Is Dallas holding Dak back?

starcity214 said:
Are you kidding me?!!

Where you guys asleep during the first half of the 2017 season?!

In the first game against the NY Giants, Dak looked just like he does now missing throws and wide open receivers. We got lucky the Giants suck and we won.

Then next game, Denver happened. Took away the run and Dak was Dak..

Next game, against the Cardinals, Dak was up to his usual tricks having under 100 yards at half and 10 points on the board..

Where did this false notion that Dak was tearing it up early 2017 come from?
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His stats:
20 total touchdowns
4 interceptions
227 Passing yards per game
63% Completion Percentage
 
BoysForLife said:
My point being--yes, totally changing scheme would maybe help Dak in the short term. But long term, I think it would set this franchise back 7-10 years because it would be playing away from this team's greatest strength.

I'd rather find a guy who can be the QB this offense needs, rather than try to find a bunch of guys that can be the kind of offense this QB needs.
And I'd rather they make that decision *prior* to Dak getting a fat extension.
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None of what you're saying is really true, though. Look at what the Chiefs did the last couple years.

When Andy Reid took over the Chiefs, he completely overhauled their offense to mask Alex Smith's many limitations, and were better off for it. They also drafted his replacement, and then punted Smith and made Mahomes the starter the second Mahomes was ready. And when Mahomes took over they totally revamped the play calling again to take advantage of his arm, and he's an MVP candidate now.

Nothing about making the best of being stuck with Alex Smith kept them from replacing Alex Smith and then installing a scheme that fit the new guy.
 
starcity214 said:
Are you kidding me?!!

Where you guys asleep during the first half of the 2017 season?!

In the first game against the NY Giants, Dak looked just like he does now missing throws and wide open receivers. We got lucky the Giants suck and we won.

Then next game, Denver happened. Took away the run and Dak was Dak..

Next game, against the Cardinals, Dak was up to his usual tricks having under 100 yards at half and 10 points on the board..

Where did this false notion that Dak was tearing it up early 2017 come from?
Click to expand...

So I compiled the First 8 games of 6 of Romo's Seasons, to include his 3 as a full time starter Pro Bowler (2007 2009 and 2014) and Dak's First 8 games for 2017

# - Com - Att - CP% - Yds - Avg - TD - Int - 100+ - <90
A - 165 - 242 - 68.2% - 1998 - 8.3 - 15 - 6 ----- 4 ------ 1
B - 195 - 295 - 66.1% - 2216 - 7.5 - 18 - 5 ----- 3 ------ 2
C - 211 - 318 - 66.4% - 2394 - 7.5 - 10 - 13 --- 2 ------ 4
D - 163 - 259 - 62.9% - 1818 - 7.0 - 16 - 4 ---- 4 ------ 2
E - 177 - 283 - 62.5% - 2238 - 7.9 - 13 - 7 ---- 4 ------ 4
F - 159 - 264 - 60.2% - 2215 - 8.4 - 13 - 5 ---- 4 ------ 4
G - 170 - 264 - 64.4% - 2308 - 8.7 - 19 - 10 -- 5 ------ 1

The last two numbers are number of games with a QBR over 100 (100+), and number of games with a QBR under 90 (<90).

So I got to ask, if Dak played sooooooooo terribly at the beginning of 2017, can you identify Dak's "terrible" 2017 season?
 
Bleu Star said:
In a word, yes.... Linehan remains the biggest problem in Big D. Close second.. Clapper.

By the way... Does anyone know what Dak had for breakfast today? I'm keeping a journal.

Your boy Bleu

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Is Dallas holding Dak back?
A look at the Cowboys’ offense shows why their quarterback has struggled

Dak_Prescott-e1538705473198.jpg

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott passes during warmups before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks Sept. 23 in Seattle. John Froschauer/Associated Press
BY DOMONIQUE FOXWORTH@FOXWORTH24
October 5, 2018

Until last Sunday against the Detroit Lions, Dak Prescott had failed to surpass 200 yards passing in a game this season. He also had a pair of sub-200-yard games to end last season. In the modern NFL, with the rules skewed to encourage passing, those numbers are certainly cause for concern. Over that five-game stretch, the Dallas Cowboys went 2-3. But the most damning statistic? Over that same span, the Cowboys averaged 11.8 points per game — dead last in the NFL and almost nine points below the league average.

The shine of Prescott’s sensational 2016 rookie season has protected him from the criticism that has been heaped on his underachieving offense. Head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan have been viewed as the problem. Fingers have been pointed at the O-line’s regression after some key losses. The departures of Dez Bryant and Jason Witten have prompted some to blame a lack of playmakers.

But receiver Cole Beasley wasn’t here for being scapegoated. Before the Week 4 game, he said to Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “We’re just getting open; that’s all we can do.” He continued, “If you watch the tape, that’s all you’ve got to do. A lot of people aren’t watching the tape.”

So that’s what I did.

After watching last week’s two-point win, when Dallas scored 26 points (the most they’ve scored this season), some could be convinced that the Cowboys’ offensive woes are a thing of the past. But the film left me with more questions than answers, so I decided to watch all of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps this season to understand why the offense has been more bad than good.

As is normally the case, everyone is somewhat responsible. But let’s discuss the worst offenders: Linehan and the offensive coaches.

My major gripe with Linehan is game planning and play design. He has been criticized for his playcalling, but it’s hard for me to fault Linehan the playcaller because it appears to me that he doesn’t have the best options to choose from. He is being failed by the game plan developed during the week.

His most egregious mistake is failing to go deep on early downs. Connecting on long throws would be a bonus, but for a team built around its ability to run the ball, like the Cowboys, just attempting play-action deep passes is more important. The Cowboys are last in the league in percentage of passing attempts of 20-plus yards on first down. They are second to last in percentage of attempts of 15-plus yards on first down. And they are first in the league at percentage of 5-plus-yard attempts on first down. This is incredibly stupid because it makes playcalling easy for the opposing defense and everything more difficult for their own offense.

Good game planning is about creating macro playcalling dilemmas for the opposing coordinator and microexecution dilemmas for select players on the field. The easiest way to create these dilemmas is to create packages of complementary plays that look similar but stress different areas of the defense, forcing them to commit to stopping one of the plays, which will open up the other plays. Run versus play-action pass is the most basic of these dilemmas.

Linehan and the Cowboys run plenty of play-action that creates microexecution dilemmas for linebackers. For example, they often motion a receiver or second tight end to a wing location just behind or outside of the on-the-line tight end. Then they run hard play-action in that same direction. While this is happening, the wing player runs behind the line of scrimmage to the opposite flat. The defender responsible has a dilemma: either attack the run aggressively and commit to stopping the league’s leading rusher or patiently read his keys anticipating the play-action. Prescott bootlegs out and hits his receiver for a 3- to 7-yard gain.


More at the link:

https://theundefeated.com/features/dallas-cowboys-holding-dak-prescott-back/
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I agree, ok so we all know the main issue is with the HC, the gameplan. Everyone already knows this but JJ and JG
 
I think too often they play scared with dak.... because this coaching staff (especially Garret) has a history of playing far too conservative at times.

When I look at dak I see a player that has command of this offense. I think he makes proper decisions.

However he’s the type of player that doesn’t like to take chances. How do you solve that? You let him make plays early in games build confidence. When dak has confidence he’s out there doing it all... making plays.

I think the coaching staff needs to do a much better job of involving him early in games. Perfect example was gb playoff game two years ago. Took the offense and dak a quarterback and a half to get going.
 
sean10mm said:
None of what you're saying is really true, though. Look at what the Chiefs did the last couple years.

When Andy Reid took over the Chiefs, he completely overhauled their offense to mask Alex Smith's many limitations, and were better off for it. They also drafted his replacement, and then punted Smith and made Mahomes the starter the second Mahomes was ready. And when Mahomes took over they totally revamped the play calling again to take advantage of his arm, and he's an MVP candidate now.

Nothing about making the best of being stuck with Alex Smith kept them from replacing Alex Smith and then installing a scheme that fit the new guy.
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Key difference (and I tried to make this argument clear in my post). For the Chiefs, Smith was a step along the way. While trying to maximize his potential, he was never the "long term" solution in their eyes. Or at least I don't think he was.

If Jerry and company try to maximize Dak and see even a flash of consistent competence, that might be just enough for them to ante up and double down on him long term. They wouldn't be smart enough to do what the Chiefs did. Hell, Dak's jersey already sells. They don't need much more reason to keep him around beyond that.

But this is the Cowboys. This is the Jones Family. Throw away the normal operating manual. That ain't how it works around here. :grin:
 
Playmaker3128 said:
I think too often they play scared with dak.... because this coaching staff (especially Garret) has a history of playing far too conservative at times.
Click to expand...

I agree with this but Dak looks like he plays just as scared as the coaching staff. Neither one shows confidence in the other. Dak has got to make quicker decisions and get rid of the ball; run with it or throw downfield with conviction (regularly). That said, it appears the coaching isn't confident he can and call the same conservative plays over and over again.

Last week there was a thread discussing the known weaknesses in Dak's scouting report. This coaching staff seems determined to call plays that blend right into those weaknesses, causing his confidence level to drop. This in turn causes the coaching staff to lose faith in him and just stick with the same conservative play calling. It's like a bad relationship that neither one has the confidence to get out of at this point.

I have been hard on him, but I want him to succeed (Dak that is - I could care less about Garrett at this point). They need to see what they have in Dak, at this point in his career, by play calling up to his strengths more often. If he is going to fail they need to let him go down fighting and at least try and open the offense up. What they are doing now is going to be the end of all of them if they keep on this course. (IMHO of course).

Edit: I have zero faith in the coaching staff to do what I just said by the way (beyond a few scripted plays that is), I do have a more faith in Dak, but still not sold.
 
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SackMaster said:
So I compiled the First 8 games of 6 of Romo's Seasons, to include his 3 as a full time starter Pro Bowler (2007 2009 and 2014) and Dak's First 8 games for 2017

# - Com - Att - CP% - Yds - Avg - TD - Int - 100+ - <90
A - 165 - 242 - 68.2% - 1998 - 8.3 - 15 - 6 ----- 4 ------ 1
B - 195 - 295 - 66.1% - 2216 - 7.5 - 18 - 5 ----- 3 ------ 2
C - 211 - 318 - 66.4% - 2394 - 7.5 - 10 - 13 --- 2 ------ 4
D - 163 - 259 - 62.9% - 1818 - 7.0 - 16 - 4 ---- 4 ------ 2
E - 177 - 283 - 62.5% - 2238 - 7.9 - 13 - 7 ---- 4 ------ 4
F - 159 - 264 - 60.2% - 2215 - 8.4 - 13 - 5 ---- 4 ------ 4
G - 170 - 264 - 64.4% - 2308 - 8.7 - 19 - 10 -- 5 ------ 1

The last two numbers are number of games with a QBR over 100 (100+), and number of games with a QBR under 90 (<90).

So I got to ask, if Dak played sooooooooo terribly at the beginning of 2017, can you identify Dak's "terrible" 2017 season?
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D?
 
noshame said:
It's funny, he didn't have many bad throws before the genius staff changed his motion.. I'll take his throws in 2014 all day. the had touch and could make all the throws except deep and intermediate outs. Which 75% of QBs can't make either.
Since they made the change he hasn't looked comfortable releasing.
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When dumb coaches tweak your livelihood, you become dumb too. It's the definition of being dumbed down.
 
Zman5 said:
So why didn't he play this bad the first half of the 2017 season? Are you telling me the DCs needed the extra 8 games of tape to figure Dak out? I don't think so.
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I'd be surprised if you get a straight answer to what amounts to a good question.
 
Doomsday101 said:
I just think Dak and this offense in general need to step up and play better. I don't think it is all on Dak, hell I watch the other games during the weekends I see other WR pulling down spectacular catches on passes that are not thrown perfect. Our WR core and TE need to step it up, OL needs to do a better job in protection and yes Dak needs to do a better job of making his reads and getting the ball out. I could just say well it is all Dak but I know that is not the whole truth of the matter.
Click to expand...
You sir are a smart man. One of the sharper knives in the drawer.
 
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