them for first downs while rushing for another. Maybe we are kinda mad but we give him a pass as he converted 2 first downs in the air and one with his legs. Good right? When we study the film, we see that on those same 10 plays he could have had 3 TD's and a couple of 30+ yard plays. Leaving plays and yards and scores on the field will catch up to you and is bad. All QB's leave plays and yards on the field. Even Brady and Rodgers. However, not near as many as Dak. Dak is leaving WAY too many plays on the field and points as a result of his poor decision making, lack of trust in his arm, lack of accuracy when he does finally throw it etc. This Panthers game was a perfect opportunity for everyone to see just how much was left out on that field. Brady and Rodgers would each have had 3 TD's in that game with these "jag" receivers. You can trust that.

 

[Keithfansince5]

Someone here had a thread reviewing every pass by Dak. That was the happy spin on Dak's performance.

I saw Okoye's video. That's the blame Dak spin. Lots of guys he's calling open, I see moving into coverage. And of course you're going to see players open in the All 22 that he doesn't throw to. You're going to see that for every QB. You've got to have realistic expectations for a QB. The QB has a progression to follow. The QB is getting rushed. Players will get open when it's not their turn in the progression, or when the QB is busy avoiding the rush.

It's not that Okoye wasn't right about a lot of his criticisms. But he wasn't right about all of them.

You say all the failure falls on Dak. Aren't there some people on the team whose job it is to prepare and develop Dak? Wouldn't Linehan be high up on that list, particularly since he was likely the guy who pushed for his pet chimp to be QB coach?

And maybe if your QB is not playing well, we hand the ball off a bit more to our former top RB in the league? Maybe you don't put our meh TEs on the field so much. Maybe you give our supposed playmaker, Austin, more than 10 snaps? Maybe you don't keep Schulz active to squeeze 3 snaps out of him, when Rico is a guy a QB having a bad day could throw up a prayer to and have the prayer answered?

We traded for Olawale. Supposed to give us more on offense as a FB. A veteran who can block,run, and receive. 6 snaps.

Swaim got 58 snaps. Really? 6 times more useful than Austin? 10 times more useful than Olawale? Infinitely more useful than Rico?

We get these fancy new toys, and we're served up the same meh game plan, this time thinking that Swaim is Witten (Next man up!), with some better route running.

Nate said after Atlanta: You don't let a young QB get pounded like that. The implication of that is that you should *expect* lingering play issues if you do. And that's what we've seen. Why did Nate know that, but our OC didn't?

6 sacks, with 5 runs. While not Atlanta, maybe that's too much for a young QB too. Feed Zeke. How hard is that?

Dak clearly has his limitations.

So does Linehan, and much of Dak's limitations fall at his feet.

Linehan is supposed to make the most of our aspiring QB. Develop him. Put him in a situation to succeed. I don't see that happening. I see the same make the QB carry the team game plan from Romo's years, but for a young 4th round draft pick who isn't up to it.

You do realize that Carolina is one of the best run defenses in the league right? If I were game planning against a top 2 or 3 run defense, I would NOT plan on running the ball 30 times. If I did, I would be stupid. Instead, I would split that into 15 runs. I would gauge it early on to see how effective we were at it and either stick to my original plan or change it based on the outcomes. Seeing Zeke and the OL flounder attempting to run the ball in the first half would not make me change my plan. Watching the receivers get open at will, is proof that the best and most prudent game plan was in fact to rely on Dak. I mean, he is supposed to be a franchise QB and in the top 10 in the NFL. He was rookie of the year just 2 years ago for some guys sake. Asking him to complete normal, basic NFL throws is not out of the question. If it is, then Dak needs to be benched ASAP. If Dak is incapable of making these normal basic throws to wide open receivers, he does not deserve to be occupying a roster spot, PERIOD.

Say whatever you like, it is your opinion, but the plays that are shown n AKOYE's video show receivers wide open by NFL standards. Sure some of them were not seen, OK I am OK with that. No QB sees all of his receivers all of the time. But in not one of those plays did Dak make the right call. He looked at several of those wide open receivers and did not deliver the ball to them. That is NOT an opinion but an observable FACT. Why he did that is the opinion.

 

[Keithfansince5]

This is the biggest thing to me. I'm on a draft / football scouting group where we go over those Draftbreakdown clips, and everyone likes to say X QB or X RB is trash because they didn't see some open receiver or giant hole on a play. It's just not that simple.

One thing I'd like to emphasize, in addition to what you wrote, is that NFL athletes move FAST. and while it's easy to point out that a guy might have separation or a running at a certain point in time, they're ignoring the fact that defenders will react to the play if you actually try to make it.

For example, someone took this picture mocking Mitch Trubisky for missing this throw in the end zone, and put it on the scouting group saying "this is your top 5 pick?"

Except he's not missing it. If you look, that DB on the left is in a full sprint and closing on the TE fast By the time Trubisky loads up to throw and the ball gets there, the defender is going to be right on his man. Trubisky might have a shot at a score if he releases instantly and throws a rocket to the right side of his TE before the defender can get there, but his window in this moment is FAR smaller than a picture or still-frame would have you think.

I get that same feeling watching these Dak breakdown clips. Pause the tape, bring out the highlight-cursor: "this guy's open 40 yards downfield, Dak needs to pull the trigger!" Yeah, wait till you see how much ground an NFL free safety can cover on a 40 yard throw. Dak did have a terrible game, but All-22 tape needs to be taken in context as well.

If your analysis of this clip is that this receiver is not open, you do not know football. Mitch has a rocket arm and could easily throw that ball to his TE for an easy TD. Of course he would throw it to the right side (TE's left side). Sorry but that safety or CB would not intercept or knock the ball away before it got there unless Dak threw it to him. I could argue why didn't Mitch throw it already? The ball should be in the air at the 5 yard line in this still. He did miss it and I am sure his coaches told him that.

 

[dfense]

Any plan that doesn't involve your best player more involved is a failure. Why is the focal point Dak and substandard TEs and average WRs and not on one of the best RBs in the NFL. There's no question that Dak has to play better, but how about getting the ball in Zeke's hands. What happened to trying to get Tavon, the fastest guy on the field, some touches? No doubt, Dak is a big part of the problem, but the coaching staff's plan was flawed to begin with. The coaching staff did a poor job of getting our playmakers involved. Instead of getting Zeke or Tavon touches, we relied on getting the ball to our jag TEs and WRs. Dak is a problem but the gameplan and playcalling, OL play, execution were all problems. There were multiple problems and while the QB is the most visible, every offensive player and coach had a hand in making that pile of shinola.

All upcoming game plans will start by Dak being able to get defenses to back out of their 8 to 9 man fronts. Until he can do that, it's all 2 yards runs for Zeke.

 

[Keithfansince5]

Man you can say that again! That film is just screaming truth. That's an eye opener Keith!
We have people hating on our receivers and even on Sanjay Lal but that film shows plenty of open receivers and opportunities!
Lal is doing his job and so are the receivers! Dak Is the problem, NOT SanJay Lal and our receivers.

Oh BTW, where's our great and wise rookie QB coach Kellen Moore? I knew that kid was a bad mistake.

Yes Dak is our main issue. Dallas has other issues too. Tyron looks lethargic at times. Is his head into this anymore? Is he hurt? Or just that out of shape for not playing? Not playing these guys in the pre season is a Garrett move and is WRONG. Dak is better than this. I have seen Dak perform better in the past. It has been a while but he has. His mental mindset is probably hurting him by making him second guess everything. He is not playing instinctively. Linehan has nothing to do with that. Maybe they should send Dak to a shrink?

 

[Keithfansince5]

Ok, I'll buy that. It's one thing to say we have a problem but another to find a solution. What's your solution Keith? Rush? White? Give Dak a few games to improve? Sit him now? See what we have after the season and draft a QB high in 2019? Clearly you believe Dak can't do it. Clearly there are no QB's sitting on the couch that will come in and change things instantly. Give me a solution not the "Dak lament". BTW, an OC is easier to replace than a starting QB. Let's throw White Rush out there and see how we do.

If I inherited this mess I would give Dak another game or two. I would sit him down just He and I and I would go over each and every play with him. I would not pull a single punch. If he did well, I would tell him. If he sucked I would tell him. I would ask him plainly why he is not trusting in his arm? Why he is looking off those receivers beyond 10 yards? After that film session I would know more about his status. If he gave me the lack of confidence that Jimmy Johnson once said his kicker gave him, I would bench Dak in favor of Cooper Rush. Sometimes getting benched can make a player snap out of it and change his ways. If Cooper sucked too, I would have to consider going after a free agent QB with a trade or just roll with what we have.

Regardless, next year, my #1 pick would be a QB. I also would bring in a FA QB as well. I would not roll with these 3 QB's next year.

 

[Batman1980]

Poor Scott Linehan, coach from an 0-16 team and 2 4-12 teams, having his incredible legacy tarnished by Dak. Never mind his empty set shot guns on 2nd and short, 2 TE sets on 2nd and long or screens for 3 yards on 3rd and long. Or abandoning the run inside the 5.

 

[Keithfansince5]

I don't think it's fair to refer to our TE's and WRs as jags.
They're supposed to get open and that's what they did, but Dak didn't deliver!
If Dak hit's 'em on the numbers and they start dropping passes, that's jag. But as far as I could see in that film, the receivers did their jobs,
and Dak was the jag.

Dak is the JAG Buzzbait. You are seeing the right things.