Kaiser Rolls out notes on Lions game

[Pantone282C]

Often, negative incidents serve to be highly motivating...reality often is a tough task master. Lol

Quite true - lots of people can cut through the useless clutter when it's all on the line. Question is, can they continue with progress or revert to old habits?

 

[CCBoy]

Quite true - lots of people can cut through the useless clutter when it's all on the line. Question is, can they continue with progress or revert to old habits?

Care to prepare my tax return for this year?

 

[Pantone282C]

Care to prepare my tax return for this year?

I know a good magician!

 

[lukin2006]

The story of this game was execution, Dallas played the game they wanted to – run the ball, control the game and be efficient enough in the passing game to keep defenses from keying on the run.


Zeke was the biggest part of that obviously. Even with crazy stats, the biggest thing IMO was the maturity he showed to come back from his worst pro game (mentally) last week to dominate this week. It’s a big part of his development, even his Feed Me celebration was more subdued. And he stepped up big time with that 4th Quarter catch to win the game. That is something the greats do.

The other major part of that equation is that the OL is starting to gel. The biggest factor in line play (beyond talent) is the overall cohesion of the group and you are starting the group execute as a unit. The OTs are settling in, Conner Williams is holding his own (all you can ask of a rookie) and Looney isn’t a liability (all you ask of a backup). It seems like they are settling into Paul Alexander’s methods also, Zeke had some huge holes to run through at times.

Dak was fine, like others have said he is so much better when he isn’t running for his life. But even that is part of a QBs development. Fans need to think about him as a Drew Brees with better leadership than expecting him to be Troy Aikman in his prime.


The defense had coverage breakdowns again but there were two big stories there –

1 – The D didn’t melt with Sean Lee out like last year when they were 10 – 14 points worse with him out of the lineup.

2 – Stafford and the Lions WRs made a ton of phenomenal plays. Give them credit, there were probably 6 – 8 plays where the WR made a phenomenal play. But even though they did it Sunday, you can’t depend on that in the NFL. More than half the time they don’t make the spectacular grab and Dallas gives the ball back to Zeke. In those games Dallas controls the game like they did against the Giants.


Question: Name the most underrated part of this team?

Answer: DLaw’s run defense. (I will award partial credit if you said a starting caliber RB like Rod Smith as a backup).

DLaw did have 3 sacks but he is such a dominant player. Pay the man, as others here have said. But Taco and Randy Gregory played well also, especially in run D. Taco almost forced a Stafford fumble by knocking an OG backwards into the QB, that isn’t something you see from many DE’s. And late in the first quarter, Gregory was forcing hurried throws with a straight bullrush into the LT, something you don’t see from a lot of backups.

And our defense applied that much pressure without Maliek Collins, David Irving and for most of the game, Antuan Woods. Add that to having better blitzing LBs & CBs (loved Jaylon Smith’s fake and blitz on one of DLaw’s sack) and you could have a serious pass rush later this season.

The Lions have a great passing game and completely avoided Byron Jones. When is the last time Dallas fans saw that? Terrence Newman 12 years ago?

My favorite 3 seconds of this game was Zeke’s 4th Quarter catch. My second favorite was Anthony Brown’s facial expression when Kris Richard chewed out the secondary. I’m a petty, petty man.

Has LVE missed a tackle this year? He is half the player he will be with more experience and weight training, but even then he is already a solid starter. Having him to backup Sean Lee is huge. You don’t get a big contribution from rookies but all four of our top picks are going to contribute and be excellent starters in the future.

Overall, the team is 2-2 but finally starting to come together. The first game was essentially preseason and they played that way, then the 3rd game was snakebit. But the elements are there to make the playoffs and do well once they get there.

Great post. It makes me wonder why JG even bothers to have a training camp. Because I thought this game was Dallas best game played, the starters should be playing like this in game 4 of the pre-season. Detroit has a solid offence and our D held up well, I still don't think our D is elite. Getting off the field on 3rd down would go along ways toward helping the offence.

 

[ChronicCowboy]

The only person looking at Dak as an Aikman or Brees type player is the OP. He’s not McNair either. All those guys were elite pro prospects.

Dak is closer to Quincy. He reminds me of Quincy a lot. Quincy was a better runner but Dak has better size (same height but Dak is 20 lbs heavier). Dak also doesn’t have an affection for weed as far as we know.

 

[DuncanIso]

Drew Brees with better leadership - I stopped right there!!!

Agree. I’ve watched enough Dak games to know better.

 

[McKDaddy]

I should have noted that, I'm not knocking Brees in any way or his leadership. But Brees didn't see the field as a rookie while Dak started day one and went to a Pro Bowl. In his third season Brees had the kind of season Dak did in the second half last year, while Dak is clearly one of the primary leaders of this team at the same point.

I'm not putting Brees down in any way, but Dak has done more and done it earlier in his career.

yeah, much more clearly stated now. In fairness though, not sure Brees had the Oline & receivers at that time. Gates & LT while HOFers does not a complete team make. But all that is getting off point and no need to get into.

 

[CF74]

Great write up but Dak has a ways to go before he can be mentioned in a sentence with Mighty Mouse Brees..

 

[Kaiser]

Great write up but Dak has a ways to go before he can be mentioned in a sentence with Mighty Mouse Brees..

Thanks, but Brees wasn't Mighty Mouse at the same point in his career. If he had been, the Chargers wouldn't have let him walk as a free agent.

 

[Kaiser]

Detroit has a solid offence and our D held up well, I still don't think our D is elite. Getting off the field on 3rd down would go along ways toward helping the offence.

I don't either but if we get all our DTs back and the Safeties cut out the blown coverages, our D could be above average. I really think our pass rush could be one of the best later in the season, which I was going for in the OP.

 

[CF74]

Thanks, but Brees wasn't Mighty Mouse at the same point in his career. If he had been, the Chargers wouldn't have let him walk as a free agent.

The Chargers were idiots when they let him go. He took them to the playoffs and then dumped him when he got hurt. Who has the ring now, Muahahahaha... Mighty Mouse does of course..

 

[Kaiser]

The Chargers were idiots when they let him go. He took them to the playoffs and then dumped him when he got hurt. Who has the ring now, Muahahahaha... Mighty Mouse does of course..

Brees had one good season out of five in SD but wanted to be paid Top Five money. Most teams make the same decision and he only had a couple of offers as a FA.

Either way, the point stands that Brees wasn't Brees at the same point in his career and Dak has done a lot more in 2+ seasons.

 

[Kaiser]

yeah, much more clearly stated now. In fairness though, not sure Brees had the Oline & receivers at that time. Gates & LT while HOFers does not a complete team make. But all that is getting off point and no need to get into.

Yeah, its funny because I wasn't really thinking of posting anything about Dak but that is all this thread has been.

 

[csirl]

Dak's skills are more akin to Jeff Hostetler, Frank Reich or, dare I say it, Doug Pederson.

 

[CowboyRoy]

The story of this game was execution, Dallas played the game they wanted to – run the ball, control the game and be efficient enough in the passing game to keep defenses from keying on the run.


Zeke was the biggest part of that obviously. Even with crazy stats, the biggest thing IMO was the maturity he showed to come back from his worst pro game (mentally) last week to dominate this week. It’s a big part of his development, even his Feed Me celebration was more subdued. And he stepped up big time with that 4th Quarter catch to win the game. That is something the greats do.

The other major part of that equation is that the OL is starting to gel. The biggest factor in line play (beyond talent) is the overall cohesion of the group and you are starting the group execute as a unit. The OTs are settling in, Conner Williams is holding his own (all you can ask of a rookie) and Looney isn’t a liability (all you ask of a backup). It seems like they are settling into Paul Alexander’s methods also, Zeke had some huge holes to run through at times.

Dak was fine, like others have said he is so much better when he isn’t running for his life. But even that is part of a QBs development. Fans need to think about him as a Drew Brees with better leadership than expecting him to be Troy Aikman in his prime.


The defense had coverage breakdowns again but there were two big stories there –

1 – The D didn’t melt with Sean Lee out like last year when they were 10 – 14 points worse with him out of the lineup.

2 – Stafford and the Lions WRs made a ton of phenomenal plays. Give them credit, there were probably 6 – 8 plays where the WR made a phenomenal play. But even though they did it Sunday, you can’t depend on that in the NFL. More than half the time they don’t make the spectacular grab and Dallas gives the ball back to Zeke. In those games Dallas controls the game like they did against the Giants.


Question: Name the most underrated part of this team?

Answer: DLaw’s run defense. (I will award partial credit if you said a starting caliber RB like Rod Smith as a backup).

DLaw did have 3 sacks but he is such a dominant player. Pay the man, as others here have said. But Taco and Randy Gregory played well also, especially in run D. Taco almost forced a Stafford fumble by knocking an OG backwards into the QB, that isn’t something you see from many DE’s. And late in the first quarter, Gregory was forcing hurried throws with a straight bullrush into the LT, something you don’t see from a lot of backups.

And our defense applied that much pressure without Maliek Collins, David Irving and for most of the game, Antuan Woods. Add that to having better blitzing LBs & CBs (loved Jaylon Smith’s fake and blitz on one of DLaw’s sack) and you could have a serious pass rush later this season.

The Lions have a great passing game and completely avoided Byron Jones. When is the last time Dallas fans saw that? Terrence Newman 12 years ago?

My favorite 3 seconds of this game was Zeke’s 4th Quarter catch. My second favorite was Anthony Brown’s facial expression when Kris Richard chewed out the secondary. I’m a petty, petty man.

Has LVE missed a tackle this year? He is half the player he will be with more experience and weight training, but even then he is already a solid starter. Having him to backup Sean Lee is huge. You don’t get a big contribution from rookies but all four of our top picks are going to contribute and be excellent starters in the future.

Overall, the team is 2-2 but finally starting to come together. The first game was essentially preseason and they played that way, then the 3rd game was snakebit. But the elements are there to make the playoffs and do well once they get there.

LOL.......Drew Brees? Aikman in his prime?

First off, Dak will NEVER be Drew Brees. Brees is one of the best QB's this league has EVER seen. First ballot HOFer. And Second, Aikman isnt in the same league as Drew Brees. Aikman would tell you that.

 

[erod]

Dak: Brees:: Hurns: Rice

 

[Kaiser]

Dak's skills are more akin to Jeff Hostetler, Frank Reich or, dare I say it, Doug Pederson.

Not that this thread has been burdened by facts or anything, but do you realize that at the same stage of their careers none of those three had ever started a game?

 

[buybuydandavis]

Has LVE missed a tackle this year? He is half the player he will be with more experience and weight training, but even then he is already a solid starter. Having him to backup Sean Lee is huge. You don’t get a big contribution from rookies but all four of our top picks are going to contribute and be excellent starters in the future.

Given his lack of experience in football, let alone the NFL, LVE's play is nothing short of phenomenal. Best news of the season so far. Looks like we really hit on our 1st round pick.

 

[Ranched]

"KAISER ROLLS"? I like mine with seeds.

 

[JustChip]

Thanks, but Brees wasn't Mighty Mouse at the same point in his career. If he had been, the Chargers wouldn't have let him walk as a free agent.

That's the problem with most of the Dak comparisons and critiques - they're based on what the QBs are now, not what they were at the same point in their career as Dak. And even if a person says they're comparing them at the same point, it's impossible for the human brain isolate like that.

Comparisons of Dak to Goff and Wentz are more reasonable because they're at the same point in their careers. However, it's still not apples-to-apples because they're on different teams with different offensive schemes. IMO, the fact that Foles came in when Wentz went down and they ended up winning the SB is actually a point against Wentz - maybe at this point he's a "Texas Tech" QB and is a product of the system.

The bottom line for me is whether Dak is improving year over year and can the team win with him. I was seriously questioning whether he was improving after the first 3 games, but yesterday gave me some hope. It's only one game so I'm how I was before the season - I want to see how he does for the rest of the year.